Nathan Greno, a 22-year veteran of Disney Animation, joined Skydance Animation in 2018 to direct his first project, a fantasy comedy that went from being called Powerless to Pookoo and finally Swapped. The film, which premieres on May 1st on Netflix, marks a turning point in his career by betting on an emerging studio.
From Animated Tradition to Building a New Pipeline 🎬
Greno explains that he left Disney because Skydance offered him the chance to contribute to building a studio from its inception, similar to what he observed at Pixar during its evolution. In Swapped, the team applied hybrid animation techniques, combining real-time rendering tools with traditional workflows. The goal was to optimize production without sacrificing visual expressiveness, a technical challenge that required adjusting pipelines and redefining lighting and rigging processes for a growing team.
Changing the Name Three Times Isn't a Sign of Indecision, It's Branding 🤔
A film going from Powerless to Pookoo and ending up as Swapped sounds more like a teenager's existential crisis than a studio strategy. But Greno sells it as part of the creative process, which is like saying they didn't know what title to give it until someone shouted: Something with swaps!. At least they didn't call it Swapped: The Untitled Pookoo Project, which would have been the last straw.