How Friendship, an Alias and Natalie Portman Helped Create 2026's Oscar-Nominated Animation

How Friendship, an Alias and Natalie Portman Helped Create 2026's Oscar-Nominated Animation

When Jeremy Spears set out to direct an animated short film with longtime friend Nathan Engelhardt, the co-directors thought it would take them about a year — not six — to make their Oscar-nominated passion project, “Forevergreen.” “Our wives were about ready to kill us, but God bless them, they loved us through it all,” Spears told TheWrap’s Drew Taylor during TheWrap’s Animated Film Showcase on Monday. “The more that we went with the film, we …