If "Lilo & Stitch" creators Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, they already know what part of their acceptance speech will be. Oscar-nominated ‘Lilo’
creators credit HawaiiThe animated feature was promoted
through the tourism bureauBy Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com"Mahalo, Hawaii, for your unyielding support," Deblois said in a telephone interview from the Walt Disney's Burbank studio. "Without Hawaii, there would not have been the 'Lilo & Stitch' we created. Hawaii is the soul of this movie."
Sanders said: "Everyone in Hawaii opened their hearts and homes to us. Hawaii gave us their music and dance and taught us about ohana, which we try to incorporate in our own lives."
"Lilo & Stitch" was one of three Disney films nominated for the honor along with "Ice Age" (20th Century Fox), Chris Wedge; "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" (DreamWorks), Jeffrey Katzenberg; "Spirited Away" (Buena Vista), Hayao Miyazaki; and "Treasure Planet" (Buena Vista), Ron Clements. The announcements were made Tuesday. The Oscars will be presented March 23.
Deblois, who's "so not a morning person," was awakened at 5:30 a.m. by a hysterical friend yelling, "You were nominated!"
"I think she was more excited than I was," Deblois said.
The "super-superstitious" Sanders intended to listen to the announcements but succumbed to a feeling of dread.
"I figured if I stayed up to watch, nothing good can come of it. If I stayed up and the film hadn't been nominated, I would be convinced that it was because I'd been so anxious."
By 6 a.m. his fiancee had already read the news on the Internet and was crying. "I thought there was something wrong," he said.
The rest of the day was filled with handshakes and speculation about who might win.
"Everyone nominated -- except for the Miyazaki studio -- we pretty much know," Deblois said. "This is really fun for the animation community because four of the five nominated films used the classical technique of hand-drawn animation.
"Audiences seem to appreciate that, so maybe (Disney) can stop laying animators off."
Despite a hectic schedule working on three films concurrently with Deblois, Sanders forced himself to enjoy his moment in the spotlight.
"What I've learned through this whole 'Lilo & Stitch' success is to enjoy moments," he said. "Near the completion of 'Lilo' when we were starting to do heavy promotion, I really felt I was too busy to do it. My fiancee pulled me to the side and said if I don't enjoy this I'll be really sad later. She was right."
The filmmakers understood early in making the film that it was a risky venture, especially because the star was a rather unattractive villain.
"Chris and I have very high aspirations to become prolific filmmakers, so we knew if this failed, that could be the end of that," Deblois said, laughing.
One of their employees added to their insecurities, Sanders said. "She would bounce up to me to say, 'So, does it like really freak you out that the film is so completely your responsibility and if it doesn't work all these careers might be ruined?'"
The duo kept to their belief that a good film will always find its audience. To date, "Lilo & Stitch" ticket sales have grossed about a quarter of a billion dollars. The film will open in Japan next month.
Part of that success, Sanders believes, was the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau agreement with Disney that linked the two together for worldwide franchise initiatives, advertising, promotions and sweepstakes prizes. But the only reward the filmmakers sought is the freedom to keep making films, Sanders said.
"We get to work on other movies and pitch ideas and executives actually listen to our ideas," Deblois said. "Award ceremonies are great, and we get to meet stars and I'm sort of a geek for those things, but the work is the reward."
They hadn't considered celebrating the nomination until asked about it. "We really should go out and have a nice dinner," Deblois said.
"You're right," Sanders said. "We need to toast each other."
In April, Sanders will have even a bigger reason to celebrate when he and his fiancee marry on Maui. "We're coming out this weekend to scout locations and reunite with some of that Hawaiian ohana," he said.
Both will attend the Oscars.
"I guess we'll have to dress nice, huh, Dean?" Sanders said.
"If we gotta, we gotta," Deblois said.
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