How much influence did Riverdance creators Moya Doherty and John McColgan have in the proposal to make a Riverdance animation?
In 2015 I met with Moya Doherty, the co-founder of the Riverdance stage show. Moya was keen for the show to reach new audiences and to explore the possibility of bringing the production to life as an animated feature film.
With the show's spectacular dancing and Bill Whelan's Grammy-award winning score, the potential was immediate for all to see. Once Dave Rosenbaum came on board at Cinesite as chief creative officer, he took over the reins as director and proposed that I work with him as co-directors. It was important to all of us that we have Irish voices driving the creative vision for this project.
Moya Doherty, John McColgan and Bill Whelan the founders of Riverdance were all involved. Moya is a producer on the film, Bill is the composer and John voices the character of the Priest and their son actor Danny McColgan also voices the role of Liam.
Does the movie contain the same familiar Riverdance music as the stage show?
Riverdance: The Animated Adventure features a score especially written by Bill Whelan for the film, combining the main themes from the original Grammy award-winning stage show score with an entirely new set of arrangements.
Recorded remotely during lockdown, the process was no small feat. The film's composer, producers, directors, sound engineer and orchestra were all situated in different locations. The 73-piece orchestra played in a socially distanced manner at one large studio at Synchron Stage in Vienna.
Dave and I came to regard Whelan's score as being like another character in the film. Music is really the emotional heart of the movie, beautifully stitching the scenes together. We wanted a score that was melodic with prominent themes, while also pushing technical boundaries with modern, fun music. Bill Whelan was able to weave it all together brilliantly.
Unlike a traditional animation film, or even a live action film, the score didn't come last. We needed to make the music first, so the dancers could dance to it, and the animators could animate what the dancers were doing. Hence, the music, tempo and rhythm became as much a part of the writing, storyboarding and animation process as any other aspect.
How difficult was it to achieve animated Irish dancing?
It was incredibly important that we faithfully represent the artistry and skill of Irish dancing with accuracy.
Padraic Moyles, former lead dancer and dance captain with Riverdance, helped the creative process of adapting the show's dance numbers by making subtle changes to the existing choreography, adapting it to fit the movie's needs.
We initially filmed the dancers using high speed cameras and found that even when slowed down, the camera couldn't capture everything. In order to be faithful to the Riverdance choreography and honour the dancers' incredible craft and skill, we decided to accurately capture the dancer's movements using motion capture technology. The process involved placing tracking markers on each dancer and having them dance in a volume with numerous cameras which translate the movement data onto computer generated models.
An additional challenge arose because we don't just have people dancing. There are frogs, sheep and Megaloceros Giganteus, giant 15ft tall pre-historic elks. Since 99 per cent of Irish dancing is in the performers' feet and deer don't have knees, as you can imagine, it was particularly challenging to transpose this movement...
Was it a difficult balance creating a film that celebrated Irish culture without adhering to Irish stereotypes?
I think what we were all keen to avoid was a hokey Hollywood 'Irishness' of leprechauns and pots of gold.
Creatively I think we managed to come up with a version of present-day Ireland that I hope avoids those clichés and stereotypes. We made our movie to reach audiences far and wide and to tantalise them with a taste of Ireland's beauty, mystery and timelessness.
The mythology of Ireland was very important to bring to the forefront of this film. The story team looked at the past Irish myths, from Finn McCool to Cú Chulainn and to the Children of Lír. We mention these myths in the movie and they are folded into the narrative through Keegan's journey.
The film's colour palette was also heavily inspired by Ireland itself. Irish production designer and art director Paul Bolger took colour cues from the sweeping coastal landscapes of the famous Ring of Kerry as well as the rolling hills and mountains of his home county Waterford.
Were the Irish Elk's antlers a modern take on the Celtic Symbol?
We designed the deer's antlers to incorporate swirls and engraved shapes and symbols that gave a suggestion that these creatures have been around since the dawn of time and have acquired these designs and carvings on their journey. The swirls are reminiscent of old Celtic designs but they also represent the shapes you find in water. We wanted to suggest that the deer were linked to the rivers as well as holding the secrets of Ireland from our past.
It was quite a feat getting actors of the caliber of Pierce Brosnan and Brendan Gleeson to voice the characters. What do you feel they brought to the animation?
It's hard to make a movie about a specific culture which the whole world can access and embrace. I think Pierce Brosnan is perfect for our film because of course people know him from his work as James Bond, so he brings a lot of familiarity as well as being a genuine Irishman.
It's not a stretch to envision Brendan Gleeson as a villain but he also brought a sly sense of humour to his recordings which lightened the tone of the character and brought fun and laughter. This helped make our villain a little less scary for the younger members of our audience.
The storyline explores grief, difference and a sense of community. Did Covid influence the direction of the film in terms of themes explored?
Recognising the connection that we all have is so important right now. In the end, its about celebrating life. That's the key message of our film.
:: Riverdance: The Animated Adventure can currently be streamed on Sky and NOW TV in Britain and Ireland and on Netflix worldwide.
:: The Riverdance 25 DVD is currently available through Wienerworld.com/product/riverdance-the-25th-anniversary-show-live-in-dublin.
