LAND BEFORE TIME PRODUCER CALLED US | John Pomeroy Interview

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]John Pomememoroy, the guy who animated Littlefoot and Sarah while Spielberg watched just approved our reimagination of The Land Before Time. He screened his personal [music] pencil test, fixed our CG nightmares, dropped the rare Bluth Studio split story, and revealed those rumored [music] deleted T-Rex scenes. Hi everyone, my name is Joey Lea, and I'm directing the CGI reimagining of The Land Before Time. Little Foot, our 20inut CG tribute, [music] bringing that beautiful film back to life. This interview changed everything for the team and I. So, so just picture this.

[00:00:33]Six-year-old me watching Lambeore time on the VHS over and over. Little foot loses his mom, makes friends with total strangers [music] he'd never normally talk to, and finds hope through absolute grief. That film absolutely broke my heart, but it kind of built my directing soul. Dark worlds leading into light.

[00:00:52]That's been my film making north star ever since. Fast forward to now. Bedroom studio, zero budget, pure passion. I post on Facebook. Does anyone here want to remake Glambe Time in CG just for the love of the story? Matt joins rigging and texturing wizard. Davidid joins absolute animation genius. Then our composer, then our render artist, then a few more animators. Then Littlefoot is born, a 20-minute CG tribute of the wonderful Land Before Time. [music] Faithful to the original story, but with our own personal twist. Then one day, when we're going through the final stages of the animatics, suddenly [music] everything then changes. Hey Joey, John Pomememoroy here. My hands stop shaking. John Pomeroy. John Pommeroy. John Pomeroy. If you don't know John Pomemeroy, let me give you the lowdown. 1973. [music] He walks into Disney and trains under the nine old men. Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahal, the absolute gods [music] who made Snow White walk, Pinocchio breathe, all the way through Robin Hood and the rescuers. 1979 he co-founds Don Bluth Studios [music] with Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. They make Secrets of the Ninth, Dragon's Lair and American Tale and then of course Land Before Time where John Pomeroy supervises Littlefoot and Sarah's animation while George Lucas and Steven Spielberg [music] are the executive producers upstairs.

[00:02:14]Later he returns to Disney to animate John Smith, Milo from Atlantis, and now [music] he teaches the next generation at Pomeroy Art Academy. He saw our teasers of Little Foot Online and wanted to give us a call. Deise said yes. Matt said yes. So we jumped on a call together. My stomach completely in nuts.

[00:02:32]>> Hey, there we go.

[00:02:34]>> Hey guys, >> good to see you all.

[00:02:37]>> Joey, nice to meet you.

[00:02:40]>> Matt, nice to meet you. And Dave, nice to meet you also. finger hovering over that except button like and as soon as we all jump on the call he goes >> the troker the trier the trier exactly like him bl and Goldman [music] and then he does something that breaks us completely.

[00:03:00]>> Would you guys like to see a Now I have some I've got a couple of rough pencil tests. These are like pose tests.

[00:03:08]>> Would you guys like Would you guys like to see those?

[00:03:11]>> Oh me I I'll be honored. That would be incredible.

[00:03:15]>> Yeah. This this this first this first test is uh uh my animation keys from when >> Littlefoot is born.

[00:03:25]>> Brings back a lot brings back a lot of memories. And uh >> Oh, my heart my heart is so full right now.

[00:03:31]>> John pulls up his personal pencil test from Little Foot's birth scene. rough post-p production keys. He drew himself in Dublin, the Bluth Studios Ireland era, training young Irish and Canadian animators from Sheridan. And then he told us a very rare story that he's never said publicly before. Creativity is interesting because it like swings in 10-year uh cycles like a pendulum. And the very things that we were uh accusing Disney of being stale and being in a rut and not, you know, being innovative, we actually ran into that rut ourselves. I definitely after about 10 years of this wearing that producers's hat so tightly and so hard uh I was missing animation I wasn't able to draw and it's like uh it just it it was like making me extremely stale as far as being creative. So just, you know, if this if this uh troa continues on after your 15minute land before time, just be aware, you know, you're always going to have to be looking for fresh ideas, fresh blood, uh, innovative people that can come in.

[00:04:36]Uh, one of the great things that Walt Disney was able to do, he always was spotting out for new talent and was always seeking how to incorporate them into this gigantic kingdom called the Disney Empire. So >> that that's just pure indie gospel right there, isn't it? God damn. So So we've been having a few issues with uh Little Foot.

[00:04:55]>> All right. I'm pretty sure Matthew is going to relate to this. The poker like this thing that is like Yeah. highly like overly exaggerated mouth forms. And we are trying to keep that as much as possible whenever the characters go like do or who or like all that. you're trying to actually like, you know, keep that faithful to the original where it, you know, the whole mount was basically over structure and projected forward.

[00:05:18]Uh, but sometimes in 3D, uh, it's a way the transition from like, for example, E to U will be far too quick. So, you need to find a little bit of a sweet spot in between. Um, probably wouldn't look actually we know for a fact it wouldn't look as weird in 2D, but sometimes it does in 3D, but we're trying to stick to that as much as possible.

[00:05:37]>> Fighting peaches uncanny poke mouth shapes. environment completely bare uncanny face shapes with the mum. The things John was saying we really needed to hear.

[00:05:45]>> The tendency is to overanimate, >> right?

[00:05:48]>> You know, as you get more seasoned and more experience, you pull back and you restrain yourself. This is what uh my teachers, my mentors, the nine old men at Disney taught me when I was working there in the 70s, how to restrain your acting so you're not overly acting and overly un annunciating the words. So, >> you're in a good place if you're even thinking of ways to pull that back a little bit. That's the way it should be actually in 2D animation as well.

[00:06:16]>> Finding the lip sync sweet spot, elephant footage for mom's walk, bat wings for Petri, then telling us to read animals in motion and Don Moore's color keys for storytelling through texture.

[00:06:27]He then sees our Pixar style dream and loves it. as Joey says, a Pixar style of somewhat realism and and cartoon somewhere in the middle, I guess.

[00:06:36]Whatever you say.

[00:06:37]>> Oh, good. I'm so glad to hear that because I didn't know if you're I just the other night my son and I, we watch movies every night together and we were watching uh Jurassic Park Rebirth.

[00:06:46]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:06:46]>> 2025.

[00:06:48]>> You guys aren't going in that direction.

[00:06:50]>> No, no, do not worry about fantastic.

[00:06:52]>> Yeah. Yeah. No, we've so happy that Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Which is nice to hear. So, of course, I'm a huge fan of Lambo before time. And because John Pomeroy produced and animated in the film, I told myself, right, this is this is like my opportunity to to ask him a few kind of like uncensored questions, see if he'll bite. So, one of the main questions I really want to ask him was about deleted scenes. Now, if you don't know about number four times deleted scenes, um quite a lot of the film was deleted or unused. Quite a lot of the ending was cut. Most of the T-Rex fight scene was cut. So, I really wanted to know why that was.

[00:07:29]>> Uh there was there's a lot of talk about, you know, things that were cut from Lambbe before time, especially the T-Rex fight. Uh was there a moment or sequence maybe even from the T-Rex fight that you wish people could have seen?

[00:07:42]>> It's those closeup teeth bearing jabs uh coming out at into the screen. It's those kind of scenes that were I think edited out just because the intensity was just dialed up a little bit too much. So I think I remember a close-up scene that Don boarded and we were getting ready to issue that to an animator and it was discussed with Steven and we decided let's let's move remove that and maybe two or three other scenes.

[00:08:09]>> Wow. It would have been amazing to see them.

[00:08:12]>> Well, you know what? Animation is a collaborative medium and it's like we're all we all have to we're obliged to listen to each other. We you know we trusted each other. We trusted our judgment and we had to put our trust also in Steven's um you know decision-m also you know for whatever reason that we made those little edits. I think it made the the audience happy. It made the parents happy. It took the uh younger audience through the dark tunnel still and then out into the light. So >> yeah, that's that's that's great cuz you Yeah. I mean, you don't want to be too intense, right? Because you could you could could have scared a lot of people away, I guess.

[00:08:48]>> Well, I mean, there there are moments where it's like um you know, I watch a movie like Pinocchio for instance, and the scariest part to me is not Monstro the Whale or Stromboli.

[00:08:59]>> It's when Lampwick realizes he's turning into the donkey.

[00:09:04]mama.

[00:09:11]>> And it becomes it becomes so intense that finally his last audible words before he's bellowing and and he heing is mama.

[00:09:21]>> Yeah.

[00:09:22]>> And it it still hits home. I mean it's like it there is a a psychology that's involved in that. It's like it it it you you begin to rigid yourself in in you know a traumatic a traumatic shake when you hear that. At least I do. Um those are the kind of moments that you know uh people come away with. But it makes the triumph that much sweeter when you can see him save his father Jeppetto and turn into a little boy. It sweetens the ending that much more. The one of the biggest questions uh myself and I'm guessing the fandom has always wanted to know is Don Blof Studios never ever made land before the time film after the original. That was taken over by Universal. Loads of other directors did it. They did uh 13 other films and then a whole TV show. But Don Blue Studios never had any input for any of them films. So I wanted to know if they made a Lamb before 2, what would it have been like? [music] >> That is a good question Joey. I think you know that's a good question. [laughter] It's like oh man obviously you want to take the audience by surprise and not repeat yourself. That would be the main goal. They already have attained you know their their beautiful utopian existence with his grandparents and the families all coming back together at the end of the movie. Is it something that takes that away from them? And the villain is very important whether it's sharp tooth or whether it's a circumstance. uh an eruption of a volcano or whatever that may be. Uh and it it would be it would be, you know, a kind of a threat resolve type of of story.

[00:11:01]>> Yeah.

[00:11:02]>> Um and maybe it was a thing where Littlefoot would have to do this all on his own by himself, you know, achieving, you know, the attainment of the Holy Grail alone solo.

[00:11:16]>> I love it already. [laughter] >> It sounds great.

[00:11:19]I just gave it to you.

[00:11:21]>> When are we doing it?

[00:11:22]>> And then of course, you know, as a millennial, I got very real with it cuz you've left us with a lot of trauma, John. [laughter] >> I'm sorry.

[00:11:32]>> We're broken people. John, >> you guys made Lumber four time at a time when kid kid films weren't really afraid to be dark. Did was that ever a concern of yours or was it always the goal to kind of push that emotion? Okay, Joey, in answer to your question or your your comment, I can remember at age 14 when you're extremely rebellious, my folks wanted to go see Bambi and I wanted to go see the Beatles in Hard Days Night.

[00:11:59]You know, parents rule and I had to go willingly to the theater and watch Bambi. Here's the surprise, though.

[00:12:06]Halfway through the movie, the mother gets shot and I'm sobbing.

[00:12:11]this I rate rebellious teenager is crying and it stayed with me. That embarrassment stayed with me. It's like what kind of art form is this that has that much power over someone like myself? And that summer I was into marionets and puppets. I wanted to create a perfect replica of the Pinocchio puppet. Went to the library, found books on animation and became a disciple. And it was my dream to get invited to become an artist at Disney Studios. I wanted to be a background artist and I converted over to animation and became an animator. There you know the old classic Disney did not hide you from trauma.

[00:12:53]>> It was part of it was part of their anthem that they would take you into a dark place before. You can't go you can't feel the delight of the high places unless you've been to the dark lows. And that's what that's what Walt would do. the more you you try to hide the audience or make it milk toast or soften it, it loses a lot of its punch.

[00:13:14]Don't hold back on the emotions, uh, even in your 15 minutes, you know, deliver that emotional punch because you're going to take them through, um, a journey. It's going to be cathartic at first and it's going to be a delight afterwards. After I had a bit of fun with John, it became very real. he was there to talk to us about um Lambe Time and and basically just say, "Hey, I'm so excited to see what you guys are doing."

[00:13:38]Um so we decided to pull up a scene that we knew he worked on 40 years ago. Now, this scene is one of the most popular scenes in the whole Lambe Time fandom.

[00:13:49]Littlefoot's mother's death. Now, John Pommeroy not only animated the scene, he supervised it. So, so we shown him our test of that scene [music] and it was one of the most scariest moments of my life and I'm guessing Davidid's life and I'm guessing Matt's life because us three have worked on this scene together for probably like 5 months now. And this this was the moment we're showcasing this to the original producer, the original supervisor of the film we're making. It was terrifying.

[00:14:28]>> Yeah.

[00:14:28]>> Very nice.

[00:14:29]>> Very nice.

[00:14:30]>> Yeah, that's that's a nice heart tug.

[00:14:32]And you've improved it from the original. It's really nice. Is that your animation, Dave?

[00:14:37]>> It is. Joey trust me with this sequence.

[00:14:39]So, thank you, Joey.

[00:14:41]>> Yeah, I like the way Little Foot moves.

[00:14:43]Uh, your heart, you've you've got it.

[00:14:46]It's It's a wonderful wonderful moment.

[00:14:48]It's going to be absolutely wonderful when we see all of the final color and textures and everything on it, but the bones of a terrific performance are there. Fantastic, guys. Kudos to you guys. Bravo.

[00:15:02]>> I have no words to express my appreciation. Thank you.

[00:15:06]>> One of the producers of Lumberful Time approves our film. After the call, uh myself, David, Matt were in silence for about 2 minutes. We called each other and it was one of the craziest craziest times of our life. We all could not believe it. The man who trained under Walt Disney, the man who survived the Bluth/D creative wars, birthed Littlefford under Spielberg's watch, believed in us. [music] And of course, this is just little snippets from the interview. So, if you want to watch the full thing, please head over to John's channel. [music] Uh the full interview is on there and it is incredible. You learn so much about John. You learn so much about his teaching methods. You learn so much about Lamb Before Time. me for a massive fan before time. I urge you to go watch it. I urge you to go visit his channel cuz the man's a genius. From my short films, from my Spider-Man films to my films now to getting this moment with John, one thing is very clear. This proves that you don't need a studio [music] badge to build a legacy. If you have the guts to pick up a pencil or pick up a camera or pick up a stylist and treat [music] your passion as a professional obsession, you're already doing the work. Don't wait to be chosen.

[00:16:12]Start building. Keep building [music] and make something so real that the right people can't help but find you.

[00:16:19]Please go ahead and like if you're excited for this little foot journey.

[00:16:22]Subscribe with the bell if you want to see more Little Foot updates. And of course, comment below what your favorite Lore Time memory is. John Pomemeoy, you are our north star. Thank you so much for seeing us. It I I can't like what I think Davidid said it best, right? Like h how can I put this into words? I literally can't I I can't [music] I can't express the feelings I'm feeling right now. It is absolutely insane. And uh just being a filmmaker with a dream and and and a heart for these kind [music] of films, it's everything I've ever needed, uh everything I've ever wanted. So thank you.