Julio Soto Gurpide has directed Viva Kids’ latest theatrical animated feature release Inspector Sun, opening this Friday October 27th. It’s about a detective spider in the mid-1930s trying to solve a murder mystery on a flight. Gurpide unravels the web of intricacies that went into making this comedy adventure. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Your lead character looks great — a seven-legged spider. He’s a cross between Hercule Poirot and Jacques Cleaseau. What do you love about Inspector Sun?

Julio Soto Gurpide: What didn’t I love?! The first time I read the script by Rocco Pucillo, I knew the script had won the Samuel Goldwyn Award. It was the first time that an animation script won this award. I knew there was something fascinating about it. What I loved about it was the whole universe: the insects that have built a world parallel to the humans, the mystery case / the murder. It had all the elements to be original, super special and very attractive.

JM: And it’s set in 1934. That’s such a cool time period that you really play with. What kinds of details did you want to focus on with setting the film in 1934?

JSG: There were a lot of elements we wanted to introduce from film noirs, like the smugglers, the detectives, the apprentice, the femme fatale, the black widow, the assassins. Everything from the way they’re dressed to the way they behave and their voices. We wanted to build a film noir for kids based in the 1930s during a flight. All the elements were amazing.

JM: When I was in college I got exposed to some film noir movies, like “The Maltese Falcon” and “Double Indemnity” — seeing Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. And one of the strengths of this movie is the dialogue — quick and sharp. I’m sure, in reading the script, the dialogue just jumped off the page.

JSG: Yes. You mentioned the two movies that I always had in my mind when making this movie. “The Maltese Falcon” is one of my favorite movies from that time. But also “The Naked Gun”. The detective is so clumsy and says all the wrong things, but eventually he solves the mystery. And Janey, the apprentice, is super smart and helps the older guy.

JM: That’s a great dynamic. Janey is a jumping spider who is a big fan of Sun and has a little bit of a crush on him. She wants to be his assistant. How did you want to make sure that dynamic is strong all the way through?

JSG: You always have to play with contrasts. You have Inspector Sun, who has lost his wife. He’s about to retire from the police department. Everybody says that he’s been lucky throughout his career, that he has no talent, so he’s a bit burned out. And on the other hand you have Janey, who’s super energetic and hilarious. Everything she says has a little bit of a joke. She wants to become the next detective. That dynamic of the burnt out guy and the super energetic new apprentice plays really well, especially with the humor.

JM: And one of the things Sun has to learn is opening himself up to more — to Janey and to more in general. That’s an effective theme for kids to open themselves up to more in life. You do a great job with that.

JSG: There’s a recurring theme in the movie where Inspector Sun is always by himself… always alone. Throughout the movie he starts opening up to Janey’s comments, reactions and ideas. He learns to listen and accept that he can learn, which is important.

JM: Absolutely. There’s a sequence involving ants where you create a mound of a colony of ants that fills up the room. How challenging was that?

JSG: That was probably the most difficult part of the movie, technically. (laughs) We spent countless months trying to figure out the dynamics of all the ants and all the collisions between them. You have to give each of them a certain personality and behavior. That took a long time and resources. A lot of people worked on that. You nailed it. That was the most difficult part of the movie.

JM: Wow! You pulled it off. And from a visual perspective, what’s interesting about “Inspector Sun” is that you’re playing with scale as well. These are tiny creatures. There are scenes early on at a dock where there are humans walking around next to ships, boats and planes… and you have all these tiny creatures. What did you enjoy the most about playing with scale and trying to make that work?

JSG: I think it’s a very unusual point of view, from an insect — close to ground. How would you see the world from that perspective? That’s very challenging and very interesting for a director to tackle. It’s very complicated technically because the moment you build a tiny creature that has plenty of details — when you see it close to the camera you can see all of the hairs. At the same time you have a massive character in the background. The computer starts going crazy. It was challenging but I enjoyed it very much. It’s very unique.

JM: I agree. I know you also directed the 2017 animated movie “Deep”. What did you learn on that experience that you applied to “Inspector Sun”?

JSG: With each movie, you learn new things. I guess the biggest lesson you learn is how to be economical. We don’t have the big budgets that Pixar, Disney or DreamWorks have. We have to be smart about the things we do. [“Deep”] took place in the deepest part of the ocean. It was massive. The sets were massive. Everything was huge. There were millions of fish. For this new movie, we contained everything within a plane. Constraining everything to one big set became a lot more manageable and easier to deal with. Then you can use the resources more intelligently.

JM: Having a studio like Viva Kids behind this, which is committed to putting animated movies in theaters… what does that mean to you?

JSG: It means the world right now because everybody is so used to sitting in their living room watching movies on platforms. We’re sort of abandoning the experience of joining other strangers in a big room, with the lights going off and sharing a two-hour experience of somebody telling us a story. There’s something very primordial about it, which I think we’re losing watching movies on the platforms. This is not a critique about platforms. This is just a critique about losing the experience of going to the movies. Since I was a child… it was very enriching and made me, in a way, the person that I am.

JM: The theatrical experience is unlike anything else. And it’s amazing that, if we had this conversation this time four years ago, we wouldn’t have been talking about it in this way of people watching everything at home. It’s fascinating where things are, but I hope families go see this in theaters. I know this movie has been a long time coming. How are you going to celebrate the big day?

JSG: (laughs) That’s a good question. I haven’t thought about it. But I guess I will celebrate when I see the numbers and people going to the movies. Fingers crossed, I think we’re gonna have good numbers and good reasons to celebrate.