ABOVE
OPPOSITE
Gutierrez calls his feature film, The Book of Life, “a humble epic that came straight from the heart, inspired by all the tall tales heard in my own family.”
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (2007) aired on Nickelodeon. The visually dazzling series was created by Gutierrez and his wife Sandra Equihua.
No one is born a director. So, I’d study to figure out how they did it. Brad Bird, what was his path? Disney feature animation to Simpsons and Family Guy to Pixar. What happened to him after school? What were the hard years like? By the time I graduated, I was prepared. What are you studying nowadays? Lately, I’ve tried to force myself to listen to popular music. As an artist, I have to understand the world that we’re living in. I just want to understand all of this stuff, and the same goes for movies and TV shows, too. I want to understand what people like, and why. I read Hunger Games for the same reason. I wanted to understand what other people like. I did that with Twilight. I thought, “If there’s something that can get teenage girls really into vampires, I want to know—just as a scientist of culture.” So, I watched all the Twilight movies and at the end was like, “I don’t understand. I don’t know if it’s the autism or what, but I don’t get it.” 34
CalArts Alumni Magazine
This happens to me, too, and I think autism does play into it. Many storytelling plot points don’t work for me, simply because I don’t understand the emotional implications of everything. Say, if a character goes on a date with a friend’s ex, I’m like, “Are we supposed to be shocked? Mad? Amused? Who are we siding with? Can I have a hint?” I need other storytelling mechanisms in place to guide me or at least keep me invested. Exactly! My wife doesn’t like when I say this, but when I watch movies, I feel like a gynecologist watching porn. I’m studying. I know the intimate details of how this works. When I watch horror movies or Pixar movies, I am impressed by the manipulation of the audience and think, “Oh, they are using this for that and that for this.” You’re honing your storytelling technique. Just like you’ve honed your own origin story. … Oh yeah, I’ve said it hundreds of times publicly. To me, it’s like stand-up, and I just know what works.
