December 12th, 2019 
Jackson Murphy 
Bruce W. Smith is the co-director of Sony Pictures Animation’s heartwarming short Hair Love. It screened theatrically with The Angry Birds Movie 2 this summer and is now available to watch for free on SPA’s YouTube channel. Smith is also the creator of Disney’s beloved animated series The Proud Family, which is returning with new episodes soon on Disney+. Smith is at the forefront of African American representation in animation.
Jackson Murphy: More than 5 million views online for “Hair Love” in the past week. That has to make you feel good.
Bruce W. Smith: Oh, man – that is incredible. We’ve been completely blown away with the love that everyone has shown this short. I just remember us all being in our own little vacuum creating it, and so the response has been kind of overwhelming, to be honest.
JM: I remember watching it for the first time in theaters in August. And as I was watching it… I like the story, it’s nice, it’s sweet. And then it gives you that extra layer. And then another layer. I go, “This is special. This is unique.” When did you realize that you were a part of something really special and unique?
BS: When I came on, there was already a version of the story constructed. I remember talking to [co-director] Matthew [Cherry] about that ending. I was like, “Man, this ending is incredible.” And he was talking about how he kind of reverse engineered everything. He knew what he wanted the ending to be. It was about how we worked to get there and the ride that you take the audience on. So he was really calculated early on in terms of how he wanted this story to breathe. And honestly when I saw that reel, I was like, “Oh this is fantastic. We need some really kick butt animation to make sure all the emotional points… and t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted…” and all that connective tissue there was good.
JM: The short is about a dad who does his daughter Zuri’s hair for the very first time. And that final scene is so important, especially because of the facial expressions. How was it getting those facial expressions on the key characters just right?
BS: That’s where my bread and butter is. I’m an animator. I know how to lean into those emotional areas to really sell them in a genuine way. Animators sometimes go to their toolbox when it comes to certain emotions: happy, sad or otherwise. But you really have to dig for some real specificity – be it culturally or there are some specifics that a man would do vs. what a woman would do. All those things really count in terms of trying to display emotion on the screen and acting in animation.
And also we were doing this hand-drawn, so it’s tougher to get those nuanced performances in hand-drawn because it really relies on how well the artist can actually craft and draw these things. And that’s where you really get to separate the average animators to the guys who are really splendid and on their game – because they can actually deliver this from a draftsmen point of view. I had to make sure that the guys were really leaning in heavily on areas of those types of specificity, so we could be genuine and not just kind of cookie cut-out.
JM: And one of the other really interesting visual sequences in “Hair Love” is the abstract boxing sequence. It’s dad vs. hair in the ring. How was it putting that together?
BS: Oh man, that was fun because there was no other way to sort of visually explain dad’s challenge outside of straight up putting him in the boxing ring. That was fun. That’s one of the flights of fancy in this short. That’s one of the areas that takes you on this fun, hilarious, emotional rollercoaster that has the incredible payout. For us that’s fun. To be honest, I love boxing movies. I would love to see an animated boxing movie. So it was fun to really lean into the idea of the fantasy of dad trying to do this hair in that metaphor.
JM: I can’t really think of any animated boxing movies. What if you did a sequel short and you had the dad become a boxer?
BS: (laughs) That’s funny. Where he goes around the world and does all sorts of hair, and we paint it in this boxing arena of hair.
JM: Maybe. Yeah! The wheels are turning.
BS: Hey, I’m just building on your idea! That’s what I’m trained to do.
JM: Cool. We’ll work something out. The main voice we hear in “Hair Love” is the Mom. She’s voiced by “Insecure” actress Issa Rae. How was it getting her and having her influence on the short?
BS: It was great. She was the perfect voice. One of the great things about “Hair Love” is that it features an African American cast. And African Americans rarely get to play in this sandbox of animation. You get such amazing voices and performances because we have such a wide range of actors and actresses that have yet to really jump into this medium. I’m a huge fan of Issa and “Insecure”. I love her performance on it. To be able to capture the sincerity of what she brings – and that’s the only voice that you hear – you need to make sure that voice was gonna ring in the most honest and heartfelt way possible. She nailed it.
JM: She’s great. In the middle of production on this, a couple major things happened. First of all, this got turned into a children’s book already, which I think is so cool. How did that come about?
BS: Matthew initially, when he did the Kickstarter [campaign], I think the idea of doing the movie… it was a rider with the movie. It actually served as the visual development for the film, really. We did a lot of proof of concept stuff. We took a lot of the artwork in the book and used it as proof of concept to put it on screen. I think Matthew was saying that the idea of the movie came first and the book was second, but the book just jumped quicker. It worked well for us. In the process of animation, you do need that time to visually develop where you want to take this. With the book – Vashti [Harrison]’s illustrations were amazing and incredibly inspiring. And it really lead us down a path of, “Let’s duplicate the book. Let’s put the visuals, the amazing visuals, on the screen.”
JM: It’s a great companion piece to have. Obviously in the middle of this process as well, Sony Pictures Animation decided to distribute it theatrically over the summer. What has Sony’s support been like, and how was it to have this be in theaters all over the country?
BS: Listen man, I think once Sony got involved, it really changed the game for all of us. It really told us that we have to up our game and really deliver this movie in high quality that you would expect from any Sony animated film. We’re on the heels of “Spider-Verse” and right in the middle of their next movie. “Angry Birds [2]” was a fantastic film. And “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” is gonna surprise everyone. This short film has to fit comfortably within the lexicon of those films. For us, it just let us know that, “Okay – this is serious. We really have to make this and deliver this and make sure that it’s up to the standards of everything that Sony does.”
JM: “Spider-Verse” won the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. I know you had Peter Ramsey, one of the film’s directors, involved with this as well. And I think it’s great that Dove backed this short, too. I’m curious to know about their specific involvement with it.
BS: That was Monica Young, one of our producers – she was spear-heading trying to get product placement around the film because it’s rare that you see a film like this that would allow such a presence for those products. We had lots of ideas for different products, and Dove really came to the table. It makes a difference. It’s really important to see when you show this film to people and you understand how enthused they are – and how willing they were to back what we were doing. It just came at an amazing time.
JM: You have received three Annie Awards nominations over your career. You know how the awards season game goes. What would, honestly, an Oscar nomination for “Hair Love” mean to you?
BS: That would be incredible – just to simply be mentioned in those breaths is just fantastic. It’s something I would’ve never expected. I just always go back to the idea of sitting down and us throwing around ideas and seeing the bones of this short being made. I don’t think anybody was thinking “Hey – this could be nominated for an Academy Award.” I just think that all the pieces fall in place and you leave everything else up to the animation gods, and then after that you see if your labor’s gonna be rewarded.
For me, just to be involved in a project like this… I’ve always tried to get behind projects that feature characters of color because I think this is where our industry is gonna end up going anyway. It’s good to be in the forefront. When you see movies that feature African American characters or other characters of color, you see how people gravitate to it because they see characters that look like them on the screen. Ever since I was a kid wanting to do this, that was the initial charge for me: “Man, I wanna see myself on the screen.” I would always draw characters of color in everything that I was trying to do. To be able to bring that a full 180 and actually work on those projects, and in most cases spear-heading those projects and creating those projects, it’s a great time for animation. And I’m glad I’m actually here to take part.
JM: I think it feels right. Hopefully this will get an Academy Award nomination. I wish you all the best with it. One of the other major parts of your life and career has been “The Proud Family”. You are the creator of the show. I know new episodes are coming soon to Disney+. What details are the folks at the Mouse House allowing you to actually say?
BS: (laughs) I’m not supposed to say anything until next Tuesday… hypothetically… but you know it’s like – a lot of our actors have let the cat out of the bag in various sources. I think that just kind of speaks to the excitement and anticipation of revisiting the world of “The Proud Family” and getting the chance to tell new stories that actually will be completely relatable into everything we’re dealing with today. “The Proud Family” has always been sort of a mirror on whatever was going on when we were producing the show. We did the first version from 2001-2005.
You just think about back then: there was no such thing as iPhones or social media. We are going to seamless blend all of those little accoutrements into the stories that we’re trying to tell. It’s gonna be amazing. It’s gonna be really fun. I think people are gonna be really happy with where the characters are in 2021 – or whenever we’re supposed to debut. I think it’ll be well-received.
JM: Did you want to come back, or did Disney approach you? There have been a lot of revivals. Were you anticipating coming back to these characters?
BS: You know… that’s an interesting question because actually I got the call. That was the first thing. But to be honest, when I started to see all these other ideas and projects at Disney get the reboot, I figured it was just a matter of time before they would call. We were the only show that spoke to a different type of audience. They didn’t have any of those types of animated shows that spoke to the co-viewing family audience. A kid could watch it with his parent, and both would get something different out of it.
Through the years, the execs at Disney and I talked about figuring out what’s the best way to revive it. So it’s not the first time we’ve had the conversations. But when Disney+ happened, it just made it obvious that, “Okay – this is an audience this show had that we think we need to have on Disney+.” So that’s where the conversations kind of started. And when I realized that the people that I had worked with before to bring it to life were actually gung-ho about doing it again and we started talking to the cast, all the piece just kind of fell in place.
JM: Everyone’s really looking forward to it. So now that “Hair Love” is online for everyone to check out, how do you summarize the reactions from families all over the world who have been watching it?
BS: There is one connecting comment, especially with families, is that they’ve never really had a short that spoke to them this way. We’re in a space now where there’s a natural hair movement, and this short just happened to drop right in the middle of that movement. It just speaks in the zeitgeist. And that’s just the amazing thing about timing and what the short represents. That common thread has been that it’s been emotional for a lot of families and lots of young kids that actually can see themselves and can pride themselves in their hair. All these things came together all in the right moment. It just gives anyone a sense of self-awareness and a love for themselves where they weren’t getting it. I think this sort of short is life-affirming in that way.
You think about the kids who are watching the short now and getting everything they’re getting out of it. They’ll be doing the same thing – showing this short to their kids some 10 or 15 years from now. And for us, natural hair has been around forever. We just never put a spotlight on it. This short represents that spotlight. So this short will always be around for years to come.
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