Bumblebee – When Harrison and Con spoke to Travis Knight the Director of the new Transformers Movie!!!
Can you play the guitar and if yes what is your favourite song to play? Harrison
Travis Knight – Yes I can play the guitar. When I was a kid – probably 12 or 13 years old I started taking up different musical instruments. The first instrument I took up was the drums, then I started playing the base and then the guitar. The first song I remember learning on the guitar was ‘Please, Please Me’ by the Beatles. I was huge Beatles fan – I grew up loving the Beatles like every right thing human does. My Mum was a teenager when the Liverpool boys were on Ed Sullivan for the first time so they were a huge part of my family life growing up. So when I first started playing instruments that was the catalogue I went to.
What’s your best childhood memory with your family? Con
Travis Knight – This is probably a huge memory for most kidz that experienced this. I remember vividly the first time I went to Disney Land. I was a huge huge Mickey Mouse fan and when my folks took me there it was this incredible mind blowing experience. They actually got me this stuffed Mickey Mouse doll that I carried with me forever. It just became raggedy and when I lost it it was like this beloved thing in my life. I wept openly.
Who is your favourite animator of all time? Harrison
Travis Knight – There are so many extraordinary animators that have moved the medium forward in incredible ways. There’s the great Disney animators – but for me there is no animator that has cast as long a shadow as Ray Harryhausen. A guy who almost singlehandedly defined what stop motion animation could be for decades. As a kid I would watch those great Ray Harryhausen creature features – the seven voyages of Sinbad or Jason and the Argonauts. He brought these things to life in such and incredible, beautiful and evocative way that ultimately planted the seed for the thing that I would do with my life. There’s no question that Ray Harryhausen is a giant and we’re merely standing on his shoulders.
Do you prefer making movies of running a company (LAIKA Studios)? Harrison
Travis Knight – They’re kind of one in the same. For a film company there’s nothing more important than the films you make. As a CEO (For LAIKA Studios) you have to look at the bigger picture and be able to extricate yourself from the daily manicure of what we’re all doing creating the art and guide the company to where we need to be in the future. But really what that future is for us is defined by what we make. I love being part of creating the films. At the core that is the thing that I drive the most satisfaction from – bringing these things to life in a beautiful way. But it’s an incredible blessing and opportunity for me to guide a company and shape the films we make as well as bring them to life with my own hands.
TRAVIS KNIGHT BUMBLEBEE FEATURETTE!!!
Bumblebee in Cinemas December 21st 2018!!!
(Interview content taken from past interviews for the films Kubo and Box Trolls)
