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Available on all podcasting apps. Woo! Hey, everybody. My name's Kavita.
I'm the co-host of 4Move Night Podcast. Thank you for jumping in this afternoon. We have a really exciting, it's more than just a panel, we have things to watch. And we have one of the people I've been most excited about talking to, and then that was solidified yesterday when I introduced myself, and we got to talk about what we're going to do here today.
So I would like to bring to the stage now, John Dilworth. So, hello, lovely people. My name is John Dilworth, and thank goodness you are not. But I'm here because my host is the most gracious, thank you, Craig and Sandy, and this creature feature weekend, so that I could present to you two unique pieces.
One, a short called The Chicken from Outer Space, which I ran rightly so, because it's rare to produce anything of any quality once in one's lifetime. And this short really started it all, incidentally. And then my latest short, which is a romantic horror comedy about relationships and werewolves called How, If You Love Me. And Kyle and I will be discussing these two films, and after that, I presume we will have questions, interrogations, abuse, I will answer all, because I am here as your servant, and I am grateful for your attendance.
And I think that concludes this opener. Thank you. Thank you for your grace on that. You know, very excited.
This is the stuff I love. I love that we get to have something to chat about, and sort of an up-to-date, retrospective book ending of work. Yeah. Does this work?
Hello? Hello? Hello? Is this on?
Hi-ya! Hi-ya! Hi-ya! Is there a PA here?
Oh. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A little bit better?
Oh, sorry. I just wanted to be able to do... Is this a volume this well? Yeah?
All right. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thank you. Really awesome to be able to see both these pieces here at this time. And, you know, we have other films that are playing, but it's cool to get this sprinkled into our panel. So, you know, we're at a horror convention.
It's really important to just chat about sort of the horror elements of what you do. What is... Not just horror, sci-fi, just any genre stuff. It tells a lot of your story, or at least the environment for your stories.
What do you feel like using that detail, using that genre? How does that elevate what you want to do? Is it just whimsy, or is it like there's other stuff going on? I think it all stems from a compulsion to dominate my mother.
I actually, if you prefer... I have the couch off the side. We can do more therapeutic. I'll just lay down then and bring in Dr.
Fry. The thing is, my brother and I, when we were very young, we were obsessed with the childhood fantasy of frightening our parents, though they collapsed in a seizure. So we would hide everywhere we could conceive. And when my mother returned from a hard day's labor, exhausted, right?
Out we came from a closet. Booga, booga, booga. Effective. What was the effect rate?
Was it 100% every time? 120%. This woman was so easy to touch. And the joy that that brought my brother and I was like a tattoo.
It's just going to be part of it. Foundational, yeah. Well, it comes across in both pieces that we saw, in so much of your other work, but it's just really cool to see them bookending. And it's nice that you have your short and we're able to bring it here, because I think the fun thing I like about Creature Future Weekend is not only do we just have horror guests, but we have guests that have really, in the same way that you have at this foundation, that have made work that lays a foundation outside of horror for us, you know?
And it started with that award-winning short that you had. And what was that like coming out and building a bigger world with that short film and out of that? Was that always the plan? Was there always a universe-building type thing that would come from that short?
I have to think. I can't say that it was conscious. It was a requirement of the task. But I am, by choice, a short filmmaker.
And I have been making short films, like Howl, right out of school. In fact, in art school, I started. And The Chicken from Outer Space is odd, because somehow I was touched by the horror bug. But the horror wasn't the point of it.
It was like a setup for a punchline. I just really wanted to react to whatever unpleasantness was happening in a humorous way. Or gags. And then what happens is it gets misconstrued.
And only I hear about the horror. It's true. And no one talks about the comedy. Well, I think you've made a successful horror comedy, which is a genre that I think a lot of us would agree on.
It's not easy. Horror and comedy are not easy. It's separated. And then you mix them together.
So I think our point is the horror. But the comedy is what drives the rest of it. The horror foundation and comedy drives the rest of it. There's a lot of laughs in here.
And for people who have seen it before, Howl is new to us. But the Chicken from Outer Space, we have knowledge of that. And we get to laugh with that. And then it echoes in Howl.
So what has it been like bringing Howl? Have you shown it in other festivals or other settings? Howl is now running through its second year around the world in horror film festivals. Traditional festivals don't want anything to do with this film.
And of course, I have theories based on prejudices, societal prejudices. But I don't know if it's appropriate to expand here. Before you do, I do want to say that that microphone is open for questions. You can step up at any time.
I'll keep an eye on it. And I don't mind you sharing some of that if you would like to. But it really is an extension of courage. Because the fundamental philosophy of courage is the things I do for love.
Courage is a personal motto. And you see what he puts himself through, right? Yeah. And yet, he never loses his humanity as an animal, right?
And is motivated by love. And even love for the less pleasant qualities of humanity. Use this. And every villain or adversary that he confronts, there's no hostility.
It's almost like he already accepts that this split, this duality exists in us. So what prevents us from being totally evil or ridiculously good? Right, right. That's a beautiful dichotomy because, you know, I have a thought that he's four years old.
And right now, it's all about dichotomy. It's good guy versus bad guy or, like, good versus evil. And to then not have to have particularly animated things, you know, something that is a little bit more approachable, actually wrestle with some of that or not have such a dichotomy is really interesting. I think it's touched a lot of us as we've either grown up or caught courage and beyond.
You know, it's a really loving and interesting character and cartoon and arc. And I like how you described it that way. And I think that gives people something to chew on, you know, which is why it's been so successful. I think, for me, it's more of a contradiction to the established beliefs that there is only one and another, right?
A genuinely good person who's compassionate can do cruel things, but is not cruel. Sure. Right? And you could even have, as an argument, a cruel person who is capable of doing kind acts, but is mostly cruel.
Right. The leading one is the cruelty with the two Cs. And I had an attempt to portray this with Eustace, with his visit to his mother, who was even more cruel to him. Right?
So you're talking about generational cruelty. A generational, learned generational behavior. Yeah. Yeah.
And he didn't have an opportunity to think of another way. Right? You know, it's amazing. You just go this way.
You know, I came from parents who were like, cartoons are not great. And just to talk with somebody who is creating something on a different level or something that has, you know, emphasis on that is really lovely. So I'm happy to talk to that. And I actually got a question that we have a question up at the microphone here.
If you'd like to come up and ask your question to the microphone, you can just give us your name. Hello, I'm Roland. Roland? Roland.
Roland. Got it. So what's your favorite side character to put in your episode of Courage? What was?
I like to call side characters supporting players. Right? And I think the Lindt lady. Roland, do you have a favorite?
No, not really. Not really. All right. Lindt lady.
Yeah. I had voiced 104 supporting characters. That's right. Every cartoon I did a voice because SAG pays you.
Incidental voice acting. I had the professionals do the heavy lifting and then I just did a camp, you know, a walk through. That's a pro move. Yeah.
But I did the voices of some pretty indelible characters like King Ramsey. Return the slab or suffer my curse. That thing, right? And then perhaps we know this other one, the floating head.
You're not perfect. Yeah. That thing. Yeah.
That was a very full reaction. Yeah. So these things were not intended to frighten anyone. I mean, I really wasn't.
I'm not thinking writing. I'm not thinking drawing. How can I frighten the jeepers out of people? You know, that's almost sadistic, right?
So I just thought, what a cool image, right? And it has its own world. But, you know, I'm innocent. That's right.
You didn't mean to share anybody. Yeah. So that's it. And then Lindt lady is another one.
I had lots of fun with her. But just doing incidental supporting characters. Over 100, too. I never get any credit, of course.
Well, your credit is here. And I'm by the human lady. This is strong and out of race. Yeah.
Yeah. And in Holland, if you love me, the component of sacrifice is constant with courage. And the young man in love with his woman offers himself, right, to save her. Granted, it's not a great concept.
It's rather Main Street. But there was a point in it. And the conventional, I feel, is still potent. The idea of a union on the rights, virtues, right, that needs to be honored.
And you can't do that if you're not willing, forgive me, to sacrifice parts of your life, you know? So transformation. There's an argument that Jules, the woman, had acted in a way to set Jim up to become a man. Interesting.
But she sacrificed herself to get caught, to raise him up. Now, it's a gamble. He could have ran. But he did it.
Yeah. They had an established relationship under the full moon. And, you know, like an actual human or wolf relationship under the full moon. So the sacrifice is, or whose sacrifice is necessarily not necessarily the question, but the fact that there was a sacrifice at all has kept them together.
And there were two sacrifices. Yeah. And under the moon, as we all know about the moon, is a thing that dies and comes back to life, right? And in the end, when they come back to life, it is the sun that greets them, the eternal life, right?
So symbolism and metaphor are all through all my shorts, all of them. And courage is loaded with them, but those that seek them out. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And you're in the right place for people who have. I know that for a fact. We have another question up here.
So my big question is, so you have so many different characters, so many different, you know, villains throughout the show, but all of them have good motivation that I feel like at least every character you can understand where they're coming from. Even if they're a silly chicken from outer space, you can still kind of understand what their goal is. How do you accomplish, like, setting up goals for villain characters? Yeah, motivation, right?
What motivates us? It takes some consideration. And if you have a villain, adversary, let's say the chicken from outer space. I mean, the original chicken from outer space came, right?
Courage snapped him. It only seems reasonable that there's another chicken from outer space to take revenge, right? It's the oldest Greek setup, right? I mean, the earliest human.
So there it is. That's one motive, right? Revenge. Familial revenge.
Yeah. The thing about that is, in our most modern times, is, is it necessary? Are there not another way, right? This whole idea of retribution, I'm against.
That's the compassion of being human. But not saying to be left free, to continue doing your naughty, right? Right. Yeah.
There is accounting to be done. Well, absolutely. Accountability is, right? And there's other variables and other characters and other people who have completely other motivators and they have a whole other thing that sometimes those paths don't even cross.
So it's got to be fun to play with those many characters and get them all just a... different a different layout or different road to travel throughout i think that's why he's connected with so many supporting characters there's so much there's a lot of love for somebody like courage and there's a lot of love for the supporting characters too because they all have something they all have something going on they're not filler by any means i think the most successful one is the hunchback if anybody knows the hunchback where he is rejected as being just unacceptable by eustace right and courage makes him feel acceptable right and of course courage is also unacceptable right so you courage courage has is the catalyst for a lot of those supporting characters you know also being open enough to be there for somebody yeah yeah yeah there's empathetic quality that dogs have yes it was a dog that first recognized odysseus when he returned from the trojan war when nobody else did it's his dog who knew his after 10 years yeah yeah dogs are magic magic absolutely dogs are magic we got another question up here my question is actually for my son evan but he didn't want to come up so evan evan we got you buddy um he was just wondering why you decided to make courage pink if there's any symbolism behind the color what's wrong with pink i think there's a lot of love for pink well the thing is one of my favorite cartoon characters is the pink panther and that did influence my choice of a color to perhaps suggest a vulnerability right a delicacy let's say of sentiment right and perhaps even an attraction i mean who could object to such a rose colored character but i couldn't believe at the time the network having such trouble marketing a pink dog in a boys market that it really troubled the network and i don't think we've ever survived it they changed the color they didn't call it pink anymore they called it fuchsia pardon me so there is a prejudice for colors in business i mean it's marketing but this goes back to my it's more than that though what you're getting at is more than that about the pink versus fuchsia and the the gender of it all at a time period but it goes on still of course yeah yeah and the way that we're being compartmentalized to think that's entrainment yeah so i think it was was a okay a deliberately ignitable gesture on my part but for the good yeah right and then confront prejudice yeah yeah well i think that just that detail alone uh helps us approach courage regardless of what marketing and marketers said maybe it was difficult at the time but the longevity lives on beyond uh that moment in time they're trying to market it you know it goes see it on tv is brown yeah blue is blue it's it's absolutely engineered yeah yeah yeah yeah without a doubt um oh there's another question right here hi so this is actually another question that kind of has to do with the network um coming at this as an early 2000s kid so i kind of watched as courage got shifted through the blocks till it's like towards the end like just basically how do you feel about kind of that changing perspective that it seemed the network developed over the years you know that is a decision that people tasked with the job of exploiting products are involved in not creators we don't have a say in that they have all the wizardry and data about how to position a product to maximize profit profit also it's a means of diminishing competition if an existing product that's similar would suffer from a new product was that too complex no i might have worded it a little differently i guess kind of overall like how not just network but media saw courage because it went from being like a midday show to before like the adult for the older folk show so it's kind of like i guess subject matter wise was more of my thought i just think it's exploiting the maximizing the exploitation principle and also to again like i just said there are so many strategies going on it's not possible to know which one it's back room stuff yeah like nobody ever conferred with me sure yeah yeah it wasn't yeah yeah i'm gonna have one more question um i thought i saw some more folks lined up here um and then we uh and then we have time for one more hi uh jen so i kind of grew up with cursed cowardly dog and how it had all these different influences and different horror influences everything like cosmic horror creature features all in kind of this almost quality zone type setting um but what i would like to know is what do you think is the scariest episode of the show or any of them kind of based on something that you found frightening yourself really yeah curious i can't say that anything pops out and not to contrive an answer but again i didn't think they were scary so you really didn't see but it's more of comedy then parody parody okay yeah parody of our emotions all right i'll change it then was there a favorite episode that you had uh that you created well i intended with several of them the mask especially it's a two-parter and the tower of dr jalous which was a two-parter and jalous in croatian means sorrow and that character which is always interesting to me of maybe perhaps you recognize the quality a miserable person cannot be happy unless they make others miserable right so this is jalous it was so sorrowful anyway those two but so many how do you differentiate between the love of one child and the love of them all thank you yeah um thank you so much for this awesome afternoon conversation what a lovely town thank you thank you you can continue to see john at his table uh all weekend um and we appreciate you being here and spending some good afternoon with us thank you drop everything the mcdonald's creamy parmesan and baking quarter pounder is back for a limited time so juicy so cheesy this burger demands your full attention made with 100 canadian beef topped with a creamy parmesan and black pepper sauce hickory smoked bacon and crispy onions oh 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