‘This is how loss feels’: how a Netflix animation about grief became a global phenomenon

If Anything Happens I Love You - Netflix
If Anything Happens I Love You - Netflix

One of the year’s most unlikely phenomena on the video-sharing app TikTok saw 50 million people – and counting – recording themselves crying while watching a 12-minute animation. Not since the heart-wrenching opening sequence of Up have viewers been so undone by characters that originated from a pencil sketch.

The extraordinary reaction to If Anything Happens I Love You, which sensitively depicts a couple struggling after losing their child in a school shooting, has astonished its creators, Michael Govier and Will McCormack.

The pair met in an acting class in the Valley, in Los Angeles, and are making their directorial debut with this animated short. “Our first goal was just to complete it,” says Govier. “Maybe get it into some festivals.”

But celebrity backing catapulted their film into the limelight. Actress Laura Dern and her producing partner Jayme Lemons came on board, as did La La Land producer Gary Gilbert.

The film ended up at Netflix, where it shot up to number one in 14 countries, and landed in the top 10 in 67. A week after release, it was number two on Netflix worldwide. And all without the might of a big studio, or tie-in to a full-length film. Part of that success is due to social media: the “#Ifanythinghappensiloveyou TikTok Challenge” saw millions try to watch the affecting short without crying.

Around three years in the making, the film does seem to have arrived at exactly the right time, as we all wrestle with the grief and trauma of this year. Still, the subject of the film is a very specific one, which McCormack describes as “a tragedy endemic to America”.

School shootings occur with horrific regularity. The title, If Anything Happens I Love You, refers to texts sent by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida in 2018 – the deadliest high-school shooting in US history.

However, their piece isn’t about a specific event, explains Govier. Instead, they’re “honouring the stories of all these shootings. That it’s happened more than once is, in itself, tragic.” Instead of getting caught up in the politics of gun control, the pair focus on one child and one story of grieving parents.

When we first meet the couple, we don’t know what’s happened, but we can see the yawning gulf between them. As events are gradually filled in, the emotional response is what’s constantly emphasised; we only hear a brief snatch of gunfire and screams.

The stark 2D animation, black-and-white with occasional splashes of colour (à la Schindler’s List), “looks like grief”, explains Govier. “All the colour has drained from their lives. We also had a rule that if it doesn’t need to be in the frame, it’s not in the frame. So when we pan across the bedroom, we first see a dresser and a table. Then we cut back and it’s just the parents sitting on the bed, because that’s the point of focus.”

McCormack adds: “We kept stripping it back. That was nerve-wracking, because there’s no dialogue, so it’s really barren and desperately lonely. But that’s how loss feels. And it’s also how memory works. You don’t remember what else was in the room, but how you felt.”

Finding a blue T-shirt in the laundry immediately brings back that lost child. “It’s the small things that connect to you to someone,” McCormack says. “A piece of clothing, a scrap of paper with handwriting.

If Anything Happens I Love You - Netflix
If Anything Happens I Love You - Netflix

“Everyone is going through some version of grief with this pandemic, whether it’s losing a loved one, or painful separations. My mother hasn’t gotten to meet her new grandson. This film gives people an opportunity to express that emotion.”

Neither have been personally affected by a school shooting, but they were diligent about their research, says McCormack. “We showed the script early on to Everytown for Gun Safety” – an organisation which advocates for gun control. “We wanted to make sure we were sensitive to the material.

“We also talked to parents who had gone through this terrible experience. We gained such respect and admiration for people who have walked through this grief. We have terms like ‘orphan’ or ‘widow’, but there’s no term for when your child dies, because it’s so unnatural. The proverb that became our North Star is: ‘When your parents die, you bury them in the ground. But when your child dies, you bury them in your heart.’”

The response from affected parents was extraordinary, McCormack tells me. “Survivors who watched it said ‘thank you’ – that they felt seen. We all cried, and there were lots of hugs. Then everyone was sharing stories: loved ones lost in a terrorist attack, or to gun violence on the street. In sharing, they made their loved ones part of our family too.”

Will McCormack and Michael Govier - Netflix
Will McCormack and Michael Govier - Netflix

Viewers may feel the same way about If Anything Happens I Love You. With just a few judicious details, we get to know – and miss – the girl who was lost to a school shooting. She loved soccer, and she had a retro streak, playing records.

“We thought long and hard about who the girl was, what she liked,” says Govier. “I always played my dad’s vinyl because I thought it was cool. So it gave her this kind of throwback cool.”

When the King Princess song, 1950, begins to play, it strongly evokes the child for her parents. “The King Princess song,” McCormack says, “was the first one we laid in right from the start, with the story boards, even before animation. It’s such a beautiful ballad with this wistfulness to it.”

Also playing a key role is the family cat, who interacts with the girl’s shadow – a kind of visual representation of her lingering soul and her parents’ unreachable grief. “We’re both cat people,” McCormack says. “And there’s definitely this mythology of cats having connection with other worlds. My cats are always looking at something, or someone, I can’t see.”

The distinctive animation is by a recent college graduate, the Korean animator Youngran Nho, who wasn’t sure if she’d make it in the US because her style is so different from the Disney or Pixar look. For the backgrounds, she used watercolour on paper, scanned in, to give it a raw, vulnerable feeling.

If Anything Happens I Love You - Netflix
If Anything Happens I Love You - Netflix

McCormack previously worked as a screenwriter at Pixar, contributing to Inside Out and Toy Story 4. He says he grew as a storyteller there, but believes independent filmmaking grants opportunities. “People get to do jobs they wouldn’t otherwise. I’d never directed an animated film before. Youngran wouldn’t have been handed that level of responsibility at a big company.” Govier adds: “Talent is talent, and she has it in abundance. You shouldn’t have to wait to share it.”

During the filmmaking process, McCormack’s connection to the piece took on new meaning. “I became a father – I now have a son. Becoming a dad made it a heavier idea of sending your kids off to school, a place that should be sacred, about learning and growing, and having that fear.”

Govier, too, felt he could relate personally. “My wife lost her brother to a disease – it happened really quickly. She hadn’t processed the depth of that loss. But when I showed her early cuts of the film, we were able to talk and really grieve and heal, telling these wonderful stories of him.”

The fact that the film has had this level of success shows that many people are similarly using it to process, McCormack thinks. “And watching a piece about grief become a blockbuster proves that audiences do want to feel – not just be entertained, though of course that’s important too.”

This is a new foray into animated shorts from the all-conquering Netflix, which is releasing two more works: Canvas and Cops and Robbers. All are likely to get an Oscars push in the spring – though Govier and McCormack say they can scarcely imagine their “tiny film” being honoured.

However, it’s clearly a successful partnership: the pair are already embarking on their next animated short, and also a feature. What’s it like working in LA during the pandemic?

“The parks were closed this weekend,” reports McCormack. “It’s embarrassing that we’re at this point. Luckily, we can still do animation at home. And there is light at the end of the tunnel with the new administration coming in.”

The film clearly demonstrates the need for stricter gun controls, albeit as subtext. Will that be tackled by President Biden? “We do hope laws might be addressed in a positive way,” says Govier.

What gives McCormack hope is “all the kids who have rallied around this movie. Whether it’s gun safety or climate change, I think the kids will lead the way.”

Govier adds: “We hope this film is a jumping-off point for conversations. There’s something  we can all agree on: we want to go home to our family members. As opposed to starting with ‘I don’t like you and you don’t like me.’”

Animation is a particularly apt medium for these big emotions, believes McCormack. His personal favourites include Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, and the Dutch short film Father and Daughter, which won an Oscar in 2001. “I don’t think our story would work in live action. Animation provides a gateway that allows you to get more intimate.”

Govier agrees: “Animation makes it more real, in a strange way. You connect so deeply, on this primal level.”

If Anything Happens I Love You is on Netflix now

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