Over at Winona Ryder News Channel, they have a great interview up with Mike Stovall, one of the 50 or so animators who made A Scanner Darkly, well, animated. Ever wondered what it would have been like to be a part of the animation team for A Scanner Darkly? Shorts and t-shirts, dogs lying around the office, and frequent steak nights, plus a weekly quota of frames to get done. Sounds kinda like my first internet project management gig many moons ago, except we ordered in lots of Chinese take-out (mmm, New York City Chinese food) and Mountain Dew by the case. Ah, the good old days, when working 18-hour-days felt exhilarating and cool.

Stovall also spills on some cool stuff about the animation process itself (it sounds like lots of tedious work, to be honest, but I'm sure it sounds way more exciting to any graphic artists out there) and the film itself, which Stovall says is very true to the book (this, as he also points out, could limit its appeal to audiences used to being spoon-fed). He also let's drop some Winona-related tidbits: she (and the rest of the cast) shot wearing no makeup, and she still looked pretty; and - better sit down now, Winona fans - she's topless in the movie,  but what you're seeing are animated boobies, not the real thing. Ryder wore an exercise top to cover herself during filming. Maybe Sharon Stone will take a lesson from Ryder's playbook on that score. Nah, probably not.

Go read the whole interview, it's good stuff. Cool animation, Winona Ryder, and an intelligent storyline that actually stays true to the book? Wow. Now I'm at least 12% more interested in seeing it. Besides, I kinda want to see which Keanu Reeves we have in this film: Cool, sexy Matrix Keanu? Earnestly serious, I'm-really-trying-to-be-a-good-actor indie film Keanu? Or, heaven forfend, absurdly wooden Johnny Mnemonic Keanu? By the way, in case you missed it the first time, Jette Kernion caught the special-super-top-secret screening of A Scanner Darkly at SXSW, but she unfortunately didn't give us any info on either Keanu's acting or Winona's animated boobies, so you'll just have to wait until July (July? That long?) to see the film yourself.