How a devastating short film about a school shooting is becoming a graphic novel
When Will McCormack and Michael Govier set out to write and direct a short animated film about a couple mourning their child, they had no idea it would become a viral hit and win an Academy Award. But they did know they also wanted to turn it into a book.
"If Anything Happens I Love You," the film, opens on two parents sitting apart in the throes of an unnamed grief. Over 10 wordless minutes we realize their daughter has died in a . The short, which won an Oscar for animated short in 2021, found its force in suggestive vignettes illustrated by Youngran Nho. The graphic novel the co-directors conceived would tell the same story very differently. Instead of blacks and grays permeating the screen, they wanted
