Could you explain the religious principles behind "Final Fantasty: The Spirits Within" - the idea of the Spirits?

It's not a religious idea, but we are looking at spirits - an energy force. There is a conflict in the movie between people who see the energy as just that, and those who see the energy as a spirit. When my mother passed away, I began thinking about this and that's where the idea originated. There is action, as well as a love story, but if the audience can pick up on these philosophical elements, then that's a good thing.

It seems in direct conflict to the violent nature of computer games...

If you consider people dying as violence, then there are parts where that would happen. But if someone dies, it has to do with the story. It's not just people dying all over the place.

How did you come about to produce such ground-breaking animation?

About four years ago, a goal was set to create something within three years that no-one had ever seen before. We were looking towards making something that was very realistic but not totally real - the fine line between Manga animation and realism. I grew up watching "Astro Boy" on television and that was my influence.

Was it difficult since you've never directed before?

With live-action directing it might be a different issue, but with CGI direction I worked with about 150 artists in the studio creating the movie with CG games. I worked with about the same number working on the same game. So it's quite similar, in some ways.

Read about other computer games that made it on the big screen and are digital actors the way forward?

"Final Fantasy" is released in UK cinemas on Friday 3rd August 2001.