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One of my favorite films of 2016 is director J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls. The film is based on the award-winning children’s novel by Patrick Ness (who also wrote the script) and follows 12-year-old Conor (Lewis MacDougall) as he attempts to deal with his mother’s (Felicity Jones) illness and the bullying of his classmates by escaping into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales that explore courage, loss, and faith. Liam Neeson voices the aforementioned monster, Sigourney Weaver fills the role of his grandmother, and Toby Kebbell plays his father.

He talked about the challenge of editing the film and striking the right tone, who he trusts for honest feedback, how the Ents from Lord of the Rings impacted the final version of the monster, his first cut, plus an update on Jurassic World 2. Check out what they had to say in the video above. For more on A Monster Calls you can read Adam’s glowing review or click here for all our previous coverage.

J.A. Bayona:

• Talks about the challenge of the material.
• The challenge of editing the film and striking the right tone.
• Who does he trust for honest feedback?
• How his early versions of the creature looked like an Ent from Lord of the Rings.
• How long was his first cut?
• Jurassic World 2 talk.