Netflix’s ‘Love, Death & Robots’ Filmmakers In Conversation With Cartoon Brew (Exclusive Video)

Cartoon Brew and Netflix recently hosted a special screening in Hollywood celebrating the new season of Love Death & Robots, followed by a conversation with creator/director/executive producer Tim Miller and series supervising director Jennifer Yuh Nelson.

The half-hour conversation, moderated by Cartoon Brew editor-in-chief Amid Amidi, centers on the evolution of the fourth volume of this groundbreaking adult animated anthology series, which dazzles with its bespoke animation techniques and provocative genre-mashing blend of horror, sci-fi, and comedy. The new volume of episodes premiered this week on Netflix.

The Q&A is available below to readers:

We opened the conversation asking about Miller and Yuh Nelson’s process for choosing short stories they might want to adapt into their short films. Admittedly an avid reader, Miller joked that he picks stories that he and Nelson then arm wrestle over. In reality, Nelson said they print out index cards (up to 90 of them) to represent what the adaptation might look like, then shuffle them around to determine the most interesting mix of stories. She revealed that some ideas have been rattling around for up to 15 years waiting to get made.

Miller explained that Love, Death & Robots goes back to his love of Gerald Potterton’s Heavy Metal (1981), a 2d animated, adult anthology comprising nine science-fiction and fantasy stories. Miller and director David Fincher pitched a feature film reboot of Heavy Metal for over a decade without any luck, but Netflix believed in the concept and the idea eventually became this series; Fincher is now an executive producer on Love Death & Robots.

As the supervising director on the series since season two, Nelson explained how she works from a small hub at Miller’s Blur Studios in Culver City where she oversees each season’s shorts, works with the individual directors, and their expanded roster of animation houses to help them get their pieces “across the finish line.” And that includes her storyboarding assistance as needed, help with post production, editing notes and helping cast voice talent.

Nelson and Miller explained that the 10 shorts in Volume 4 followed their mandate to distinguish every season with a “different look, different style, and different tone” to create their own “pu pu platter” that can take months and months to finally lock.

Miller added, “I don’t want to sound all mystical and shit, because I’m not. But the stories kind of speak to you. They suggest a style, a tone and a look.” He referenced this season’s “Golgotha,” which he directed from a Joe Abercrombie script, based on the short story by Dave Hutchinson, as being the rare live-action entry because “it felt like it was meant to be live action.” Meanwhile, Nelson’s season three short, “Kill Team Kill,” was made with 2d animation because she said “blood looks pretty” in that style.

Miller said that another of the shorts that he directed this season, “The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur” (pictured at top), based on a story by Stant Litore, was originally supposed to be a Zack Snyder (300) entry. However, Snyder’s commitments to his Rebel Moon films (also at Netflix) made it impossible for him to undertake its making. It was going to get orphaned until Nelson and supervising producer Victoria Howard convinced him to make it. “They said, ‘We see your eyes light up when you start talking about it.”And I had written the adaptation, so I decided to do it.”

What ensued was a rocky path to completion as Axis Studios in Scotland went out of business in the middle of the film’s production. About half of the animation had been completed but they didn’t get the materials into Blur Studios until January of this year. “I finished it last week,” Miller revealed in the discussion that took place on May 8. “It was a fucking race to the finish, and I felt like some of those naked slaves at times but it came through.” He also addressed the voice casting of social media influencer Mr. Beast, which he did purposefully to get his massive social media following of 340 million to turn their attention towards Love, Death & Robots. “We need to broaden our reach for animation,” Miller said. “We need to get all those kiddies and then brainwash them with adult animation.”

Nelson then talked about returning to Bruce Sterling’s cyberpunk world of “Swarm” which was introduced in season three. Her latest short, “Spider Rose” was bandied about on their cards going back to the first season. It centers on a female Mechanist grieving her husband who was recently assassinated by a Shaper. She was interested in exploring the “bitter sweetness” of those emotions, while also making a companion character that’s so “ridiculously adorably, disgustingly cute but horrible at the same time.”

Miller added that Sterling’s notorious distrust with Hollywood was a barrier to adaptation for quite some time until he got William Gibson to put in a good word for them. “I said, ‘Bill, could you just tell Bruce I’m not a dick. Just tell him to respond to my email, please.’ And he did, and he liked the way “Swarm” turned out, so he let us do another.”

Volume 4 also welcomes back Oscar-nominated Canadian director Robert Valley, who won an Emmy for his season two short, “Ice.” For the new volume he directed “400 Boys,” a Marc Laidlaw short story that Miller adapted with an assist from Laidlaw who added an opening scene that he always wanted to include in his original story. “It’s not in the original short story, but Mark wrote it,” Miller explained. “It’s [the gang] psychically charging the bullets. And I said, ‘Oh, well fuck, let’s do it.’”

Nelson said “400 Boys” was a story she initially thought was “unfilmable” until Valley revealed his ideas and storyboards. “It’s 2d but also taken to a place that hasn’t been done usually,” she said of Valley’s work. “I think part of the beauty of this show is you find things that are so unique that directors have found for themselves; the technique that’s signature to them. He’s one of those rare cases where he appeals to people that don’t even like animation.”

Miller also said he got Fincher back into their directing rotation for “Can’t Stop,” which interprets the ​​Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2003 performance at Slane Castle, Ireland, by wooing him with a music video. “I know a song is only so long, and he can’t do a 20 minute short out of it so I can control the budget, because the music is what the music is,” Miller laughed. “He immediately said, “Okay, well, I’ll do the Red Hot Chili Peppers as puppets.” And I said, ‘Oh, okay, like Team America style puppets?’ He’s like, “Exactly,” and that’s it.”

Assessing the state of cg animation and how it evolves to meet and test the demands of the industry, Miller said he feels the technology and artistry of cg animation are finally at a place where high-concept stories, like an adaptation he wants to make of an Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan story where he fights dinosaur’s in the Earth’s core, is the medium to use.

“I can do it animated and I can do it photorealistically,” Miller said, making his case over live action. “I’m not sure I could fool anybody that it was photographed, but I can get a look that it feels enough that people that maybe aren’t comfortable with animation feel comfortable with that. Part of the goal here is to make the tent bigger. I’m pretty excited about that.”

Miller said there have been major improvements made with the uncanny valley. “We’re still not quite across it, but we’re in the foothills, climbing up out of it right now,” he assessed. “I think we can go all the way to more realistic, if we wanted to. Believe me, as you can see, I like all of it. But if I can tell stories that are prohibitively expensive to do otherwise, it’s really about the story and not about the technique. I think that’s a really interesting way to expand animation’s purview.”

Asked if more LD&R seasons are in the pipeline, Miller said, “Netflix loves the shiny statues. But we have to get a lot of people to watch the show. That’s number one.” Nelson added that if they do get to make more, they’ll continue to spotlight the new techniques that are always on the horizon in this medium. “It’s always being on the lookout for what’s next, what’s new, what’s interesting, what gives you little shivers when you see it and you think, ‘Wow, that’s going to be what everyone copies in about five years.’”

Miller closed with praise for Netflix and their investment in adult animation. He said he once pitched a live-action “lesbian necromancers in space” project around town and was wholesale rejected everywhere. But when he pitches something crazy to Netflix, they say, “Okay, how do you want to do it? Is it 15 minutes or 10? What do you think?” And that’s why this show is awesome.”