Nakou

What did Balto represent for you when you worked on the movie and what does he represent now? What is its place in your others projects? Are you still proud of that movie?

KarlamonHere is Simon's reply:

"I am very proud of the movie. It was made for a fairly modest budget - less than a third of what Disney was spending on animated movies at the time - but the crew put an enormous amount of care and attention into spending what money we did have as wisely as possible. Overall, it felt like everyone on the movie was putting their best efforts into it.

From Ruby and Lesser's first draft of the script that I read, I felt that Balto was a classic animated movie: The underdog outcast who proves to be a hero. I think we all like to root for underdogs, and on some level identify with those kinds of characters. Everyone has felt misunderstood, or at times excluded, and this story gives that character a redemption in the eyes of his town.

I can't claim that Balto has a 'place' in my other projects. I haven't really had the luxury of choosing projects, beyond saying 'yes' or 'no' to projects that were offered to me. But this was a story that I lobbied Steven Spielberg vigorously to make.

(By the way, Steven liked the story, but was concerned that it wouldn't be colorful enough. Hans Bacher, our production designer, made dozens of wonderful small color studies that showed what we could do, and those reassured Steven that the movie would not just be black and white dogs in a white snow field.)"

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Karlamon	August 01, 2015
	Questions mod, Fan News Editor
	Slack Pack

Here is Simon's reply: "I am very proud of the movie. It was made for a fairly modest budget - less than a third of what Disney was spending on animated movies at the time - but the crew put an enormous amount of care and attention into spending what money we did have as wisely as possible. Overall, it felt like everyone on the movie was putting their best efforts into it. From Ruby and Lesser's first draft of the script that I read, I felt that Balto was a classic animated movie: The underdog outcast who proves to be a hero. I think we all like to root for underdogs, and on some level identify with those kinds of characters. Everyone has felt misunderstood, or at times excluded, and this story gives that character a redemption in the eyes of his town. I can't claim that Balto has a 'place' in my other projects. I haven't really had the luxury of choosing projects, beyond saying 'yes' or 'no' to projects that were offered to me. But this was a story that I lobbied Steven Spielberg vigorously to make. (By the way, Steven liked the story, but was concerned that it wouldn't be colorful enough. Hans Bacher, our production designer, made dozens of wonderful small color studies that showed what we could do, and those reassured Steven that the movie would not just be black and white dogs in a white snow field.)"

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