Canada’s Chris Williams ‘still processing’ Oscar win for Animated Feature

TORONTO – Canadian director Chris Williams is just getting his voice back.

Several days after winning an Oscar for the animated film Big Hero 6, his hoarseness has waned and he’s finally able to talk about his whirlwind experience, which included chats with John Travolta and Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, and rock-star treatment from admirers.

“I’m still processing things that just happened,” says the Kitchener, Ont.-bred animator in a telephone interview from Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“Feeling like I’m in a bit of a dream right now.”

Williams won his best animated feature Oscar on Sunday along with co-director Don Hall and producer Roy Conli. Other nominees in the category included his good friend Dean DeBlois of Aylmer, Que., for How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-native Graham Annable for The Boxtrolls.

It was Williams’s second Oscar nomination after 2008’s Bolt.

He says he “kind of blanked out” the moment Big Hero 6 won. He “came back into consciousness walking towards the stage.”

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As presenter Johnson escorted him off-stage, he asked Williams for advice on voicing the demi-god Maui in the upcoming Disney animated feature Moana.

“He was asking about the process and looking for tips for voiceover,” says Williams, 46.

“I’ve been a fan of his since his wrestling days, so it was nice to have that time with him.”

Backstage, Williams says they “felt the power of the moment” when John Legend and Common performed the Oscar-winning song from Selma.

They also chatted and took pictures with Patricia Arquette, who won the best supporting actress Oscar for Boyhood. They had become friends after previously running into each other on the awards circuit.

“Oh, and I bumped into John Travolta backstage,” says Williams, noting he worked with the star on Bolt.

“I talked to him about the fact that Bolt was the first film that Disney made after the arrival of (chief creative officer) John Lasseter and how that movie really became a turning point for our studio.”

After the show, Williams went to the Governors Ball, where admirers asked to take pictures with the Oscar.

Williams then went to the Vanity Fair party. He was ticket-less but his golden statuette had him covered.

“We got to security and I showed them the Oscar and they said, ‘Congratulations, come on in,'” says Williams.

“And there was Jay Z and Beyonce and pretty much every famous person.”

He and his wife went home at 2:30 a.m., “excited and honestly a little drunk,” he says with a laugh.

Williams, Hall and Conli had to get up early the next morning to go to Disney to celebrate with the film crew and company executives.

“Don and Roy and myself … we all agreed that we would put our tuxedos back on and show up in our somewhat dishevelled state, and it was really cool,” says Williams.

He transported his Oscar to the office wrapped in a towel in his backpack. He had to pull it out when he stopped into his local coffee shop in Los Angeles.

“The person behind the counter looked at me and she said, ‘Did you win an Oscar the other night?’ and I said ‘Yes, I did! It’s actually in my bag here. Do you want to take a picture with it?,'” recalls Williams.

“They took it behind the counter and they all took a picture with it. They gave me a free scone, which was nice.”

Williams is now trying to get caught up on the flurry of messages he’s received from well wishers, including his elementary art teacher from Margaret Avenue Public School in Kitchener.

“It’s been a fun couple of days,” he says.

“I’m still catching up on my sleep at this point.”