Alex Woo is the director of Netflix’s new animated film In Your Dreams. Taking inspiration from his own life, he looks at the complexity of relationships in a family, that you can love someone even if they drive you nuts. Be it something silly like siblings fighting over being annoyed by the other or serious problems like when parents have very different beliefs about where the family should go next in life. He also makes an interesting argument that nightmares are better than dreams.
The Contending: I know this story is partially based on your own life, with Stevie being a stand-in for you. Did you have your own Elliot like she did?
Alex Woo: I did. I have a younger brother named Brian and when I was a kid I found him really obnoxious. He was charming but a little bit irresponsible and he really looked up to me, but I found it really obnoxious because I just wanted to be my own person. So yeah, Elliot is very much based on my brother.
The Contending: The family dynamic is great in that you can tell the love that everyone has for each other even when they are annoyed with each other. Even with the parents knowing something needs to change and it could lead to them getting divorced, they still care about what the other is going through. What was it like trying to find the balance of showing the love this family has for each other while also being realistic about why they possibly shouldn’t be together?
Alex Woo: It is a sensitive subject matter. You’re dealing with a family’s uncertainty and we want to make certain that neither parent was the villain. They do not hate each other nor even really dislike each other. It is just that everybody has different points of views and of course that’s going to happen because we’re all individuals. Striking that balance was hard. I tried to make Dad a dreamer and that, if he was giving up on his dreams of making music, it would set a bad example for the kids. For Mom, her dreams have changed and her focus is giving the kids stability, getting them into better schools, and giving them every opportunity that she didn’t have. Both are equally valid, and that was very important for the film.
The Contending: One of the concepts I found most interesting was the different philosophies between Nightmara and the Sandman. Where did that idea come from?
Alex Woo: I’m glad you found it interesting. From the very beginning part of the reason I made this film was that I feel like there’s so much pressure on people to make their dreams come true, especially in American culture. It’s very much about following your dreams, making them come true, and doing whatever it takes. I think a certain amount of that is healthy. I mean, it is why America is so exceptional. But you can get lost in a dream. There can be a dark side to it where you focus so much on achieving this dream that you neglect every other aspect of your life. So I wanted to change the idea of that. I think sometimes people feel (even I feel) that if I don’t achieve my dreams, something is wrong with me and I’m a failure. I just don’t think that is true, and conversely with nightmares, they get such a bad rap in life and understandably so.
But I think the things that have shaped me the most are in the moments when things seem to be at their worst. I may be at rock bottom but I’ve learned the most then, and the people around me, my family and friends, came in and walked me through that mess. That is the power of nightmares. They can really bring people together and they can also prepare us for the future and the uncertainty of life. From the very beginning I wanted to change the conversation around those two concepts.
In Your Dreams streams exclusively on Netflix.
