Interviews
Dreamish Interview with David Murray
By Wendy Shepherd
Jul 18, 2006, 23:03 I recently visited a website for the book, Majesty. I found the author, David Murray, very interesting. I decided to ask him for an interview so that I could learn more about his past work with Disney, his present work on Curious George by Universal Pictures, and his books which have been likened to, The Chronicles of Narnia.

His answers have been very inspiring...

[Wendy at Dreamish.com] How did you get started doing animation for Disney?

[David W. Murray] In 1996 the Florida studio was looking worldwide for background painters. Background painters, paint all of those beautiful scenes behind the animated characters. Basically, we are the unsung heroes. Anyway, a good friend from college, the best man at my wedding, submitted his portfolio and was accepted. He suggested I submit my portfolio as well. I took the standard test in November of that year. The test consisted of copying an existing background painting, rather a photo of the BG painting. At that time I was a fashion illustrator and worked primarily in black and white for newspaper print. So painting full color in acrylics was quite a challenge. But things went well and three months later we moved the family to Florida and I was working on Mulan.


[Wendy at Dreamish.com] What have you worked on for Disney? Do you write or animate or both?

[David W. Murray] I worked on Mulan, which was the first animated Disney film to be produced, start to finish, at the Florida studio. It was a big feather in our cap. Next we helped the California studio with Tarzan. Then came Lilo and Stitch, then Brother Bear. I also worked on John Henry, an 8 minute film short. That was a lot of fun. I was the voice of John Henry, in pre-production. Later, they used someone with a deeper voice for the final cut, but still used me for another character, Man 1. I'm sure you remember him well. I never got a chance to write for Disney, which is a very difficult thing. Even John Lassiter of Pixar fame had to leave the company before he was taken seriously. I did however submitted numerous treatments for new story ideas, just as a way of exercising my writing skills.



[Wendy at Dreamish.com] What is the best experience or influence you have had working with Disney?

[David W. Murray] The best experience was ... -> Click to read more of this interview and see photos

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