Former Disney animator Don Bluth who set up Sullivan Bluth Studios in Ireland talks about what inspires him and gives a drawing lesson.
All movies tell a story, explains Don Bluth, and he likes to give the audiences who come to see his films something to think about when they leave the cinema,
Something about life, something about people.
Citing Frank Capra as an influence, he admires the way the legendary Hollywood producer director and writer always included cameos of human nature in his films. Don Bluth himself is continually inspired by the people he meets, however eccentric they may appear on the outside.
Currently working on a version of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ‘Thumbelina’, the next film from the Sullivan Bluth Studios to appear in cinemas will be ‘Rock-a-Doodle’, a story about a rooster who leaves his farm to become a rock star but who eventually returns, thanks to the efforts made by the other animals on the farm.
Giving the audience and viewers at home a quick lesson in how to draw he explains,
The secret is, there is a formula...everything that we do starts with a circle.
Gay Byrne wonders if Don Bluth’s Mormon faith influences the message in his films. Perhaps at an unconscious level it does, but the overarching theme of movies from the Sullivan Bluth studios, is that the child watching them can make the world a better place, he says, and the same goes for animated films made by most other companies. For Don Bluth this is something very important,
I believe that people have to get together and we have to make a world full of peace.
This episode of The Late Late Show was broadcast on 23 November 1990. The presenter is Gay Byrne.