A Wish of Generations: a chat with the multi-generational directors of Disney Animation’s “Wish.”

Underneath the building with the Sorcerer Mickey hat on the Disney lot in Burbank, California are some of the most talented people in the animation world, each one vastly different in life and professional experience.

“Yet we all often have the same dream,” said Chris Buck to DisneyExaminer during the press conference for the newest film from the studio, Wish. “And that was to work here,” said Fawn Veerasunthorn in exuberance to Buck. The two of them are the directors of “Wish,” which is due out in theaters this Thanksgiving.

Both Veerasunthorn and Buck come from two very different cultural, generational, and professional backgrounds.

Buck is a veteran of Walt Disney Animation Studios, having began there for over four decades and worked as a character animator during the so-called “Disney Renaissance” in the 1990s on films like “Pocahontas,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Tarzan.” Growing up in rural Kansas, he went to school for animation at CalArts (an art school supported by Walt Disney) and eventually landed his ‘dream job’ at Disney in 1978.

Conversely, Veerasunthorn was born in Thailand just a few years after Buck began his career at Disney Animation. She recalled being influenced by early Disney animation in works like “Dumbo” which she watched as a kid growing up in Southeast Asia. It was that passion that then led her to drop out of her medical program and move to the United States and learn animation. She was hired by Disney Animation in 2011, which is where she met Buck for the first time.

“I got the chance to meet Chris while working as a storyboard artist on “Frozen”, and I was honored to learn from him,” Veerasunthorn said, sharing that she admired Buck’s attention to detail and expert knowledge of animation. Buck added that he had learned more about story and characters from Fawn, which he said made sharing the director work with her complementary and so pleasant.

“I had the opportunity to learn this craft from Walt Disney’s ‘Nine Old Men’ whom Walt taught animation to directly. It felt like working on this film that I was handing down the baton to Fawn,” Buck said. He went on to say that knowledge included ‘classic’ Disney animation techniques and styles, as well as storytelling that imbued joy, magic, and hope.

As for how Wish incorporated both Veersaunthorn and Buck’s knowledge, they both agreed that, like previous Disney animated films, were less about one specific creative knowledge and more about the collective knowledge and talent from the studio.

“There is such a rich history in this building from people working here a long time to those who just started, and we all share our knowledge and life experiences. We’re just maybe representing the wide range of talent and life experience here,” Veerasunthorn said.

Added Buck sharing the same sentiment, “Our journeys to this place are all different, and we embrace those differences here. This is a movie about wishes and what it takes to make them come true. For many of us at the studio, our dream was to work here making these films, and that has happened. Isn’t that neat?”

Disney’s “Wish” is now playing in theaters and will exclusively stream on Disney+ at a later date.

Our special thanks to Fawn Veerasunthorn and Chris Buck for contributing to this EXCLUSIVE story!

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