WALT DOHRN:Well first you say, yes, we remember Trolls.
We played with them on these shag carpets in the 70s.
MIKE MITCHELL:We both grew up in the 70s.
Credit: DreamWorks Animation
Because the thing is, there is no history to these.
DOHRN:They didnt really have anything.
No characters, no mythology.
There was nothing attached to it.
The original Troll doll that were talking about was Thomas Dam.
MITCHELL:This old wood carver from Denmark.
His daughter was scared of trolls, which are typically known as baby-snatching evil creatures that live under bridges.
There wasnt any story more than that.
But other than that, there was nothing else!
Creatively, it was really exciting for us.
What else did you spitball?
We love fairy tales and were really inspired by the Japanese animated films by Miyazaki.
He didSpirited AwayandMy Neighbor Totoro.
How do we westernize Miyazaki and include those weird, strange creatures but really create our own world?
DOHRN:And we didnt want to make a film that took place in the real world.
Which moment in the film would you say is the most Miyazaki?
MITCHELL:The sequence of Get Back Up Again.
DOHRN:And we meet all these kind of supernatural, surreal creatures.
All the way up through Sound of Silence.
The whole troll forest had that Miyazaki spirit, I think.
Your art department has achieved some really tremendous effects in terms of hand-crafted texturing here.
When did that lightbulb go off as something you wanted to do?
DOHRN:I have to credit Kendal Cronkhite for getting us there.
Shes our production designer and shes amazing.
But it started from the fact that the technology for these CGI films has gotten so, so sophisticated.
Skin textures can look so real that you could swear its human skin up on the screen.
We also really wanted a hand-crafted feel to the world.
Everything feels like an artist made it.
Most of the trolls look relatively similar, but there are some unique shapes and colors.
Is there a greater assortment of troll species and races out there?
DOHRN:We imagined that there is a whole universe of trolls.
Thats how Ron Funches character came into it.
That answers my next question, which is, what the hell is Cooper?
MITCHELL:Maybe theres a whole tribe of Coopers out there!
DOHRN:We definitely imagined that theres a tribe of Coopers.
Maybe someday hell meet his brothers and sisters.
DOHRN:A jukebox musical with classic songs.
We wanted it for adults.
Early on, we decided on something and it was kind of the moment when we got really excited.
All the media out there is so dark and scary.
And that sounds kind of strange how do we make a film about happiness?
But I started to listen to TED Talks about happiness.
After debating for a while, were like, lets make our movie about that.
Thats what it is, and it was really an inspiration for us.
This is exactly the time when the world needs this.
MITCHELL:We used happiness to design the characters.
The colors are informed by that, the music is certainly informed by that.
That was the lynchpin that got us going.
DOHRN:Especially in the beginning.
She helped us craft Poppy.
Anna didnt want her to be your typical animated princess, and Anna brought this edge to her.
It was really fun to work with Anna and come up with this intelligence that Poppy has.
Even though shes still super naive, it becomes her superpower.
Why did you opt for classic music instead of making it a full, traditional new musical?
That was incredible because we got to some story points where we just couldnt find the right song.
Thats why Justin made Cant Stop the Feeling for us.
And you originally sought him out just to be a voice actor, right?
This is so awesome.
He kind of Troll-ified every song.
Theres already talk of life for trolls after this film.
Whats on the horizon for you guys?
Trollsis now in theaters.
