New animated film “Epic” has strong SMU ties
A writer and an executive producer of the new animated movie "Epic", William Joyce and James V. Hart, are alumni of SMU's Meadows School of the Arts. At a recent private screening for the Meadows School Division of Film and Media Arts, the two spoke to students, alumni and supporters.
By Chris Vognar
Dallas is rarely at the top of the list for movie previews, but the fine new animated film Epic has strong local ties: Two of the writers and executive producers, William Joyce and James V. Hart, are SMU alumni, and they feel strongly about representing the school. Hart and director Chris Wedge, the man behind the Ice Age franchise, watched the movie with an audience for the first time Monday night at NorthPark, and they stopped by the Texas Discovery Gardens Tuesday afternoon to do a presentation on the film.
Sitting in the Gardens butterfly house, Wedge and Hart discussed their desire to make a bona fide adventure movie and some of their Epic inspirations, from dodging giant mosquitoes in the Adirondacks to N.C. Wyeth lithographs.
Hart, a Fort Worth native, also talked about the impact of his education at SMU (Class of 1969). The Meadows School Division of Film and Media Arts will host a private screening of Epic for students, alumni and supporters 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cinemark 17. The event is important to Hart: He wants current students there to know they can go on to do big things in the industry (including working with Beyonce, who voices the forest queen Tara)....