From our Friends at D23
In 2020, a tiny owl was rescued from the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City. Today, audiences can watch his fictionalized animated journey in An Almost Christmas Story — exclusively on Disney+ — as dreamt up by director David Lowery and Academy Award® winning producer Alfonso Cuarón.
In the film, the owl — known as Moon — unexpectedly finds himself stuck in a Christmas tree destined for Rockefeller Plaza. In his attempts to escape the bustling city, Moon befriends a lost little girl named Luna. Together, they embark on a heartwarming adventure, discovering the magic of the holiday season and forming an unlikely bond as they journey back home to their parents.
The talented voice cast includes Cary Christopher as Moon, newcomer Estella Madrigal as Luna, Jim Gaffigan as Papa Owl, Mamoudou Athie as Pelly, Alex Ross Perry as Dave The Dog, Gianna Joseph as Peaky, Phil Rosenthal as Punt, with Natasha Lyonne as Pat, and John C. Reilly as The Folk Singer, who performs four songs in the short, two of which are original songs.
We spoke with Lowery about how he landed on the unique visual style of the film, directing vocal performances vs. live action, and which classic Disney animated movie ignited his love of cinema.
An Almost Christmas Story has a very distinct visual style, the use of the cardboard and the paper esthetics. How did you settle on that style?
Once we decided to make the film an animated film, even before it was fully animated — because at one point it was going to be a kind of hybrid. I decided I wanted New York City to be made entirely out of cardboard, and that was the inciting incident for this entire project.
I grew up making everything out of cardboard. All of my movies I made as a little kid were full of cardboard spaceships and castles and props. My dad and I used to build castles and huge cities in the basement out of old boxes. We even had a box called the “box box” in our house where we’d put cardboard so we could use it in arts and crafts, so that was an intrinsic part of my childhood, and it was the defining esthetic choice for this movie and everything else, every other choice we made was sort of begat by the decision to go with cardboard for New York City.
What were the benefits of collaborating with producer Alfonso Cuarón on this film?
As a fan of cinema, to just have conversations with him, not even about this, just to talk about other movies, just getting to know him and become friends with him, it was an incredible gift to get to collaborate with him as well. But he was so supportive in going in whichever direction I wanted to take this. When this was initially conceived, it was going to be live action. And the point at which it became animation, it went through different stages of animation. We were going to do it with puppets and then it was a hybrid that eventually became fully CG, and he was always supportive of every version of that and always looking for how we could make that version the best possible version. How could we push it forward? How can we make it feel unlike anything else anyone has ever seen before? He trusted me to make the best movie I could make. But he would always give just little suggestions that I could take or leave along the way that really helped form it into what it finally became.
This is part of a trilogy of short Christmas films on Disney+ for Cuarón [Oscar® nominated Le Pupille and The Shepherd]. Did you feel that you needed to have a continuity with those, or could you make it your own?
There was no need for a continuity whatsoever. In fact, I think it would’ve been in one of his notes. He was so adamant for all those films, each filmmaker to make a movie that’s true to themselves. He wanted, as an audience member, as a fan of cinema, to see a Christmas movie made by Alice Rohrwacher or Iain Softley.
And that was the case with this one, too. He really kept saying, “I may have come up with these characters, I may have written the script, but what is the David Lowery version of this?” And that was what he encouraged me to do.
The whole cast for An Almost Christmas Story gives amazing performances. What goes into directing a voice performance versus a live action role.
It’s really interesting because my memory of doing all of those vocal performances involved me acting also because everyone’s recording in a booth by themselves, so I’m playing every other character. And so I was much more involved. I was directing through my own performance often. I would just do something faster because I knew that they would respond more quickly. I would say something. I would bring my tone down. So I was involved in a much different way, a much more physical way than I’m used to. But it was really fun and I really loved it.
I did that on Skeleton Crew as well because I did the voice of various puppet characters on set who are all now voiced by professional actors who do a much better job than I did. But I found that I could control the scene when I was performing in a really interesting way, in a way that I’m not able to when I’m directing, because then I’m behind the periphery, I’m on outside the proscenium. But when I was inside that proscenium, it changed the way in which I was able to participate and to direct the scene. And that was really fun.
You’ve directed two features [Pete’s Dragon and Peter Pan & Wendy] for Disney. You’ve done An Almost Christmas Story. You have an episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew coming up. Why do you keep coming back and working with Disney?
With the case of Star Wars, that’s an easy one because I am in this business because of Star Wars.
The first movie I ever saw was Pinocchio, and it set me on the path to where I am now. I didn’t come out of that movie theater at the age of four thinking I want to be a filmmaker, but it ignited something in me, and I can still remember sitting in that theater. I think we all can remember the first cinematic experience we’ve had. And to know that, for probably many children, the movies I’m making for Disney will be their first cinematic experience is an incredible privilege. It’s a luxury, a privilege, a responsibility, and it’s a way in which I feel I can do something good as a filmmaker.
Sometimes as a director, I’m just trying to entertain myself. I’m trying to make a movie that matters to me. And certainly the Disney movies matter to me, they are some of the things I’m proudest of. But I also know that somewhere out there, there is going to be a child who watches An Almost Christmas Story this Christmas, and it will be the first thing they’ve seen. And I need to make sure to the greatest extent of whatever abilities I have as a filmmaker that I’m giving them the best possible introduction to cinema that I can, because I know that it’s going to be a formative experience.
Often when I’m making a movie, I try not to overthink things. I try to really go with my gut instinct. But when I’m making a movie that I know is going to be seen by kids of all different ages and adults too, I take that into consideration every day when I’m making a film, whether it’s a script or on set every single day, I’m thinking like, “This is going to be someone’s first cinematic experience. We have to make it count.”
