David Silverman on Monsters, Inc. - Interview
Animator Worked With Matt Groening, James L. Brooks on The Simpsons
Nov 12, 2009
In Part #1 of this interview, The Simpsons director/producer David Silverman discussed the show's early years. In this section, Silverman talks about leaving The Simpsons to work at DreamWorks Animation and Pixar.
S101: Looking back at those early episodes, do you cringe at any mistakes you made?
Silverman: “I used to do that, but now I say, ‘Wow, we did something really unusual, especially for its time.’ I realized we had something going on when I visited my folks back in Maryland and I had a Simpsons crew jacket. I was at a shopping mall around Christmastime and people were stopping me, asking, ‘Where did you get that jacket? Where can I buy it?’
“I also could hear people talking behind my back about The Simpsons: ‘Did you see that Christmas special? That was really cool!’ (laughs)
“So I called Matt and said, ‘I think we’re sitting on something really interesting.’"
S101: At that point, was there a feeling of ‘How can we top what we’ve already done’?
Silverman: “Not really, because we were just getting started. There were so many fresh ideas, the writers got more and more inspired by the animation, the way the characters looked and the art that was coming out.
“The 2nd season was really great. I think (Ratatouille director) Brad Bird says to this day that the 2nd season was the best because every episode introduced a new character, a new facet . . . there was something unusual about each one, and that whole season was very exciting.
“And the 3rd season was even better in some respects. We introduced Sideshow Bob in the first season, we had the first Halloween special in the 2nd season, and we brought back Sideshow Bob and thought, ‘This would be a great recurring character.’
“He wasn’t just a one-off: he would come back from time-to-time and we’d build an episode around him. Kelsey Grammer was so hilarious, such a great sport to do it over and over again.”
S101: Were there seasons where you look back now and you feel that you dropped the ball a little?
Silverman: “No. It is what it is. Everybody worked hard; some seasons are better than others but we did the best job that we could.
“There are several seasons I’m not involved in so I can’t comment on them: 10 to 13. At that time I was at DreamWorks and then at Pixar. I worked on El Dorado and then Monsters, Inc.”
S101: Tell us about working on those.
Silverman: “I remember thinking, ‘The Simpsons can’t last forever!’ (everybody laughs) So I had to do something different. I didn’t want to be scrambling for work if The Simpsons were gone.
“There were also more opportunities to direct animated features, because DreamWorks Animation opened up, and were competing with Disney. But I didn’t even think about Pixar.
“So I went to DreamWorks, and worked on El Dorado. It was a fun idea but it became more and more difficult and convoluted.”
S101: What happened?
Silverman: “There were so many ideas going in, and so many questions on which direction to take the film. It ended up going in the same direction it started with, but it was a mess.
“I was also getting calls from Pixar, and I loved what was happening there. So I left DreamWorks to work at Pixar; I also loved the Bay area, living in San Francisco.”
S101: What are the differences between working at DreamWorks and Pixar?
Silverman: “ At Pixar, the directors had a lot more control over what the final thing was going to be. At DreamWorks, it’s in the hands of producers and Katzenberg.
“It might be changing at DreamWorks, but I still prefer the way it works at Pixar.”
S101: What was it like assisting Pete Docter with Monsters, Inc.?
Silverman: “I had a great time. Bob (Peterson) was Head of Story, and my job as co-director was . . . they called me The Story King. I did a lot more writing. We had these great writers, Daniel Gerson and Robert Baird, and I would write the outline of a scene with these jokes and placeholder dialogue. So I’d give them the basic scene, get it back and they’d keep a lot of the stuff I was writing. I was very flattered by that.”
S101: What specific scenes?
Silverman: “The sequence where Mike takes Celia to Harryhausen’s for a date: ‘I remember the first time I laid eye on you.’ I wanted to get one of those one-eye jokes in there. (laughs) I know we revamped the story so that Sulley was the chief scarer. It was much different before: he was a lowly can-wrangler.
“Originally, we had the scarer, the assistant scarer and the can-wrangler but we dropped that. We’d already designed the Scare Floor and we had that great archway with this fenced-off area where the can-wranglers were.
“There was also this funny third character that Daniel Gerson used that cracked-teen voice for, that we got rid of (uses the voice): ‘You idiots, get back to work!’
“I worked a lot with Daniel, Joe Ranft and Lee Unkrich. We cloistered ourselves away to figure out how we could ramp up the story. We were already in production: there were scenes being animated and we were throwing them out. It was a big gamble. But I was saying, ‘This could work if we redid this.’
“I remember John Lasseter asking me, ‘How would Sullivan open the door and let the kid in?’ So I said, ‘He’d see the door there and he’d think, “Oh somebody’s scaring here? I’d better return this door.” And he opens it up, saying, “Psst. Hey, anybody scaring in here? Anyone? Anyone?”’
“And then Boo would be outside, unbeknownst to him or the audience. Things like that, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe someone else who came up with that idea.”
S101: But you’re claiming it, dammit!
Silverman: “That’s right! (laughs) I’m claiming that!”
(In Part #3 of this interview, David talks about how he returned to direct The Simpsons Movie.)
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