After a storied career creating two entries in cult classic Cartoon Saloon’s “Irish folklore trilogy” — including the Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers, the subject of our interview — screenwriter Will Collins speaks with a surprisingly youthful conviction about the power of storytelling. His beliefs are rooted as much in the folklore of his home country of Ireland as in the lingering uncertainty in all of us. Throughout our conversation, Collins returned to a fascinating central tension: the coexistence of rational thought and the pull of the magnificent art and mysticism that are present within his work. Wolfwalkers follows Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) and her trusty falcon sidekick Merlyn as they travel into the woods to the disapproval of Robyn’s wolfhunter father (Sean Bean). While there, she runs into the spritely Mebh (Eva Whittaker), who she soon discovers is a wolfwalker: a human by day, wolf by night. Needless to say, Robyn’s world is flipped upside down the more drawn she is into the beautifully hand-drawn forest landscapes that hold secrets beyond her wildest dreams. Based on true Irish history and local folklore, the film is a surprisingly action-packed and deeply resonating exploration of how courage is gained when perspective is earned, and how we can change our lives in the most unlikely of places.
Collins sat down with me after our time at the Stockfish Film Festival to talk about Wolfwalkers‘ real-life history, the responsibility of filmmakers to embed complex ideas into animated mediums, and the role of magical realism within his work and the world as a whole. What emerged from our conversation was not a definitive answer to whether or not this magic essence exists, but rather the desperate importance in making space for it.
Bella Vega: In Wolfwalkers and your previous film, Song of the Sea, there’s this juxtaposition between a skeptic protagonist who comes across a character with innate magic and who, throughout the course of the movie, becomes more open to magic. How did you come up with this dramatic contrast?
Will Collins: We in Ireland have our own particular folklore, and we grew up hearing folklore, myths, legends, and ghost stories. We were raised in an environment where the supernatural was potentially there. There’s a lot of superstition already ingrained in the culture around mythology and that other realm. It’s kind of embedded in us to have this sense of light skepticism, but an ounce of reverence as well, in regard to superstition and folklore. It wasn’t a conscious effort, but more so speaking to how we saw the world ourselves.
BV: Do you think your films answer whether superstition is real or not?
WC: I think there should always be room for magical realism in the world. The wonderful thing about living in this universe is that there are always mysteries. A great many of us are seeking out the answer to great mysteries, whether we do it through a scientific method or whether we do it through our own. I think the world is a far more interesting place when there’s a little bit of magic in there, so I always like to leave a gap in the door. I’m very much a person who sees the world in a very rational way — I love learning about the world and the universe from a very practical scientific manner — but I absolutely adore the element of the unknown, which is, “We don’t know what comes after we’ve shed this mortal coil.”
I remember in the development of Song of the Sea, we had a particular story problem. For the longest time, I struggled to write it in a way that was satisfying, and I remember, one night before going to bed, focusing on the problem of the story. I’m just going to throw this problem out into the ether to whatever fairies or mind angels exist out there and hope they’ll bring me the answer in the morning. And, sure enough, the next morning, I was getting ready and it just popped into my head. I feel you have to let your consciousness play and be open. You have to have an open mindset to find solutions and connect to that mystical sort of thinking.
BV: Wolfwalkers is your first animated project with a directly historically inspired plotline. Would you tell me about the real-life history that went into this?
WC: Wolfwalkers is based on a local legend called the Wolves of Ossory, a legend based in and around Kilkenny, where Cartoon Saloon is based. Back in the 1640s, Oliver Cromwell, who was a British general called the Lord Protector, came over to Ireland to properly industrially colonize Ireland and turn it into working farmland. Ireland had dense woodland; we actually would have had a rainforest without colonization. They just wanted to get in there and cut back that forest, but the problem was that they met a lot of resistance from Irish people. As they started to deforest the landscape, they found that there was a big native wolf population as well, which was an inconvenience to them.
The English would send wolf hunters to Ireland to go into the woods to exterminate these wolves. They gave them a list of what they’d get for a wolf pelt and what they would get for an Irish wood dweller, the people who resisted the forceful colonization and retreated into the woods. Cromwell propagated this urban myth that the Irish people who were living in the woods were actually wolf changelings, and that when they slept, they would become wolves. So essentially, he was telling these wolf hunters that if you killed an Irish person who’s hiding up in the woods, you are essentially killing a wolf. He would give the same price for the killing of a wolf.
BV: Why did this anti-imperialist sentiment feel important to you to explore in an animated medium — specifically, in a child’s animated film?
WC: I think it’s important to tell stories that you have strong feelings about, whether your audience is mainly a young audience or or an adult audience. I often find that when you break these things down through the narrative of something that’s supposed to be quite simple, you can actually bake in some pretty complex and nuanced ideas under the surface. I think the function of fairy tales throughout history, throughout our existence — they’re always cautionary tales. They’re telling us not to go into the woods. They’re telling us to be careful what you wish for. They’re generally warning us about things. And [Wolfwalkers] is just one of those examples.
I think the fairy tales you tell your youth help formulate their worldview as they become adults. It is so important to make sure that they’re receiving stories that have messages and themes and life lessons that they can reference and help them understand the world. I think the sophisticated idea of “colonialism ain’t such a good thing” is an important worldview for children to have at a young age. basically telling them, “Look out for the little guy. Let’s not side with the big bully. Because big bullies can come in different shapes. Watch out for big boys with big sticks coming around your neck of the woods, imposing themselves on you. It’s not a good thing, and we need to stand up to them, even if we see it happening to other people.”
BV: There’s a range of interpretations of the relationship between Mebh and Robyn: there’s a queer analysis, and a more platonic/familial analysis. Where do you fall in your interpretation of them?
Tomm [Moore, co-director of Wolfwalkers]: Do you want to know something? I really feel I would be taking something away if I answered that. But I think it’s okay to say that we were aware, while we were developing the story, that this is almost like a queer relationship. It changed, because in the first two drafts of the story, Robyn was a boy. We’d gotten a couple of people’s notes who said, “What if Robyn was a girl?” Immediately, it felt like a much better course correction for these characters. And the charge — the energy charge — that was there between Robyn as a boy and Mebh was very similar to when changed Robyn to a girl. When writing their relationship, I leaned into one of my own childhood friendships. My neighbor growing up was a bit of a tomboy, and we would go out into the fields exploring, climbing trees, and all that sort of stuff. There was that kind of excitement and delight and a secret charge to us, but we just were great, great friends.
I love that people interpret [Mebh and Robyn] in various different ways. I think it would be doing a disservice to say, “Oh, it’s this or that.” I think leaving it in the hands of the audiences is far nicer, and to leave mysteries there. I’m okay with however people want to interpret.
BV: Do you feel like you have more freedom as a screenwriter within the animated sector, despite it being so regionally and culturally based, than if you had pursued that path in live-action film?
WC: I grew up being a lover of film, and just wanted to tell stories visually. That has always been my dream. My first feature was a live-action feature, and I never imagined that I would work in animation, but as soon as the opportunity arose, I jumped at it because it was one of those boxes I wanted to tick. When Tomm proposed the idea of Wolfwalkers, I was so excited, because it felt almost like a totally different genre. It was much more action-oriented, it was much grittier [than Song of the Sea]. Even though it was still painted with a very similar brush, I was getting the opportunity to go into a totally different genre. But I was still telling a story through the point of view of young people. I always wanted to tell stories that had that element of magical realism, and when I look at the films that I’ve made, I feel like I am scratching that itch for me creatively. Ultimately, I always wanted to really move people as well.
BV: What sort of things are you inspired by right now? What’s on your radar creatively — any books, or music, or other films?
WC: That’s a good question. Honestly, I have found myself in a groove of watching old ’80s teen romances at the moment. I just watched Valley Girl. Stories about young people finding love or finding themselves. And I just started watching Vision Quest. The world is in so much turmoil that I find myself doomscrolling an awful lot, and I find myself being drawn to an awful lot of trusted podcasts that you know are discussing current affairs. I really want to break that cycle right now, and I think that’s a part of the reason why I find myself going back to a simpler time where there’s an earnestness to the storytelling and the characters and the problems that they’re facing — there’s a humanity there.
BV: Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers were both nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. How does it feel for you, as an Irish screenwriter creating films that are centered around Irish folklore and culture, being able to represent that on a stage like the Oscars, and to get this worldwide recognition for your work?
WC: It is a dream come true for someone who grew up in rural Ireland in the 1980s and early ’90s and watched the Oscars as a kid. I remember feeling that the people who made the things I loved were all in this room giving each other awards; that was the World Cup I wanted to be in. And now to be a member of the Academy, it feels like there’s this abstract box that’s been ticked for me. I love the fact that, every year now, I get to watch all of these amazing films, and I get the opportunity to cast my vote on the ballot to try and get the one that I love the golden statuette. But I don’t go to bed every night going, “Oh, wow.” My own kids couldn’t give two hoots.
I learned a very interesting statistic in the lead up to the last Oscars: that the country that has the highest number of Oscar wins and Oscar nominations per capita is Ireland. I think I’m just a part of carrying the belt of a culture that has great value in arts, storytelling, music, performance. I genuinely think there’s something in our culture — a great value in being able to tell a story or write something wonderful, or be able to play a musical instrument or dance or perform. We feel the arts are something that everyone, no matter what class you’re from or where you’re from, is accessible to all people, and should be accessible to all people. I am proud to be a part of that game.
The writer would like to give special thanks to Business Iceland for facilitating this coverage.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
