Warner Bros. will release an animated feature in theaters on December 13th that’s set about 200 years before the events of some of the most beloved and awarded live-action movies of the past 25 years. Director Kenji Kamiyama shares how J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter Jackson and his own previous animated projects inspired the story, characters and look of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was conducted on Zoom with a translator, and was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Congratulations on this. What have you always loved about the themes of “The Lord of the Rings” franchise that you wanted to incorporate in this animated film?

Kenji Kamiyama: This is a story about the war that Helm Hammerhand instigated. And it’s about humans fighting each other. Unlike the novels where it’s quite a mythology and it’s a very clear battle of good and evil, this actually was about Helm and his daughter… and the humanness of it. Human folly causes the war… and transpires all this tragedy. It’s not a clearcut story about good and evil or a big mythology with a lot of magic. It’s actually something that could be quite relevant to what’s happening in the world.

Kenji Kamiyama:Maybe human folly causes all this tragedy and we constantly have to struggle because of the result of our actions and thoughts. That was something very interesting. When getting into it, it needed to be seen from a certain perspective. The whole thing had to be witnessed by someone. This daughter character was a great gateway into it. [And] it’s about her witnessing and reporting on the human struggle. It’s a bit different from the novels’ mythological tales. The human drama was something very attractive to tell this story.

JM: Hera is such a strong lead character. What was it about her that you wanted to show, in terms of her power, her beauty and her heroism?

KK: The marriage proposal to her instigated this whole thing. It was a great way in and a great canvas to start with. I had to think of a lot of the backstory of, “Okay, if she were to be the one who basically witnesses the whole thing, who is she?” I built in backstory within my head. She’s not only great at martial arts but is also very studious. She’s learned how to fight. She can ride fast. I had to build a lot of these details to give her motivation and a proper place for her within the story itself. She comes in as a complete character and person from start to finish. It’s really about the journey she goes on as a person, as a daughter and as a leader of the people.

JM: There is a section of the film involving snow that I love. It’s constantly falling and it looks amazing. How did you technically pull that off? It looks so real and so good!

KK: We couldn’t do all that snow by hand, but this is a 2D animation [film], so there were a lot of challenges to try and build this movie. A lot of 3D techniques were used to support the animation. Snow was built using CG effects, but they had to be carefully constructed so it blends in together with the 2D animation. The person who actually handled the effects on this film also made sure some real shots of the snow were actually incorporated and blended into this. There were a lot of tricks involved in trying to get that look. I’m really happy that you noticed that and enjoyed it.

JM: “The Lord of the Rings” has such a huge fanbase. Did you feel that pressure? And how has what you’ve done in your career so far led you to this point?

KK: I’ve had a long career of producing a lot of series and a few full-length movies as well. But I really wanted to [direct] a movie — tell a story in the format of a film. A lot of the experiences, techniques and tools I’ve been building for myself and learning… it’s the power of persuasion. How real is this for the audience? When you look at something like “Lord of the Rings” and what Peter Jackson has done with the fantasy genre is when you see it, you believe it. The wonderful thing about the Tolkien story was that it’s about elves, Hobbits and wizards, but what’s very interesting is that it’s actually set on Earth. Once the age of mythology ends, the age of man starts.

And it sort of has that connection with the reality. What’s on screen has to be persuasive and have that power of persuasion for people to believe that it is real to them. It’s in the power of storytelling. It’s in the power of visuals. In terms of storytelling, it’s something I’ve been practicing over time. I wanted to apply it to the screen to tell this story. Visually speaking, the scenes of the snow are persuasive — something to draw people in and really make them feel like they’re part of this world while they’re watching this story. They can actually come into this world and start believing that this could happen.

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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