The crucial Hollywood pitch meeting with Katzenberg and Spielberg had happened in January 1996.
The script itself in the hands of Karey, Peter and Nick had started evolving later that same year.
The process of making the film, when it finally started, was a massive and vastly complex undertaking.
Dave Alex Riddett and Tristan Oliver gave the film the cinematic edge that the directors were looking for.
(A good example of why two directors work better than just one on animation films.)
It’s an extraordinarily intricate and labour-intensive process.
He was always right on top of production,' he recalls.
‘In some ways, he’s like the last of the great Hollywood moguls.’
And Peter adds, ‘He’s the hardest working, most driven person I’ve ever met.
But in fact, I got on with him rather well.
It was new and exciting and having DreamWorks behind the film, it was a real learning process.’
Indeed, Katzenberg would deal with Nick directly: ‘He wanted a personal relationship,’ he recalls.
No one in the US would understand it, Katzenberg argued.
Having made his point, Katzenberg conceded.
That was how it was between Aardman and DreamWorks: some battles were lost, some were won.
Quite how she evolved, I can’t tell you because creating characters from scratch is a great mystery.
Stories build characters, and characters lead to narrative they’re irresistibly linked.
‘We loved her youthfulness and vulnerability and intensity,’ says Peter.
The versatile, sought-after Imelda Staunton played the pragmatic, slightly fearful chicken Bunty.
Overpaid, oversexed, and over here!'
We knew Rocky was bloke and we knew the chicken farm was basically full of women.
“Why, all the beautiful English chicks, of course.”
Between Rocky and Ginger there’s this incredible chemistry.
He wasn’t just your average Hollywood star.'
Indeed, though he often played American characters, Gibson was Australian which made him an outsider of sorts.
He’d certainly be needing that onChicken Run.
It turned out Mel Gibson had a weakness for large Cuban cigars.
It was a dream for an animation director.'
He would be filming in Canada at that point, so he would need to be recorded in Vancouver.
Peter and Nick felt it was crucial to have their two leads in the same room together.
Unfortunately, there was yet another snag.
Why are you coming in to record?'
Not the most relaxing introduction to Canada, especially after a long flight.
Back at Aztec West, work continued remorselessly.
Making a full-length animated film, they all discovered, is an exhausting process for everyone involved.
‘What does a director do?’
‘He answers a question every five seconds all day, every day.’
It’s an intense level of non-stop decision-making that can easily induce migraines.
The end was near, but it had been a long, hard haul.
Of course, we hadn’t got anything planned.'
If nothing else, it certainly kept them alert and on edge.
But this point would soon be addressed.
And, in a sense,Chicken Runwasn’t quite over even then.
First, it had to be promoted seemingly to the whole world.
And remember, without fail, to mention the name of the film.
‘Nick turned to me, deadpan: ‘Were we just interviewed by a chicken?’
Movie fans in all those countries needed to be made aware of that fact.
And a certain Hollywood studio needed to make its money back.
Excerpt from the new book:A Grand Success!
