Big risk paid off with Oscar nomination
Kitchener-raised filmmaker could win his second Academy Award after leaving Disney for Netflix
After taking the biggest risk of his professional career, Chris Williams — the Kitchener-raised animator who won an Oscar for directing the Disney blockbuster “Big Hero 6” — will find himself back on the red carpet March 12 after his Netflix flick “The Sea Beast” was nominated for Best Animated Feature.
It’s vindication for the 54-yearold filmmaker, who wrote, produced and directed this sprawling seafaring epic over 3 1 ⁄ years — 2 mostly during the pandemic — after leaving a lucrative gig at Disney for the streaming service.
“It does feel a little different this time around,” he confided about the Oscar nomination, “because I left the creative home where I’d been for 25 years and made this movie a little outside of what people expect from North American feature animation.
“It feels special, especially because this was an incredible year for animation, with so many great films that were nominated.”
The quietly ambitious filmmaker — whose Canadian roots are often overlooked because he lives in the U.S. — studied fine arts at the University of Waterloo before enrolling in the animation program at Oakville’s Sheridan College, where he was snapped up by Disney recruiters and drafted stateside before he even graduated.
Landing his first Oscar nomination (Best Animated Feature) for 2008’s delusional doggie epic “Bolt,” he won the same award in 2014 for “Big Hero 6” and shared a co-directing credit on the Oscarnominated “Moana” in 2016.
But in Hollywood, as in life, it’s the
present that counts. And “The Sea Beast” — with its edgy tonal shifts and unconventional storyline — was risky.
“There are absolutely no guarantees when it comes to making films,” said Williams. “There’s an alchemy to it. Even with really talented people working under the best of circumstances, there’s no guarantee it’s going to come together. There’s always an emotional and creative risk.”
Having said this, you don’t get nominated for four Oscars — and win one — by accident.
Although he’s too self-effacing to
say so, Williams — who honed his craft drawing comic books during high school art classes — is a master of his craft.
“The Sea Beast” was inspired by his love for action epics like “King Kong,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Lawrence of Arabia” — “where there’s a sense of leaving the known world and heading into the unknown with a real sense of peril, danger and high stakes.”
His film is about a legendary sea monster hunter whose life turns upside down when a young girl stows away on his ship.
“We have these big action set pieces and spectacle. But really the story is about these two main characters, and there’s a sweetness and delicate quality to their relationship. Ultimately that’s what people will respond to, that sense of an emotional centre.”
Despite work-from-home pandemic challenges that, at one point, found Williams directing a voice actor on his laptop while noise blared through the walls from a neighbour’s renovation, it all worked out in the end.
“Sea Beast” became Netflix’s most successful animated film of all time, with 165 million hours viewed, and sparked a sequel also being helmed by Williams.
And landing in the Oscar pool, win or lose, will put Netflix and keep Williams — without benefit of the Disney safety net — on the animation A-list.
“It’s ultimately a credit to the hundreds of people who joined me on this journey,” said the filmmaker, who presided over a massive team of animators, voice actors, lighting techs and effects artists.
“It was a really ambitious movie made under very difficult circumstances.”
If he’s lucky, I suggested, he might even wrangle a better parking spot from Netflix.
“The parking situation is very egalitarian,” he laughed. “But I’ll propose that: special parking just for Oscar nominees.”
“THE SEA BEAST” IS NOMINATED FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE, ALONG WITH “GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO,” “MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON,” “PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH” AND “TURNING RED,” DIRECTED BY FELLOW CANADIAN DOMEE SHI. THE 95TH ACADEMY AWARDS TAKE PLACE MARCH 12 IN HOLLYWOOD.