I was a huge fan of 'Star Wars': Zack Snyder

What do you think adds to the story telling of your new film?
We’ve seen other 3D movies and they’re awesome-ish.  We were talking about how there are rules. They say you can only make a 3D movie in certain ways and you can only make certain shots, and I felt like what we did is we really made this 3D movie in a cinematic way. 

We tried not to change the language of the movie for the 3D, but we tried to get it to enhance the language of the movie. The 3D isn’t used in a gimmicky way, but it does deepen the (cinematic) world. And I really believe that’s especially important in a fantasy film like this, and it really is a fantasy film. So, you really are going on an adventure to another world, like, literally.

What are the age ranges of your six children?
My youngest kid is 10 years old and I have a 12-year-old, two 13-year-olds, a 15-year- old and a 17-year-old.

And was one of them a fan of the book? Is that what got you into this?
No, actually, but my 12-year-old has read all of the books.

Have they all seen the film, and what do they think of it?
They’ve all seen the film. They think it’s awesome.

What was your point of view in terms of making this big adventure for kids?
I wanted to make an adventure film that was like Star Wars or the Narnia series or Lord of the Rings — or something like that. I guess the whole thing for me was that I wanted to take what Kathryn Lasky (author of the bood on which the movie is based) wrote in the books and treat it seriously.

I knew the book is a kids’ fantasy and the last thing I wanted to do is sort of smirk at this fantasy that they believe is 100 per cent real. I wantead to take 100 per cent seriously. You know, these owls are wearing helmets. I think the thing that makes it strong is that I’m just like, ‘That’s real and that’s the way I want to approach it,’ so it’s immersive.

And at the end, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, that actually happened.’ Look, I was a huge fan of Star Wars. I loved that sort of Joseph Campbellian hero mythic journey.  I really wanted that experience in the movie.