Where to Watch Interview with Chris Wedge of “Monster Trucks”

My friend Susan Wloszczyna interviewed “Monster Trucks” director Chris Wedge for the MPAA website Where to Watch. The long-time animation director (“Ice Age”) spoke to her about working with live action.

Animation takes longer but there is more control. The idea we went in with was usually more closely represented onscreen when we were done. But live action has more variables. The weather on location. Live actors who get sick or break their leg. But when I was done, I thought, “That was a lot of fun.”

And he told her how his background in animation helped him create an appealing “monster truck.”

I thought, “Truck, kid, monster.” I want the truck to be a character and move like a character. We built an animatronic truck that was remote-controlled so it could lean over and pick its wheels up. We used that a bunch. There is also straight-ahead animated truck. I wanted it look like it had attitude and honored the physics of the world.