00:00One thing about trains, it doesn't matter where they're going.
00:05What matters is decided to get on.
00:09I... I want to live.
00:12Whoa.
00:16You don't want to be bamboozled.
00:19You don't want to be let down to Primrose Bath.
00:31If we could imagine it, we could do it.
00:34And if we wanted to imprint our characters in a different way, we did it instantaneously, which is fun.
00:39We did it at Christmas, the ice is frozen over the treks.
00:43Take one more.
00:45And action.
00:47Your attention, please.
00:49Either TV or express passengers in need of refreshment.
00:55When Tom first brought the project to Bob,
00:58it was with the idea that he would play the conductor.
01:01If I were you, I would think about climbing on board.
01:05With performance capture, you can create any character you want in the computer
01:09and have any performer perform that part.
01:13Am I right?
01:14And in sort of the tradition of the Wizard of Oz,
01:18where, you know, this is sort of a dream, if you will,
01:22the characters that have gone this journey with him are characters that are kind of memories from his real life.
01:27Yes.
01:30So, by way of sort of like Bob's insistence and my coming to an understanding of the reasons why to
01:39do it,
01:39I, yeah, I end up, I'm the boy himself.
01:44I believe.
01:45Although, through many generations of computer artistry and what have you,
01:50I'm the father.
01:53I've got to be asleep by now.
01:56You used to stay awake all night waiting for Santa.
01:59I'm the conductor.
02:03Watch your step, please.
02:08No.
02:10As well as the, um, the hobo.
02:14You mean this guy?
02:19And Santa himself.
02:24What was that you said?
02:26I believe.
02:28This is yours.
02:30Tom would have another actor stand in for him,
02:32who didn't have any sensors on, so he was invisible.
02:35And he would do the lines with Tom, and then Tom would switch to the other,
02:38you know, they would just change places, and then he would do the other characters.
02:41This is the Polar Express.
02:45The North Pole?
02:47Playing multiple characters was, oddly enough, liberating,
02:50because I could, as one half of the scene,
02:54put things in that were odd or strange or specific.
02:58And then on the other side of it, playing the other side of the scene,
03:00I would remember individual moments and could comment on them.
03:03Is this you?
03:04Yes.
03:05The thing that I thought was going to drive me the most nuts,
03:08which is not to have a costume every day,
03:10because, you know, you use your pockets and stuff like that.
03:12But for some reason, I was always able to remember
03:14that the little Chris was wearing a bathrobe that came undone,
03:18and the conductor had pockets and a cap on and glasses
03:21that he was always adjusting,
03:23and the hobo had on a, he had on those kind of like gloves with a finger showing,
03:28and it was ridiculously challenging, but in a very, very good way.
03:32What exactly is your persuasion?
03:34On the big man, since you brought him up.
03:37It's just amazing to watch him,
03:38so you could quickly see him turn from one character to another.
03:42Let's have this fellow here.
03:45And he does it with such ease that it's wonderful to watch him pursue
03:50all these different roles in one movie,
03:52because he has the ability and the gift to do it.
04:02I've never been late before,
04:04and I certainly am not going to be late tonight.
04:06Well, you coming?
