In which way was the experience of making Shrek helpful for creating a fantastical world like Narnia and working with an enormous amount of complex special effects?
We storyboarded and did a lot of pre-visualization of the movie before we ever shot footage. That is something I learned from the way animated movies are made. I consider this more of a writing tool than a production tool because you get a chance to watch the movie before you make it, but it also helps with the complex effects. Obviously the other similarity was the animated characters. Narnia is populated with mythological creatures and talking animals. Although I wanted them to be photo-real in this film we employed a lot of similar animation techniques.

Are there any CGI pioneers who've influenced your work? Do you exchange know-how with any of them or does everyone in this field more or less work on his/her own?
Every CGI-intensive film stands on the shoulders of the work that’s been done before; it’s a rapidly evolving field. When you work with many CGI houses there has to be a constant exchange of know-how. Sometimes we would have three different companies working on one shot: Aslan from Rhythm & Hues, Mr Beaver from Sony and some other creatures from ILM. I have been very lucky to work with many visual effects pioneers. I consider my close working with John Dykstra in particular to have been a huge privilege.

In recent years, we've seen films like Shrek, Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings make a big impact at the box office. Why do you think that the fantasy genre has become so popular?
I think fantasy has always been an important part of our storytelling, in every culture and every generation. There has been a resurgence recently and I think it’s largely a reaction to the amount of reality programming. In the 80s there were a lot of natural disaster films; now we have things like Survivor. For me it’s a welcome relief to step into a theatre and be transported into a world that exists only in our imaginations - worlds that we wish we could visit.

How did the new vogue for fantasy filmmaking - especially in the wake of films like Lord Of The Rings - influence your approach to the film?
They didn’t really, though they did help make it possible. I think that the success of films like those have shown the studios that a wide audience is ready for faithful adaptations of classic literature.

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