With The Sea Beast now streaming on Netflix, I recently spoke to director Chris Williams (Moana, Big Hero 6) about making the fantastic, animated film. The Sea Beast is set in a time when fearsome monsters freely roamed the seas, and monster hunters were considered heroes. The film follows one such group of monster hunters, under the leadership of Captain Crow (voiced by Jared Harris), as they hunt their most dangerous monster yet, known as The Bluster. But when an orphan girl (voiced by Zaris-Angel Hator) obsessed with monster hunters gets discovered on the ship, she starts to see how the tales she’s read in books might not be the whole truth, and that maybe these sea monsters aren’t actually monsters at all. The Sea Beast also features the voices of Karl Urban, Mariann Jean-Baptiste, Dan Stevens and Kathy Burke.
During the interview, Williams revealed why he left Disney to make a film at Netflix, all the various challenges about making an animated movie that takes place on the ocean, how George Miller influenced the story, the big change that happened after the first screening, what Sony Imageworks invented to help tell the story, and a lot more.
If you’re curious how The Sea Beast was made, you’ll learn a lot by either watching the interview in the plyer above or reading the conversation below.
Finally, while I know you have a lot of choices in what to watch, I strongly recommend The Sea Beast. It’s one of the best films Netflix has made.
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