I recently spoke with acclaimed director David Lowery about his new Disney+ animated short film “An Almost Christmas Story”. His credits include Disney features “Pete’s Dragon” and “Peter Pan & Wendy”, as well as the 2017 A24 drama “A Ghost Story”. It’s had a lasting impact on me and many other moviegoers, so I had to ask Lowery his thoughts on the film, including powerhouse song “I Get Overwhelmed”. Here’s what he told me:
“That movie has afforded me the ability to meet so many people. We made that eight years ago, and in those years since, the number of people who have talked about what it meant to them, how it’s helped them through different… I never imagined that would be the case with that film. I thought it would be a very small movie that very few people would ever see. But it has been a movie that’s resonated widely and deeply, and it really moves me.
I can’t put into words what it means to hear that someone who may be going through a difficult time in their life turns to that movie to watch. It makes me feel that I’m doing something right as a filmmaker, and I very rarely feel that. Usually I’m like, ‘I’m doing everything wrong.’ That gives me confidence that I’m after something true and sincere and good.
And that song [I Get Overwhelmed] is the movie in so many ways. I was working with Daniel [Hart] on Pete’s Dragon and he played it for me. I felt like, ‘This corresponds with what I’m trying to put into the script for A Ghost Story right now. Will you let me use this song in the movie?’ Daniel’s one of the great songwriters. All the original songs in An Almost Christmas Story — he did those too. These are all-timers. They are incredible. He’s done the scores for all of my films. Whenever we get to work on songs in our films, which I try to always do… over the number of years we’ve been working together, and hopefully into the future, we are creating a truly special playlist.”