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I loved Sucker Punch. I don’t care who knows it. I also don’t care that it currently has a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s pretty much all I have to say about it before it actually releases, ’cause I know I’m going to get all analytical on it and don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. So in the meantime, here’s the interview I did with Steve Shibuya, who wrote the screenplay with director Zack Snyder.

In real short order it seems like there have been a lot of films exploring the capabilities of the mind. Especially in the last month — we’ve had Limitless, Source Code...
Inception.

And Inception. Even Black Swan. Obviously each of those are very different, but what do you think it is about now that makes this the perfect time for these films?
I think that we all experience the same things, we see the same films, we experience life right now. So I think there’s a collective consciousness that’s much bigger than us, and we kind of draw from the same pool. It’s just timely. It’s kind of like the hundredth monkey theory. There are some islands where they’re doing tests with all these monkeys on different islands. And only on one island were the monkeys taking vegetables and washing them in water. And when all the populations of each island reached 100, all the monkeys started washing the vegetables in water. I think there’s just this bigger thing that we’re all connected, and we’re all thinking about the same things. And then the same ideas work into films.

How much do you personally buy into the concept into our ability to create our own worlds?
I guess if you’re psychotic, you could.

Okay, let me rephrase. For example, there’s The Secret. There’s Abraham Hicks. And then like it’s discussed in the film when Madam Gorski says, “This is your world, you’re creating it.”
Well, look. The way I approached this film is, sure there’s this huge visual phenomenon going on, but the underlying structure of the story is basically this girl who has suffered this traumatic event, and she feels responsible for it. So the story is really her going in to face these fears — these demons that haunt her. It’s through her redemption and final sacrifice that she’s able to help someone and free somebody, and ultimately, she’s able to free her own soul. That’s where all these worlds come in. I think these worlds she creates are as vast as the dreams we have, which are so many reflections of our fears — or as we go in to look at ourselves honestly and face what scares us. I think those worlds are very real, and they’re kind of what shape us, and we have a choice to look at them or not. So as far as creating realities ourselves, I think a lot of those realities are in us already.

What scares you?
That’s a heavy question that really has shaped who I am and kind of reflects on this film in a weird way. What scares me is I was brought up in a house where there wasn’t a lot of communication. There was a lot of love, but with my parents – Japanese American – and their culture at the time, there wasn’t a lot of communication. Also at the time there was a lot of repression. They had been through the WW2 internment camps, so my mother had gone through a lot as a child, and she had all these fears in her. She didn’t want us to get hurt, so in a way she tried to stop us from trying so we wouldn’t get hurt. So I had all this repression and I couldn’t express myself, so I started expressing myself through art. I started drawing. That’s where I started to find my expression, and then it led me to film. It wasn’t until later when I went back and faced those fears, healed those wounds, looked at where they came from, and talked to my parents that I was really able to heal all those things. And that is, I feel in a strange way, the story of Sucker Punch. This girl… that’s her journey. She had a traumatic event, she goes in and heals her wounds, and she is… free. And that’s what I went through. So I know how difficult it is to face those things – to be honest with yourself. I think it’s the hardest journey anyone can take.

Was that your intention going into this script? To go to that personal place?
Not at all. No.

So it came out during the process.
I guess that idea is something that’s deep within me – this redemption.

How much does that influence you as a creative person now?
Well, it does a lot. I like to write what moves me, and that’s the kind of story that really moves me. Like this story, Baby Doll’s character really moves me — where she goes. And yeah, I tend to gravitate toward those kinds of stories.

I loved the movie, by the way.
You did.

Yes, absolutely. To the point where it made me cry.
Really? Why? What did you like about it?

You know, I really connected to the story of it. It just cracked me right open, and I just connected to the idea of what Baby Doll was going through. And there were elements of it that really spoke to me. For example, when she dances and it puts people in a trance, and there were people saying, “Well she’s not perfect yet,” and it didn’t matter. She was still able to put people there. The concept of each of the girls representing an aspect of one’s psyche as they’re moving through life. And the idea of these challenges come up, and you face them and sometimes you don’t know how to deal with it, or something goes wrong and it’s never really wrong because it works itself out… What you were saying about turning within and looking at those things from within and being honest with yourself, that’s something that I’ve been going through. So from the minute the movie started to the end…
You just gave me chills. That’s wonderful to hear, you know? Because that’s everything. And putting all this effort into something for ten years, to hear that, it’s like, “Okay, it was worth it.” That’s great.

What was the writing process like for you on this script?
It was just imaginative and creative. When we set out to write it, we wanted to make this full-on action movie and an emotional journey, too. We just pushed each other constantly – we pushed each other to make a stronger story, and whoever’s idea was better, we went for it. It was no ego — everything was for the story, and that was so great. Zack is a great collaborator. The process has been amazing because Zack’s an old friend of mine. We started a long time ago in school, and to be able to come together on something like this and have it realized in a way that both of us are proud of it, and to make it in a way that it’s like, “Okay, let’s do something different…” it’s great.

Were there difficulties in finding balance between the action and emotion?
No. To get to the end, we knew we needed both. It was very clear what the challenge ahead of us was — what we needed the story to be. Going into the action, what was fun about that stuff was like I said — going in and facing your demons. So it’s also very freeing, too. Those worlds can be as intense as you want them to, because it’s a metaphor.

What’s the biggest takeaway, or the most important lesson for you, in the process of seeing this story come to fruition.
I guess to be true to yourself. And for me as a writer, just to really write what moves me and be true to that and honor that. Because everyone is different. And that’s, in the end, your greatest strength. So embrace it. And trust in it.