Watch on Deadline
DEADLINE:How did you both come to this project?
She had this dogged belief this would make a fantastic film.
I was working with Neil at a production company in Soho.
Kensuke’s KingdomLupus Films
And she said, Sure.
So we pitched our version of the film to her and she liked it.
Then, eventually, it was COVID that really pushed the film into production.
Kensuke’s Kingdom, from left: Kensuke (Ken Watanabe), Michael (Aaron MacGregor)Blue Fox Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
It was quite incredible.
So thats how we made it.
We went and spoke to the artists on board and said, Look, channel this [feeling].
Were all isolated at the moment.
So what youre feeling now, put that into the film.
DEADLINE:This cast is great.
How did you end up getting everyone together?
So we were incredibly lucky to have our wishlist come true.
We had this wish list of amazing actors and we went to them and they all just said yes.
DEADLINE:What were the non-negotiables that you had to have in this film?
HENDRY:A key thing was that this was Frank Cottrell-Boyces, this screenplay writers idea.
When Neil and I read the screenplay, we saw, this could be a silent film.
Neil and I really like silent film storytelling.
So we really liked that kind of storytelling.
Once Michael was washed overboard and hes on his own, theres almost no dialogue.
So it does essentially become a silent film at that point.
In a sense, we didnt want to talk down to the audience.
Young people understand a lot of stuff, we think.
So that was another non-negotiable, lets deliver that for the current generation of kids going to see movies.
DEADLINE:Talk about the art style.
How did you go about creating your vision with the animators?
The thought that he could starve to death or dehydrate or injure himself or even possibly die.
So there had to be a certain level of naturalism.
The islands like another character in the film.
So we needed that rich visual detail in the animation so that you could really believe this place.
Youve got this urban kid who suddenly is coming from the gray concrete modernity into this whole other world.
Its a bit like Dorothy crossing over from black and white into the Technicolor of Oz.
Its like a rebirth.
DEADLINE:Michaels trajectory to me is very interesting.
He has a knack for not listening to what other people tell him.
But he does have tremendous growth by the end of the film.
Can you talk about what went into depicting that?
Were you worried that audiences mightve found him a little too unlikable?
BOYLE:Yeah, the thing is, the movie obviously had to have an arc.
For Micheal to learn a lesson at the end, he has to start off very opposite.
But youre right that we didnt want to make him truly obnoxious.
But he definitely needed to learn these lessons as he went along.
And what really helped, going back to the actors, was Aaron MacGregor.
We looked at 40 or 50 kids to play this role.
He has no stage school theatricals about him, so he could be a regular kid.
So he really helped us to get Michael being a likable character.
HENDRY:He had a lovely vulnerable quality.
Which is what the character really needed to be sympathetic when you are behaving badly.
He wouldnt be swept overboard and he wouldnt go into this adventure.
So in a weird way, maybe its something he needed to do.
Maybe he needed to be just a little bit obnoxious [laugh].
DEADLINE:How did you go about making the island and its animals feel so lively?
Theres great detail in these elements.
HENDRY:The main theme of the film is about families.
So we just applied that to absolutely every animal and all things on the island.
We had to make it feel like it was families being broken apart.
BOYLE:In terms of the animation, we were lucky.
She loves drawing animals.
We put her on scenes with Stella, the dog.
That was a little bit of a balancing act, but I think we pulled that off.
Were proud of that.
