Chris Williams (‘The Sea Beast’) on history being ‘a cycle of aggression and a cycle of violence’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Charles Bright
·4 min read
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When Chris Williams started developing “The Sea Beast,” he knew he wanted to explore several themes and that one of them would be how the way that history is taught can affect how we act in the present. “I talked about the fact that I wanted to really examine this idea of a cycle of aggression and a cycle of violence and how it can perpetuate itself and how difficult it can be to break away from it,” he tells Gold Derby during our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video interview above).

He continued to pursue this theme because of the events that he saw happening around him and how that affected people’s view of the world. “There are times where there are powerful interests that will create narratives that can pit us against ourselves for their own gain. That felt more specific and more potent.”

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“The Sea Beast,” which can currently be streamed on Netflix, tells the story of the crew of a monster hunting ship. After an orphan girl named Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) stows away on board the ship as it hunts the legendary Red Bluster, both Maisie and the captain’s adopted son Jacob (Karl Urban) are swallowed by the creature. They survive and learn that the monster is just misunderstood and that the history they learned about the monster’s being their enemies was a lie. The two, along with the Red Bluster, navigate back to their homeland in hopes of putting things right in the present. The film is nominated for this year’s Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Williams is no stranger to this as he was one of the recipients of this honor in 2014 for “Big Hero 6.”

Williams drew inspiration for the story from some of his favorite action and adventure films from when he was growing up including the 1976 version of “King Kong,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Star Wars.” He also got inspiration from maps. “I always loved those old, unfinished maps where the map makers would populate the oceans with the really fanciful illustrations of sea monsters. I always thought that’d be a really cool world for an animated movie.” Putting those two together along with a logical conclusion gave birth to what the story would be. “I imagined that if you really did inhabit a world of sea monsters, it would probably give rise to the vocation of sea monster hunter. That was really where the story began.”

This Oscar nomination has meant a lot to Williams for many reasons. One of them being that he left a 25-year career at Disney to make the movie. He also understands that it means a lot to the crew that worked on the film and even to members of his own family. “I know it matters to my mom. I don’t think my mom entirely knows what I do for a living or understands entirely what I do for a living, but she understands this.” Not wanting to jinx his chances, he slept through the announcements and got the notice of his nomination in a text message from a nominee in the Best Animated Short Film category. “I got a text from Pamela Ribon, who was the writer of ‘My Year of Dicks,’ and she texted to say, ‘See you at the Oscars!’ At that moment I knew and then I got a flood of congratulatory texts after that.”

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