Robert Kojder chats with In Your Dreams director Alexander Woo…
Having previously worked in Pixar’s animation department and directed animated shorts of various lengths, Alexander Woo’s Netflix-backed feature-length debut is In Your Dreams. While charming for children of all ages, the filmmaker is also interested in telling a personal, emotional story about families drifting apart and evolving in ways that are initially terrifying to youngsters.
Imaginatively, the filmmaker goes about this with a fully realized dreamworld concept: a pair of siblings stumble across a mythical book that promises the mysterious Sandman can grant any dream they wish. It’s an animated feature with humor, heart, on-the-nose needle drops, a love of music, and a fondness for those perfect family memories, such as morning breakfasts. Here, those memories are playfully twisted into dreams and nightmares.
There is wonder, entertainment, and relatable themes for children and adults alike. Recently, Alexander Woo participated in virtual interviews, and it was a joy to speak with him about the creative process for the story, designing certain characters, the personal aspects, and whether the film’s daughter, Stevie, was named after the legendary Fleetwood Mac singer. Enjoy the interview below:
Hi Robert, great to meet you.
It’s nice to meet you. I like the movie.
Thanks!
So, I was thinking about this the whole movie: We know that the parents in the films were musicians. Their daughter is named Stevie. Did you name that character after Stevie Nicks?
Yes, you are very right!
Awesome! In the creative process, what comes first: the idea for a dream/nightmare world of breakfast? Or do you come up with the happy memories first?
I came up with the happy memories first. Breakfast came later. I was looking for something that represented home and family. When I was a kid, my mom would always make French toast for us every Sunday morning. It wasn’t that good because she used the really thin Wonder Bread [laughs]. But it was what I grew up with, and food is so connected to emotions and memories. So yeah, I wanted that happy dream first. That happy dream was this idea, and this memory of the idyllic family. Then, of course, because it’s the world of dreams, we wanted to play with nightmares as well, so it made sense that eventually we would turn that dream into a nightmare. And of course, it’s so fun to turn breakfast foods moldy and into zombies.
Yeah, I bet it was fun. Can you talk about designing the Sandman? He reminded me of a sandy version of Santa Claus, which also fits his character.
You are so astute! We did think of him as this quirky Santa-like character, and the Sandlings are like his elves. Instead of making toys for everybody, they make dreams for everybody. Santa Claus has this really positive connotation in culture, right? He’s a pure good character. He gives gifts and brings joy to everybody around the world. I wanted to have that same kind of association with Sandman so that, when we twist it, it becomes unexpected, and we upend those expectations. That’s why we designed him to look kind of like Santa Claus. We also designed him to match the dad’s physique because, I don’t know if you noticed this, but you probably did, because you’re so astute, that Nightmara is reminiscent of the mom. The Sandman is reminiscent of dad because he is the dreamer in the family. And mom is thinking about moving, so she is causing this metaphorical nightmare in Stevie and Elliot’s lives.
I missed that, but thank you for explaining. That’s neat. So, the animated features I gravitate toward have very real, sometimes sad lessons about life for children. I think what separates this film from them is that you’re also interested in the parents’ lives, whereas most animated movies don’t show them, or they keep them in the background as happy. When or why did you feel this film had to be about the entire family and not just the siblings?
Well, this movie is very much about family and what a family is. You can’t do that without the parents. They’re the cause of the problem that Stevie is trying to solve. Thematically, this movie is about the imperfection of people, families, and life. It’s very much based on my own life. My parents nearly split up when I was a kid. I spent a lot of time trying to fix that. I think because it became, it came from such a personal place, my own family inspired it, so the parents were such an integral part of that story.
I needed to make sure that in this story, Stevie and Eliot’s parents were properly represented. It was really important to me that neither mom nor dad was the villain, and that they represented two different points of view on life. Dad is this dreamer, and he feels like, “If I give up on my dreams, what kind of message am I sending to my kids?” So he feels an obligation to pursue what he feels called to. I think that is a totally valid point. Equally, on mom’s side, she feels like, “Well, my dreams have changed. We have kids now, and I want to make sure that I give them stability. I want to provide them with every opportunity I can.” She also wants to focus on her new career. That’s also equally valid. That’s also very representative of the sorts of philosophical conflicts my parents had.
Thank you so much for your time. It was nice meeting you.
Thank you!
In Your Dreams is streaming now on Netflix, and you can read our review of the film here.
Robert Kojder
