1 Production Information Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks

Production Information
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where Sony
Pictures Animation’s mouth-watering comedy left off. Inventor
Flint Lockwood thought he saved the world when he
destroyed his most infamous invention -- a machine that
turned water into food causing cheeseburger rain and
spaghetti tornadoes. But Flint soon learns that his invention
survived and is now creating food-animals –
"foodimals!" Flint and his friends embark on a dangerously
delicious mission to battle hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees,
hippotatomuses, cheespiders and other foodimals to save
the world – again!
Columbia Pictures presents a Sony Pictures Animation film, Cloudy with a Chance of
Meatballs 2. With the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Will Forte, Andy
Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Terry Crews, and Kristen Schaal.
Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn. Story by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller and
Erica Rivinoja. Screenplay by Erica Rivinoja and John Francis Daley & Jonathan
Goldstein. Inspired by the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs written by Judi
Barrett & illustrated by Ron Barrett. Produced by Pam Marsden and Kirk Bodyfelt.
Executive producers are Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Music by Mark
Mothersbaugh. Imagery and Animation by Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc.
1 ABOUT THE FILM
In Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Flint Lockwood and
his pals discover that something big was leftover on the island of Swallow Falls. The
action picks up just sixty seconds after the first film ends: Flint Lockwood has destroyed
his greatest invention, the Flint Lockwood Diatomic Super Mutating Dynamic Food
Replicator, or FLDSMDFR for short. That invention was a wild success, in that it could
turn water into food, and an unmitigated disaster, in that it unleashed a torrent of deadly
food weather that threatened to destroy the world. Flint blew it up – or, at least, that’s
what he thought.
“I love the world of Cloudy,” says Cody
Cameron, who directs the film with Kris
Pearn. A story board artist on the first
three Shrek films, as well as the Sony
Pictures Animation films Surf’s Up, Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs, Open Season
2, Open Season 3, and the short film The
Chubbchubbs Save Xmas – the last two as
director – Cameron says, “Of all the films I’ve worked on, Cloudy is my favorite. So to
get the chance to go back and revisit the characters in this new, crazy world that we
were developing made this a really exciting project for me.”
“When we started the brainstorming process, we found a very rich amount of elements
to explore – not just a new adventure, but also the characters,” says Pearn, who headed
up the story team on the first Cloudy film. “On this adventure, all of the characters get
to express themselves more fully. For example, Earl, the town cop, wants to protect the
home he loves so much. Manny – who was so silent through most of the first film –
reveals more and more hidden sides of himself. Sam, the one person who understands
Flint better than anybody else, is the one to see the island for what it is – an expression
of Flint’s creativity.”
2 “Cody and Kris were both passionately involved with the first film,” says Pam Marsden,
who produced both the original Cloudy and this new adventure. “Kris was head of story
and Cody was at the core of the story team. When it came time for the sequel, they
came up with creative ways to continue the adventure.”
In the new film, Flint finds out that the FLDSMDFR is still active and is now churning out
food-animal hybrids – foodimals! – that have overrun the island. Soon, it’s back to
Swallow Falls, with all of his friends in tow, to try to stop the food creatures before they
attack the world.
“At the end of the first film, the food started to come alive – there were walking chickens
and threatening gummy bears,” notes producer Kirk Bodyfelt. “We’re now running
rampant with that idea in the sequel.”
“But we’ve gone way beyond that,” says Cameron. “When they arrive back at the
island, they find a huge, overgrown jungle that has overtaken the town – and the food
has evolved. It’s more than gummy bears and pizza slices. It’s giant wild scallions, it’s
watermelophants, strawberries, pickles. It’s the Serengeti of food.”
Adds producer Kirk Bodyfelt, “Once we’d settled on the idea
of the foodimals, Cody went to town with that idea; he even
went to the grocery store and starting buying up fruits and
vegetables and started to carve them into little critters.
There’s a lot of love for the film here at Sony Pictures
Animation, and everyone was such a fan of the original that
we’re all in tune with trying to keep the same look, feel, and
same level of energy, but also find creative ways to expand
the characters into new territory. It’s a familiar universe, but also something completely
new and different as well.”
3 Once it was decided that the movie would be about the foodimals, it was clear that the
sequel would be bringing all of
the favorite characters from the
first film back together. “Flint’s
trip back to the island is
supposed to be a secret, but we
know Flint can’t keep a secret.
He blurts it out right away to
Sam, and she says, ‘You can’t do this alone.’ And before you know it, they’re getting the
gang back together,” says Pearn.
Cameron and Pearn were hand-picked to direct Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 by
Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, the writers and directors of the first film. “I worked on the
movie for 4½ years – the last 3½ with Phil and Chris,” says Pearn. “In the story
department, you tend to have a small crew and you spend a lot of time with the
directors. We got to know each other well and there was a lot of trust there. Cody and I
were on the movie pretty much until the end, which is unusual, because it’s common as
a film winds down to let board artists move on to other projects. So, once Phil and Chris
decided they weren’t going to direct the sequel, it was an organic choice to allow us to
take the reins – and not only that, but I think they saw how important it was to us to
maintain the unique humor and quirkiness that made the first film so special as we
embarked on the sequel.” Lord and Miller remain actively involved with the project as
executive producers.
For the look of the film, Cameron and
Pearn were able to draw not only on
the work done on the first film, but in
many cases, the same people who
did that work. “Justin K. Thompson,
the production designer on the first
film, is back. Pete Nash is back as the senior animation supervisor, bringing a lot of
4 knowledge of the way characters act. A lot of the leads came back – it’s very
collaborative. On the first film, it says, ‘A film by a lot of people’ – we’re doing the same
thing, only it says, ‘Another film by a lot of people.’ It really is about team effort and
collaboration,” says Cameron.
“On the first film, Phil and Chris were the first directors I’d ever worked with who treated
the film like a writer’s room,” says Pearn. “Anybody with a thought that could help the
film – even assistants and PAs – could pipe up. After all, a good idea can come from
anywhere. We found that very helpful, and we’re keeping that going on this film. It’s
very helpful when you can trust the crew and there’s a give-and-take in how the show is
run.”
Lord and Miller say, “Kris and Cody were great collaborators on the first film and we
loved working with them to bring these fun, unique characters back to life. The final
result is a beautiful, stylized, funny film and we are thrilled that the Cloudy franchise has
continued on in the hands of so many great people.”
ABOUT THE CHARACTERS
Flint Lockwood, you just saved Swallow Falls from giant food
storm oblivion! What are you going to do next? How about –
save the world… again? Seems that Flint’s most famous
invention (the one that turns water into food – the one that
caused that trouble last time) is still active and is now spewing
out living food creatures – foodimals! Soon, it’s back to the
island of Swallow Falls, with all of his friends in tow. Flint still
feels responsible for the havoc that’s resulted from his invention
– can he and his friends stop the foodimals before they take over
the world?
5 The role is voiced by Bill Hader. “Bill
can take these lines and find things in
them that we never imagined,” says
Cameron. “Crazy shrieks and yells –
he’s very cartoony in his performance.”
But it’s not just a cartoon, adds
Cameron. “Also, there’s a very
earnest heart to the character, both in
the first film and this one. That’s what Bill brings. He’s silly and energetic, of course,
but he also gives a sincere performance that brings heart and purity when Flint is down
and desperate. He brings the full range.”
“It’s great to be back in the spray-on shoes of Flint Lockwood,” says Hader. “In fact, it
seems like I never left him behind – every month or so, I get to come into the booth and
do Flint’s voice for a bit. I love it.”
“Flint is that guy who has good intentions – great intentions – but everything always
goes wrong,” Hader continues. “On the other hand, he’s very driven and very confident,
even when everybody else thinks he’s crazy. Actually, I feel a kinship with him – we’re
both nerdy, nervous, and not great with girls.”
Flint Lockwood’s edible worldwide meteorological occurrences have
catapulted Sam Sparks to TV stardom as weather watchers turned to
her for updates during the “greatest weather phenomenon in
history.” She is finally being accepted as a serious meteorologist who
remains perky in the face of danger. Once Sam declared she “likelikes” Flint and wants him to be happy, there is no keeping her from
joining him on the expedition back to Swallow Falls to save civilization
from the invasion of gigantic living food creatures. But why doesn’t
6 working together have that ol’ “thunder and lightning” that it once had?
“Sam is still very much the observational scientist,” says Pearn. “On this journey back
to the island, Sam is the one who’s emotional and also really smart, so she’s the one
who starts to crack the mystery of this island. The interesting thing about the
relationship between Sam and Flint is that Flint brings Sam out of her shell in the first
movie, and in this movie he doesn’t appreciate her in the way he should. As a result, he
almost loses her – and the island appreciates her.”
Anna Faris reprises her
role. “I was so proud of
the way the first film turned
out,” she says. “When
you’re voicing a role in an
animated movie, you’re
working on it for a year but
you don’t really know what
it’s going to be until the
end. It was amazing to
see it all come together,
the artistry involved was incredible, and it was so much fun.”
“Sam is one of the smarter characters I’ve played,” she laughs. “She’s bright and
optimistic, she’s a leader but also supportive. She’s an adventurer, and she has a lot of
compassion. I think she’s just a great gal.”
“Anna’s comedy timing is amazing,” says Pearn. “She’s often playing the straight man
against Flint, but she finds the comedy angle in the simplest lines.”
“She makes Sam feel smart and warm at the same time,” says Cameron
7 Flint’s proud father, Tim, is happiest when he is on his
boat, floating around in search of his water-dwelling
dinner. Tim still doesn’t get all of the fancy technology
stuff that is such a big part of his son’s life. And Flint
doesn’t ever need to hear another fishing metaphor ever
again. So when the gang heads back to Swallow Falls to
help save the world, Flint encourages his 49-year-old dad
to stay home. Still, Tim insists on launching his fishing
boat and coming along for the journey, even though Flint
would prefer his old dad stayed home.
“The genie got out of the bottle in the first movie: we put the thought translator on his
head and he finally was able to tell his son he loved him. So we’re flipping the roles of
Tim and Flint in this movie: now that Tim is emotionally able to express his feelings,
he’s constantly trying to hug his son and give him advice,” says Pearn. “Flint still loves
his dad, but now his dad is kinda getting on his nerves and he’s pushing his dad away a
bit. At the same time, Tim’s got this emptiness, because he knows his son loves him,
but he’s losing that connection with his son.”
“He’s old-fashioned, slow-thinking,
and opinionated – there’s not much
to life for him beyond fishing. Not
the sharpest tool,” says James
Caan, who voices the role. “But
he’s also a very caring and loving
father, just never knew how to say
that.”
8 “James Caan loves having fun with Tim,” says Marsden. “On the first film, he’d
improvise with the character in ways that were bold and energetic, but the character at
that time needed to be stoic, quiet, and by the end come out of his shell a bit. So this
time around, he was very excited. We could now say, ‘Go with it’ to some of the
qualities he tried last time. Tim still has the same form of delivery – for example, the
monobrow, you rarely see his eyes – but now we are having a bit more fun with an old
fisherman making an attempt to talk to his high-tech-crazy son.”
But all is not lost for Tim: he finds a special connection where he least expects it.
“When he gets to the island, he meets some pickles, and in a way, they’re like a standin for the grandkids that he doesn’t have yet,” says Pearn. “He’s got the weird son who
he loves but doesn’t understand, and on the other hand, the pickles, who love football
and fishing and hockey and all of the things that he loves.”
“It’s true, I adopt a bunch of pickles, who are actually a family of pickles,” says Caan.
Despite the fact that the pickles can’t speak coherently, “I kind of get to understand ’em.
I teach ’em how to fish, and I teach ’em not to get themselves in a pickle.”
Still a primate of few words, Steve the Monkey has everything any guy would wish for
in a best friend—except maybe a bigger
vocabulary. Steve is still both a trusted
colleague and a shining example of Flint’s
best attempts at inventing—after all, Flint
wouldn’t even get those single words from
his buddy were it not for the Monkey
Thought Translator. One never knows
when the monkey’s particular point of view
(or his size, or his climbing, or his lab
skills) will come in handy.
9 Most characters in most stories have character arcs, where moviegoers get to see them
grow and change. And then there’s Steve. “Steve is exactly the same,” says Cameron.
And once again, the award-winning actor Neil
Patrick Harris provided the voice. “He does so
much with one word,” Cameron continues. “He’ll
deliver it different ways – he thinks it’s pretty
humorous that he has to act with only one word.”
“Usually, to get an entire movie from a main
character, it takes seven or eight sessions, four
or five hours per session,” says Bodyfelt. “With
Neil, we got all of his lines in the movie in one
session, one hour. Later, whenever we came up
with a few more Steve lines, we’d have him
come in for ten minutes and he’s done. Steve is
a great foil for the animators – you have a scene with a lot of dialogue, and Steve is in
the background doing something ridiculous or eating something he isn’t supposed to
eat.”
“Normally you’re in this recording room and your inflection has to be perfect and you
have to hit all of your Ts and Ps. On this, you just come in and you say ‘Hungry’ fifteen
times. Or ‘Banana.’ Or ‘Steve,’” says Harris. “And then they start giving direction.
‘Yes, do it again, but a little louder.’ ‘Steve!’ ‘Now you’re scared. ‘Steve…’ ‘Yeah, but
now you’re running.’ ‘Steve! Steve! Steve!’ The first time around, I kept thinking I was
getting punked, but it turns out that I was actually in the movie.”
10 You remember “Baby” Brent on the label of Swallow Falls’
canned sardines? He has continued his career in the culinary
world promoting a chain of restaurants, Chick-N-Sushi, spinning a
foam board arrow while wearing a rubber chicken suit. He’ll put
that promising career on hold when Flint and his friends ask him
to help save the world by stopping the leftover takeover.
“Andy Samberg is great – super funny,” says
Cameron. “He’s great at playing the doofus. We
give him a dumb line, and he just makes it really
funny.”
“It’s been a dream to revisit Brent,” says Samberg.
“I missed him. Now that I’m back in his spirit, his
body, and his chicken suit, I think the world is a better place.”
Samberg shares his one weird trick to voice the role: “What you have to do is scream as
loud as you can and sound like you got hit in the head a lot as a child.”
Former police officer Earl Devereaux is also pursuing an
alternative job path in food services, as a barista serving up
fancy-pants coffee drinks at an upscale coffee house. So,
when Flint and Sam come around and ask him to come
aboard their voyage to adventure, he quickly transforms
from barista to a polista, complete with uniform and beard,
and joins the group by performing a back flip out of the
door.
11 Terry Crews takes over the
role. “Terry did a great job
taking over the role of Earl – he
still feels like Earl, the town cop
from the first film,” says
Cameron. “When we see shots
animated, it still feels like Earl.
It’s the same character.”
“Terry came in and was on the ball – he’s got great warmth, especially around children.
When he’s talking about Cal, he’s got the same sensitivity, even though he’s a big,
tough guy,” says Pearn. “As it turns out, he was a big fan of the first film. He went to
the premiere and took his kids – so before he came to record, they lined up and said,
‘Don’t screw it up, Dad.’ That put a lot of pressure on him!”
“I’m the biggest fan of the first Cloudy film,” says Crews. “I went to the premiere with my
family and we ate bacon-flavored chocolates – we even still have our Cloudy lunch
boxes. And when we left the movie, I said to my son, ‘I’m like Earl and you’re like Cal’ –
Earl’s son. So when I got the call that they were asking me to be a part of the sequel,
well, they had me at ‘hello.’”
“Earl is the alpha male’s alpha male,” says Crews, describing his character. “There’s no
way to go beyond the man that Earl is. Earl defines a man doin’ his job – he protects
his city and he does it better than anybody.”
12 It’s little surprise that Sam’s former cameraman (and master of
many talents) Manny has landed on his feet in San Franjose,
California—and, at the moment that Flint, Sam and a car full of
their friends arrive, he is trying to deliver a baby calf. But hey, that
will just have to wait – Manny grabs his camera, bids ‘adios!’ to his
vet techs, and heads for the food-infested island of Swallow Falls.
“Because in the first film we were able to show that he was not only a mechanic but also
a doctor, we now have other occupations, other jobs, that Manny has – he’s got a bag
full of different occupations. He’s a Manny of all trades,” says Cameron.
“The cork got popped on his
speaking, which a lot of
people are happy about, not
least of which is Benjamin
Bratt,” says Pearn. “He’s a
real arbiter of the character.
We have a moment in
Cloudy 2 when Manny has
to fall, so we had ‘Ahhhhh!’
written on the page. He
said, ‘I don’t think Manny
would scream.’ He found a way to have Manny emote ‘I’m falling’ without having him
scream. We had another line with the direction for him to shout it, and he wouldn’t
shout it – he did it with passion. That’s great – that’s so much better than anything we
imagined. That’s what happens when actors come back to play their characters – they
are protectors of their characters. It’s always great when we get surprised by the actors
– that’s what we want.”
13 “Manny is the kind of guy you want with you when something goes wrong,” says
Bratt. “He’s a Jack of all trades and a master of all. If it’s something that requires a
license, Manny’s likely got one for it. Whether it’s piloting a plane or operating a crane
or driving a race car, Manny can do it. He’s a doctor. He’s a veterinarian. He’s a
comedian. He’s a self-professed professional masseur. He can do anything. So, when
our gang finds themselves in deep, deep trouble, Manny is the guy who’ll get them out
of it.”
If you could genetically splice Steve Jobs, Richard
Branson and a circus ringmaster into one man, you would
get Chester V, the eccentric genius behind the global
company Live Corp and all of the cool stuff they created
‘for the betterment of mankind.’ Part guru, part showman
and part inventor, Chester is one super-smart dude—in
fact, he may be the super-smartest. For instance, he’s
the only one he needs to invite to his own brainstorming
sessions. So with all that brain matter, why does he need
our heroic Flint Lockwood to clean up the leftover problems in Swallow Falls?
In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, this new adventure sees Flint get recognized
by one of the great men of his time. “While Flint almost destroyed the world, the world
also got to see what a great inventor he is. As a result, Flint is given an opportunity
from one of his heroes, Chester V, the head of the Live Corp company. Imagine Apple
meets Google meets FAO Schwarz – that’s Live Corp. Their intent is to invent for the
betterment of mankind, which is just what Flint wants to do,” says Marsden.
“In the first film, Flint had a wall of heroes – Einstein, Tesla – and we wondered, what if
Flint got to meet one of his heroes? What happens when the nerdy kid becomes cool?”
says Pearn.
14 Will Forte voiced a different,
small role in the first film,
portraying Joe Towne, the
Swallow Falls resident who rips
off his beard when the
cheeseburger is falling from the
sky. In the sequel, Forte is
back for seconds – and a much
bigger portion – as Chester V in
Cloudy 2. “I loved the first
movie so much – and even though I did a voice in the first one, it was a very small part.
There was such a wonderful spirit to the story, it was so creative – a crazy world where
all the characters were relatable. So I was really excited to come back, in a bigger role,
for this movie – we start from the place the first one ends and build to a new, totally
different situation.”
“Chester is Flint Lockwood’s hero,” explains Forte. “He’s a blue-jeans billionaire whose
company, Live Corp, does all sorts of wonderful things for the world – really very brilliant
inventions – but things don’t exactly go as planned when Flint comes to work for him.”
The directors say that Forte’s characterization in the recording booth had a great
influence on the character – adding dimension to a role that they had not anticipated.
“Because Chester was a collision of all these personas and archetypes, we really
wanted a character actor and comedian to come in and invent the character with us,”
says Pearn. “It’s amazing how Will pushed it around. When we first started, Chester
was a much more refined, erudite, crisp person, and with Will, we ended up finding a
much more kooky version of that and that helped us evolve the character to a very
funny, weird place that we weren’t expecting.”
There’s no one in the world that Chester trusts more than Chester, but that doesn’t
mean he couldn’t use a second opinion sometimes. The solution: “Chester has an
15 affectation – he goes everywhere with holograms of himself,” Pearn explains. “Whereas
Flint begins the movie surrounded by friends and family, Chester is literally surrounded
by himself – he’s building an empire based upon himself.”
“They’re the ultimate yes-men,” says Forte. “It’s hard to do those scenes in the
recording booth, because I’m talking to myself and the voices all sound the same. It’s
hard to have a conversation with yourself. When you don’t have the natural give-andtake of dialogue, you tend to rush it or pause too much. But we got there.”
Apparently one can create a smart and verbally gifted
assistant by implanting a human brain inside the brain
of an orangutan—think turducken. And if the creator
is as smart as Chester V, the resulting hybrid would
be called Barb. Evolved, intelligent, sassy, and
wearing lipstick, Barb wants nothing more than the
everlasting approval of Chester V. To get it, she will
do anything.
“When we first started developing the story, we thought that maybe there would be a
parallel story – Chester would have a primate companion, just like Flint does with
Steve,” says Pearn. “So we came up with this idea of Barb. She’s the better version of
Steve – she doesn’t have a thought translator, she just has thoughts. She’s very
insecure, because she is always wanting Chester’s affections – she’s trying to get this
guy who’s full of himself to love her, because he’s sort of her father.”
“In a way, as Steve is to Flint, Barb is to Chester,” says Cameron. “But Steve is a
monkey, and Barb is an ape. Throughout the film, Barb is referred to as a monkey,
which is a term she does not appreciate. Barb is almost like a super-Steve – she’s an
orangutan with a human brain inside her ape brain. Sam gets into it a little bit with Barb,
because Sam is the only one smart enough to see the cards Barb is holding.”
16 “We originally conceived the part for
Kristen Schaal and had the part
written for her, so it’s a real pleasure
that she wanted to do the movie,”
continues Cameron. “She’s great at
improvisation, taking a line that we
have and building on top of that and
bringing something that maybe we
didn’t see in the role.”
“After a three-hour session with Kristen, I get tired,” says Pearn. “She has so much
energy – she’s amazing in her ability to stay up there and be funny.”
“I like Barb,” says Schaal. “She’s very vulnerable inside. She does some tough things,
but she’s been pushed to behave the way that she does.”
“Barb is really intimidated by Sam,” Schaal explains. “That’s partly because Sam is
beautiful, but even more so because Sam is human. Barb is very complicated, because
she’s an invention, and she’s self-conscious about it – she tries to take Sam down at
every turn. Her bedazzled claws are out.”
ABOUT THE FOODIMALS
In returning to Swallow Falls, Flint and his pals discover that the food machine is still
active and is now churning out food-animal hybrids… foodimals! “If you can find a good
mix of an animal and a food that not only gives you a great design but also a cringeworthy pun, that’s what we wanted,” says Cameron. “One of the first missions we gave
to Craig Kellman, our lead character designer, was go forth with those directives and
show us what you got – in a weekend, he came up with a library of ridiculousness, a lot
17 of which is still in the film: a taco plus a crocodile equals a tacodile, a watermelon plus
an elephant is a watermelophant. We had to make sure we covered all of the food
groups – the fruits, the
vegetables, the meats –
and we had certain action
pieces in the film… the
tacodile is one of the
larger threats in the movie,
and the cheespider – half
cheeseburger, half spider – became the main large threat of the island, the one where
you realize that something is wrong on the island. As the story developed, we came up
with more and more. They’re going down the river, we found river creatures like the
hippotatomus and the flamangos and the lemmins and the wild scallions.”
Cameron says, “The development of sentient food started with a conversation that Kris
and I had about what type of food we wanted in the film. After talking about pickles and
strawberries, I spent a Sunday sculpting some produce and posing them in scenes in
my back yard. I wanted to show what real fruits and vegetables would look like
photographed in a natural environment, under sunlight,” he says. “We used that as part
of our pitch.”
But that was just the beginning. “Kris and Cody came to me with the idea of the food
puns – inspired by Lewis Carroll’s bread-and-butterflies – and they wanted me to see if I
could come up with a bunch of those,” says Kellman. “I don’t know how many they were
expecting, but in that first weekend I came up with a list of over 100 of them – and the
guys laughed a lot. Some of the foodimals were created by other artists – Cody
invented the watermelophants and the bananostriches, and our head of story, Brandon
Jeffords, came up with the shrimpanzees. I did a lot of the really punny ones – the fruit
cockatiels, the flamangoes, the susheep, the kiwi birds, the tacodile. There was no pun
too stupid for me.”
18 “As much as they could, Cody and Craig kept the original identity of the food intact as
much as possible,” says the film’s production designer, Justin K. Thompson. “We didn’t
want to lose the texture and the detail that real food has – the watermelophant has the
texture of a watermelon and the cantalope has the texture of a cantaloupe. As obvious
as the puns are, that’s the fun – kids can recognize their favorite foods in the foodimals
and be able to name them.”
“That comes from a mandate set in the first movie,” says Kellman. “Real world food can
look unappealing sometimes, but all of the food in the world of Cloudy was idealized,
like you see in commercials. So even though my original designs were kind of
simplistic, children’s book renderings of the foodimals, we knew that in the end, the
animators would bring them through that filter and come out more realistic – tasty and
appealing, but with legs and arms and mouths and eyes.”
Since then, the foodimals have taken on a life of their own. “It’s been fun watching the
animators get a hold of the foodimals,” Cameron continues. “Like the bananas – do
they slip a lot? The pickles – they don’t have legs, they have little tassels that come out
of the bottom, like walking on two mops. When the hippotatomus opens its mouth,
steam comes out, like a baked potato. Every character, we try to find a different way to
locomote – lots of variety in motion.”
“The foodimals are my favorite part of the movie,” says Faris. “The cheespiders, the
hippotatomuses, the cantalopes. It’s really inventive and fun, how they gave these food
creatures personalities.”
“I think Barry is the funniest character in the movie,” says Hader. “There’s a scene in
which Flint is trying to rally the troops, and Barry is behind Flint, translating what Flint’s
saying, and it’s really, really funny.” Of course, that’s Cameron voicing the role of Barry
in the recording booth.
19 There are 39 foodimals in the film, including:
Apple Piethon
The cold-blooded reptile with a delicate crust and fruit filling.
Bananostrich
Yellow banana with ostrich legs added.
Barry
The shy, young strawberry that befriends Flint and his friends upon
their arrival on the transformed island of Swallow Falls. He’s a sweet
little guy!
Blueberry
Barry’s smaller cousin. Blue and juicy!
Buffaloaf
A buffalo meatloaf with horns (onion rings) and a thick coat…of
ketchup.
Buttoad
Burpy, buttery frog-like critter who lives on pancake lily pads in the Breakfast Bog.
Cantalope
An antelope made out of a cantaloupe.
Carrot
Organic, orange, observant. Doesn't have much to say.
Cheespider
A cheeseburger, turned into a French fry-legged spider –
eek!
20 Crabcakes
A birthday cake with frosting turned crustacean.
Cucumbirdy
A flying cucumber
Eggplanatee
A sea-dwelling manatee turned eggplant.
Flamangos – mangoes turned into part bird from the everglades.
Fruit Cockatiel
An exotic bird with pear body, pineapple-cherry eyes, and banana peel feathers.
Hippotatomus
Potatoes with butter tongue and chive teeth that live in the
river.
Hot Dog
Goofy, moonwalking resident of the abandoned Swallow Falls Drive-In theater. Likes to
hide against billboards.
Jellybee
Colorful jelly beans with wings and stingers...watch out!
Jellyfish
The favorite sandwich of childhood with tentacles of peanut butter &
jelly.
Kiwi Birds
The green fruit transformed into squat birds.
21 Leek
The living vegetable, rich in iron and grown from a bulb…harmful to
boats.
Lemmins
Sour yellow citrus creatures that follow each other in packs.
Marshmallows
Friendly versions of the sweet white puffy treat.
Meatbalrus
Breadstick-tusked meatball with thin pasta whiskers and bow-tie pasta
feet.
Mosquitoasts
Browned bread slices with raisin eyes and cinnamon stick beak.
Pickle
One of the various tribes of the friendly living brined cucumbers. With different sizes
and individual personalities, including Dill, Sour and Sweet (and Sweet has a pet onion
called Pearl).
22 Piece of Cake
Pink frosting, layers of chocolatey goodness, and a nonchalant attitude
Pizza Man
Giant pepperoni pizza, with arms, legs...and grouchy attitude.
Sasquash
The legendary mountain-dwelling creature created from…squash.
Shrimpanzees
Chimpanzees with shrimp arms and body.
Strawberries
Barry's loyal clan. A wide variety of shapes, sizes, and attitudes.
Susheep
Gentle sheep with shrimp, carrot, cucumber, crab, avocado &
sticky rice.
Tacodile
The Latin American entrée turned river carnivore. Ole!
Tomato
Is just a tomato…
Watermelophant
A pachyderm of the living summer fruit…with babies.
Wild Knish
Non-domesticated versions of the Eastern European
snack.
Wild Scallions
Gentle Jurassic herbivore giant made of long green onions.
23 Wildebeets – the red root vegetable version of the African
antelope.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
In approaching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the filmmakers began –
appropriately enough – with the first film, both in look and personnel. To make the
world of Cloudy 2 consistent with the first film, Cameron and Pearn called upon
production designer Justin K. Thompson, Senior Animation Supervisor Peter Nash, and
Visual Effects Supervisor Peter G. Travers to reprise their roles behind the scenes.
The production designer Justin K.
Thompson was responsible for the
overall vision and look of the film on
behalf of the directors. “The first film
had a very whimsical design – a
simplified style, relying heavily on
texture and color instead of lots and lots of detail. The shapes and character designs
were simplified. Everything was asymmetrical. It was very charming – like being inside
of a children’s book,” says Thompson.
That was the starting point for Cloudy 2 – though of course, the new film required new
locations. “The first film was actually small in scope – medium shots and close ups and
character acting. In this movie, there are a lot of wide shots. It’s an incredible
landscape, and every time they go to a new location, we built a new set.”
First up was the city of San Franjose, where Flint is recruited by Chester V. “It’s a
mixture of San Francisco and Silicon Valley,” Thompson continues. “Live Corp satirizes
the culture of Google or Apple – these large, campus-mentality tech firms. That building
is larger than the entire town he grew up in. At the very beginning, Craig Kellman came
24 up with the idea of giving Chester a light bulb-shaped head – so we started to wonder,
what if we just made Live Corp one big light bulb?”
“The light bulb is the symbol of Live Corp because it’s a company of ideas,” says Pearn.
“All of the greatest minds in the universe are gathered there – the best and brightest
wanted to come there to work. Everything is provided – they have a dolphin pool and
cookie bakeries and volleyball courts and caffeine stations every ten feet – it’s our way
of gently poking fun at Silicon Valley.”
“We used a really bright palette and tried to make it a lot more vertical than the first film,
in order to give it a feeling that there’s a loftiness to the place – that it’s aspirational,”
says Thompson. “This is the place where Flint can pursue the dream he’s always had –
to become a great inventor who can make the world a better place.”
Later, the characters return
to Swallow Falls – but for
the production team, the
changes to the island from
the FLDSMDFR meant
designing all-new locations.
Thompson says that the
directors, Cameron and Pearn, were very clear about what they were looking for: “They
didn’t want a green jungle – they wanted it to feel like a place that no one had ever seen
before.”
“So, Cody and Kris asked us to use actual food as the inspiration for all of our
locations,” he explains. “The art director Dave Bleich and I started cutting apart fruit and
vegetables and looking at the shapes and patterns inside. That gave us all of our shape
language and our vivid color palette. That gave us a lot of room to be fun and creative
in our design.”
25 That was only half the battle. “They
also wanted the jungle to be larger
than life,” Thompson explains. “So I
went into a vegetable garden and
put a little handheld camera down
on the ground. And what I saw was
that fruits and vegetables have really
interesting shapes to them. Almost
all of them are covered in some kind
of fur – a texture that you don’t see on larger plants. And we found that when we scaled
that up, and especially when we started getting into 3D, it really worked well.”
Not only that, but as production designers can do with all great sets, Thompson and his
team could help tell the story through their designs. “We used the jungle as a backdrop
for the characters’ emotional states,” he says. “We worked with Sony Pictures
Imageworks’ Peter G. Travers, the Visual Effects Supervisor, to build the sets so that
we could change the color at
will – if we wanted a scene to
feel happy or sad, we could
use the same plants and
simply change the color.”
The other benefit was to add variety to the look of the film. “No two scenes look the
same,” he notes. “As you go through the film, it feels like you’re walking through the
color spectrum the whole time. For us, the color really does tell a story.”
Of course, the production design team was also able to express their creativity by
carefully placing food within the landscape. Each area of the island had its own theme.
“We had the Sunday morning breakfast section, with pancakes and eggs; we had the
26 Mexican food section; the steak-and-potatoes dinner section; and, at the end, dessert –
inside the big rock candy mountain.”
And oh, that dessert. “Back on the first movie, our 3D supervisor said that with the JellO mold, we had managed to create the most difficult set ever created in 3D. Well, on
this one, we managed to make one even more complex – they go inside of a geode
made of rock candy,” says Thompson. “There are giant crystals with a waterfall going
through it, and characters splashing in the water. There’s so much going on – there are
sparkles everywhere. And, of course, we art directed everything – even the sparkles.”
The animators
create a
performance
for the
characters on
the screen, so
each
character has
a unique way of moving and emoting. The senior animation supervisor, Peter Nash,
oversees the team that tackles that challenge. “We do movement for a living,” he says.
“That’s the most fun for us. How do we make motion entertaining and expressive?”
Nash says that the first challenge on Cloudy 2 was making it feel part and parcel of
what came before. “We were very determined to make everything feel true to the world
of the first movie,” he says. “On that movie, we had to invent the style. This time
around, we had some new concepts or tried things slightly differently, but we definitely
wanted it all to fit within the language that was already established.”
Having worked on the first film, Nash played a key role in designing the way that most of
the returning characters move through space – including Earl the cop. “He’s a supercop
in a town where nothing happened,” he says. “He wants to use all of his abilities and
27 has nothing to use them on. So, he’s got a lot of pent-up energy – every movement is
like a sprinter off the blocks, and every time he stops, it’s like slamming on the brakes.”
Of course, new characters meant new animation – and creating a new character
requires great amounts of trial and error in seeking to get the performance just right.
That is perhaps never more true than the performance of Chester V. “Whenever we’re
figuring out a new character, we’ll do all kinds of performance tests with them to figure
out which concepts work best. Chester’s persona is this new-age, touchy-feely guru –
he’s bright, happy, and positive, but it’s a means to an end, because he uses that to
manipulate people.”
To suggest that, Nash says, the animators made Chester graceful and elegant. “He has
a dancer-like control over his body,” Nash says. “Every time he’s talking, he’s giving a
performance that he’s orchestrated in his head ahead of time. He can isolate parts of
his body to move in sometimes impossible ways. It’s designed for maximum impact.
On the other hand, Barb – the orangutan with a human brain inside her ape brain – is
going through a personality crisis. “She’s trying to completely disregard her apelike
qualities and act as dainty and human as possible. She completely overcompensates
by being prim and proper – but she’ll forget. She has moments where she walks on her
hands and gets embarrassed.”
The other new
characters, of
course, were the
foodimals. Once
the foodimals
had been
designed –
whether though
28 Cameron’s early tests carving up real strawberries and pickles or through Kellman’s
nutty brainstorms – it fell to Nash and his team to design all-new movement for each of
the foodimals. “The way the characters were designed was very funny – a spider that’s
a cheeseburger with French fry legs has a lot of presence, a lot of detail. It’s very funny.
So we decided, if the design is the joke, then we had to make the movement as real as
possible. If we animated them light, like a cartoon, it wouldn’t be as funny. So we did it
visual effects style, very realistic, with lots of weight. It might be a cheeseburger with
French fry legs, but we wanted it to be believable.”
Not just believable – but tasty,
too. “One of our rules on the
first film was that the food
always had to look delicious,”
says Pearn. “We tried to keep
that going. Whenever we lit a
set or put new creatures into the world, it was always the most delicious version of that
creature. The cheespider might be scary, or you might want to love Barry, but you also
want to eat them because they’re so tasty.”
Not all of the animals prove a threat. Some of Nash’s favorite foodimals are the family
of pickles that get adopted by Tim Lockwood and Barry the strawberry, Flint and the
gang’s guide through the new Swallow Falls – and the animators had fun expressing
these characters through movement.
“For the pickles, we tried to suggest the idea that they haven’t been alive for very long –
they don’t really know how to move yet,” he says. “They’re like feral cats – they can
look erratic and unpredictable. At the same time, they’re adorable. Their intentions are
good.”
29 “Barry, on the other hand, is very clever,”
Nash continues. “He can use the
environment to his advantage. He can
turn himself into a ball and bounce at will.
He’ll roll away, pop up somewhere else,
then run, run, run across a log, then
bounce somewhere else.”
Peter G. Travers, the film’s visual effects supervisor overseeing a team of 150 people at
Sony Pictures Imageworks, notes that on an animated film, “every shot in the movie is
digital,” he says. As such, serving as VFX supervisor on an animated film means much
more responsibility than on a live-action film. “It’s the development of the characters,
it’s the development of the environments, the lighting of all the shots, the matte painting
– and then the effects animation and compositing. More or less, we’re responsible for
all the pixels.”
For Travers and his team, the most difficult shot was the hero reveal of the foodimals.
“All of the foodimals are there, and they’re all splashing in the water – and all of that
water has to be simulated – so the magnitude of data was very challenging,” he says.
“It’s the kind of scene that has been made possible by advancements in CG – the kind
of scene that was impossible ten years ago.”
Another of Travers’ favorite effects comes as the heroes’ boat lands in a giant coconut.
“Well, that’s coconut milk,” he notes. “And that has different physical properties than
water – it’s goopy, more viscous.”
And if coconut milk is more viscous, it’s go nothing on the film’s Breakfast Bog, which is
made entirely of maple syrup. Which led to an interesting question – just how much
more goopy than water is syrup? How would it behave? There was only one way to
30 find out. “We bought a ton of maple syrup, put it in a big pan, and sloshed it around to
see how it behaved,” says Travers.
Just as the production
design team built new sets
for each of the locations in
the film, Travers’ team
would also have to custom
build their work for each
set. “We wanted to get a
diversity of environments, like they’re moving through a rainforest part of the island, or a
swamp, or a desert – and all of those areas cater to a certain style of food, he says.
“They all have to have certain style effects, animation, lighting, and shading – even the
rendering models were very different.”
Building the environments required a lot of research for the render team. “We wanted
the jungle to have bioluminescence,” Travers notes, “so we did a lot of R&D on getting
the different styles of bioluminescence to read on the plants. From there, they open up
to Sardine Circle; as they go down the river, the cheespider chase is on – the
environment is all magenta and blues. They get into Salsa Land – reds and greens –
and then the Breakfast Bog, and finally the big rock candy mountain. That’s what was
so fun – for each of these environments, everything was totally new. The look of it
could be whatever we wanted.”
STAYING FOR DESSERT: THE END CREDITS
For the end credits, the filmmakers wanted to do something a little different – something
that would express the spirit of the film and show off a little personality. So, how about
a sequence that moved beyond a traditional 2D end-credits sequence – one that
31 employs 2D flash animation, CG animation, stop-motion, puppets, and more in a wild,
fun sequence that brings the foodimals to life in all kinds of new ways?
To plan the sequence, the directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn and the production
designer Justin K. Thompson turned to Craig Kellman, who had served the film well as
a character designer of the foodimals as well as Chester and Barb.
“At the beginning, Cody and Kris and Justin and I were batting around ideas about
different mediums and styles we could try to differentiate our sequence from the original
movie's end credits,” says Kellman. “Should we try to do it with costume characters, or
puppets, or stop motion – we love all of these ideas – which one should we do? And as
my co-designer Pete Oswald and I started looking at everything we were storyboarding,
we thought, ‘We should do all of them: start with the 2D Flash animation as our base,
then make a couple of scenes stop-motion, some other scenes CG, and another scene
with puppets.’ And miraculously, everyone said yes – and Pete and I had complete
control over where we used each of the different mediums and what we wanted each of
the individual scenes to be.”
Kellman and Oswald worked with Screen Novelties to bring the sequence to life.
“They’re mainly a stop-motion company, but they can do it all,” Kellman says. “They’ve
worked on all sorts of stuff, from ‘Robot Chicken’ to ‘Celebrity Death Match,’ a million
commercials, a SpongeBob Christmas special. I’ve known them for almost 20 years,
but the last time we worked together was 12 or 13 years ago and we’ve been looking for
a project to work on together since then.”
The elaborate sequence shows the virtue of planning in advance – though it took 18
weeks to plan the storyboard and get the appropriate approvals, the sequence took only
12 weeks to design, animate and composite from beginning to end.
32 Kellman also got a chance to resurrect some of his favorite foodimals that didn’t make
the final cut of the film. “The Matzo Bull is my favorite – maybe because I’m Jewish,” he
says. “But I also like the Tyranno-s’more-us Mess: a T-Rex made out of s’mores.”
The sequence is set to the tune of “La Da Dee,” a single performed by Cody Simpson.
Lia Vollack Sony Pictures’ President of Worldwide Music, says, “‘La Da Dee’ is a bright,
fresh, fun song that strikes the perfect tone to end Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
Cody is a wonderful and talented recording artist who appeals to kids and their parents
alike – he’s a perfect fit with the world of the film.”
FUN FACTS
CAST
•
Will Forte, who voices Chester V in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, was
already part of the Cloudy family: he voiced a cameo in the small role of Joe
Towne in the first film.
•
Terry Crews and his children are big fans of the first film. When he told his kids
that he was going to voice Earl, they exclaimed "Don't mess it up!"
•
Kristen Schaal was the directors’ first choice for Barb the orangutan; they had
written and modeled the character expressly for her.
•
Director Cody Cameron does voice work on the side for fun. He’s been the voice
of the Three Little Pigs and Pinocchio in the Shrek series as well as Mr. Weenie
in the Open Season films. In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, he voices the
role of Barry the strawberry; he uses real dialogue that he translated into “Barry
talk” in order to make sure that Barry’s tone and emotions are right. His vocal
performance is then reworked in the computer to make it high-pitched.
TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS & STYLE
•
Sony Pictures Imageworks’ CRowd Asset Management (CRAM) was developed
for Hotel Transylvania, but enhanced for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
Sequences in LiveCorp and San Franjose required a more robust system – one
that could fill a LiveCorp auditorium with 8,000 people. The system was even
used on the island of Swallow Falls, where it helped the animators create a
crowd of flamangoes.
33 •
Barb is such a complex character that artists had to create four different
simulations to help her belly, vest, hair, and hands follow the physics of the real
world – for example, her belly would have to jiggle right independently of the vest
she wears.
•
The backgrounds in the movie are made to look like they were hand painted.
The effects team used "Depth Styling" by replicating 2D paintings in the CG
world so that it looked like viewers are moving through a painting.
•
Production Designer Justin K. Thompson spent a day painting with the entire art
& production design team as well as the directors to create swatches, brushes
and textures that would be used for the movie’s final backgrounds
FOODIMALS
•
39 different types of foodimals have been created to date
•
The animators looked at real shrimp as reference, to figure out how the
shrimpanzees might use their tails as hands
•
The Cheesespider’s 203 eyes are individually controlled. To get just the right
look, the animators took apart and studied the elements of a real cheeseburger:
the translucency of real lettuce, the brightness of mustard, and the surface of
cheese.
•
The Pancake Breakfast Bog sequence features hundreds of mosquitoasts
•
For Barry, every seed and every divide that the seeds sit in had to be individually
modeled; he also has fuzzy hair on his little stems to help him look real in his
close-ups. Barry has 5,243 hairs and 406 seeds.
•
Animation reviews were forbidden around lunch time – real food was distracting.
Animators even started studying the way the light moved through the rice of their
sushi, wondering if they could improve the look of the susheep.
STORY
•
Filmmakers and production designer Justin K. Thompson took a three-day field
trip to San Francisco as inspiration for his design of San Franjose
34 BUILDINGS
•
LiveCorp is 2,248.36 feet tall, which is twice the size of the Eiffel Tower and 1.5
time the size of the Empire State Building
•
The LiveCorp headquarters are larger than the entire city of San FranJose; in
fact, 62% of San Franjose would fit inside the LiveCorp bulb alone!
•
The layout team built 3.58 miles of San Franjose, including 458 buildings, 137
trees, 64 cars, 20 dumpsters, 113 street lights, 70 newspaper stands, and 1,122
feet of railing
ABOUT THE CAST
Actor, writer, comedian, producer and repertory player, BILL HADER (Flint Lockwood)
recently finished production of his eighth and final season as a regular cast member on
NBC’s venerable comedy institution “Saturday Night Live.” Originally from Tulsa,
Oklahoma, Hader made an early splash on “SNL” in 2005 with his uncanny impressions
including, most notably, Al Pacino and Vincent Price. Heralded by New York magazine
as, “SNL’s new secret weapon,” Hader boasts impersonations and sarcasm delivered
with eviscerating deftness.” In 2012, Hader received an Emmy nomination for
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on the show. He is
currently nominated for a 2013 Emmy in the same category.
Hader had a full slate of film work in the summer of 2007 that began with a role in Judd
Apatow’s box-office hit and critically-acclaimed Knocked Up, which grossed over $140
million domestically. Hader immediately followed this up with a performance in another
Apatow release as a wayward policeman opposite Seth Rogen in Superbad for
Columbia Pictures, which grossed over $120 million domestically.
Hader found great success in 2008 with his role as Jason Segel’s compassionate and
hilarious step-brother in the box-office surprise hit Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Hader
also made a memorable cameo role in the summer action/comedy Pineapple Express.
35 Later that year, Hader appeared in the summer blockbuster comedy Tropic Thunder as
the insecure studio executive Rob Slolom who has to contend with the antics of Tom
Cruise’s crazed studio head character, Les Grossman. Nominated Best Comedy for the
BFCA Critics’ Choice Awards, the film was directed and written by Ben Stiller, who also
starred in the film. Tropic Thunder opened #1 at the box office for two weeks in a row
and earned over $110 million domestically. Hader was joined by Jack Black, Robert
Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson and Matthew McConaughey to earn
Best Ensemble Cast by the 2008 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards.
In 2009, Hader reunited with Ben Stiller for the worldwide hit Night at the Museum:
Battle of the Smithsonian. The film generated over $375 million worldwide. He also
appeared in Miramax’s Adventureland, reuniting Hader with his Superbad director, Greg
Mottola and SNL cast mate, Kristin Wiig. Hader also won an Emmy Award in 2009 for
his work as a producer on Comedy Central’s “South Park.”
Hader released Paul in 2011, another Mottola-directed film in which he appeared
alongside a star-studded cast of Jane Lynch, Simon Pegg, Sigourney Weaver, Jason
Bateman, Kristen Wiig, and Seth Rogen, who voices the title character, an alien named
Paul.
In 2012, Hader co-starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Sony Pictures’ Men in
Black 3, which has grossed over $624 million worldwide.
Hader has also voiced several animated characters, such as Flint Lockwood in Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs, which earned Best Animated Feature nominations for the
Golden Globes, the Annie Awards, the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Satellite
Awards, as well as Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Doogal, and Hoodwinked Too!
Hood vs. Evil. Other film credits for Hader include You, Me, and Dupree and Hot Rod.
Currently, Hader can be heard in the DreamWorks animated feature Turbo, alongside
Paul Giamatti and Ryan Reynolds and can be seen in the CBS Films comedy The To
36 Do List, written and directed by his wife, Maggie Carey, and co-starring Andy Samberg,
Rachel Bilson, and Aubrey Plaza. Hader can also be seen opposite Larry David, Jon
Hamm, Danny McBride, Eva Mendes, Kate Hudson and Michael Keaton in Clear
History, which premiered on HBO in August. In 2014 and 2015, Hader will lend his
voice to Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur and Inside Out.
A Second City Los Angeles alum, Hader currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife,
filmmaker Maggie Carey and their two daughters.
ANNA FARIS (Sam Sparks) will next star in Chuck Lorre’s CBS television comedy
“Mom” opposite Allison Janney. She most recently starred as the female lead opposite
Sasha Baron Cohen in Paramount’s The Dictator and What’s Your Number, a romantic
comedy for 20th Century Fox, alongside Chris Evans, which she also executive
produced.
Previously, Faris produced and starred in the hit film The House Bunny, in the leading
role of Shelley Darlington, a Playboy Bunny who is kicked out of the mansion and tries
to adjust to life on the outside.
Faris co-starred in the Oscar® nominated film Lost in Translation, alongside Bill Murray
and Scarlett Johansson for director Sofia Coppola. The critically acclaimed box-office hit
earned Faris rave reviews. Faris’ additional feature films include, I Give It A Year,
Observe & Report, Brokeback Mountain for director Ang Lee, Smiley Face for director
Gregg Araki, Yogi Bear, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Alvin & The Chipmunks:
The Squeakquel, Take Me Home Tonight, Mama’s Boy, Just Friends, Waiting,
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, and Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2,
Scary Movie 3, and Scary Movie 4. These films represent Dimension Films’ most
successful franchise to date.
37 On television, Faris has had memorable recurring roles on Entourage as herself and on
the final season of “Friends,” playing a surrogate mother to Monica and Chandler’s
adopted baby.
Originally from Seattle, Faris started acting in the theatre at a young age. She currently
lives in Los Angeles.
One of the most versatile actors in motion pictures, JAMES CAAN (Tim Lockwood) is
best known for his Academy Award®-nominated performance as Sonny Corleone in
The Godfather and for his Emmy-nominated portrayal of football star Brian Piccalo in
“Brian’s Song.”
Appearing in more than 50 feature films over the course of his career, Caan also earned
great recognition starring in Rob Reiner’s highly successful and critically acclaimed film
Misery, a psychological thriller based on the novel by Stephen King and in For The
Boys, a romantic drama co-starring Bette Midler. He was equally praised for his
performance as a brain damaged football star in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain
People, garnering him the Best Actor Award from the San Sebastian Film Festival. He
also received the Actor of the Year honor from the National Association of Theater
Owners for his role in The Gambler.
Born in the Bronx and raised in Queens, New York, Caan knew early on that he did not
want to follow in his father’s footsteps and work in the family meat business. He
entered Michigan State University at age sixteen to study economics and to play
football.
Caan transferred to Hofstra University to study law and during a spring break was
interviewed by, and accepted to Stanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse. He then
won a scholarship to study with Wynn Handman, and went on to get the first four jobs
he auditioned for in the theater.
38 Caan began his career on stage in the 1961 off-Broadway production of “La Ronde.”
He followed with a powerful slate of guest appearances in virtually every major
television series of the day.
In addition to the previously named titles, Caan’s other film credits include Cinderella
Liberty, Funny Lady, A Bridge Too Far, Thief, T.R. Baskin, Slither, Silent Movie,
Rollerball, The Killer Elite, Another Man, Another Chance, Comes A Horseman,
Gardens Of Stone, Alien Nation, Flesh And Bone, The Program, Honeymoon In Vegas,
Eraser, and Mickey Blue Eyes.
He also starred in The Yards for Miramax Films opposite Joaquin Phoenix, Mark
Wahlberg and Charlize Theron, Artisan Entertainment’s The Way of the Gun, in which
he co-starred with Benecio Del Toro, New Line Cinema’s mega-hit comedy Elf, in which
he co-starred with Will Ferrell, Lars von Trier’s Dogville, co-starring Nicole Kidman, and
the NBC drama “Las Vegas.” His most recent projects include a guest star appearance
in several episodes of the Starz Channel series “Magic City,” in which he portrays
underworld boss Sy Berman. He also directed as well as starred in the critically
acclaimed film Hide in Plain Sight.
WILL FORTE (Chester V) has established himself as one of the most versatile actors in
film and television. He spent eight seasons making audiences laugh on “Saturday Night
Live” and has been extremely busy with projects in film and television ever since he
wrapped his final season in 2010. Forte will next be seen in a lead role in Alexander
Payne’s drama feature Nebraska, which will be released by Paramount later this year.
He also stars in Run and Jump, which will debut at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and
he has completed filming a role in an untitled Elmore Leonard film, which he will star in
opposite of Jennifer Aniston, Isla Fisher and Tim Robbins. In addition, he appeared in
Grown Ups 2.
39 Last summer, Forte was seen in a trio of studio films, including That’s My Boy opposite
Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg, Rock of Ages, as well as The Watch opposite Ben
Stiller, Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn. Forte was previously seen in Universal’s feature
film adaptation of MacGruber. In addition to starring in the lead role, he co-wrote the
script with Jorma Taccone and John Solomon. Additionally, he was seen in A Good Old
Fashioned Orgy opposite former SNL co-star Jason Sudeikis, Tim and Eric’s Billion
Dollar Movie, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men written and directed by John Krasinski
and lending his voice to Sony’s hit animated film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Forte wrote and starred in the feature The Brothers Solomon, opposite Will Arnett and
“SNL” cast mate Kristen Wiig.
Forte also has had very memorable guest starring roles on the hit comedies “How I Met
Your Mother,” NBC’s award-winning “30 Rock,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Up All Night,”
“Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!” and on HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords.” He
is also a frequent guest on “Conan,” portraying a crazed Ted Turner. Additionally, he
has lent his voice to a handful of animated series including Fox’s “Allen Gregory,” “The
Cleveland Show” from creator Seth McFarlane and “Sit Down, Shut Up” from creator
Mitch Hurwitz, as well as MTV’s “Clone High.”
Forte came to “SNL” from L.A.’s improv-sketch theater The Groundlings where “SNL,”
alums Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman and Maya Rudolph got their respective starts. Forte has
a great deal of experience behind the camera – serving as producer on “That 70’s
Show” and as story editor for “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “Action,” as well as working
as a writer for “Late Show with David Letterman” and the MTV Movie Awards.
Forte currently resides in LA.
With a diverse range of comedic talents, ANDY SAMBERG (Brent) has emerged as a
captivating and hilarious leading man on screens both big and small. As an Emmy®
40 Award-winning writer, Samberg is achieving as much success behind the scenes as he
is on screen.
Samberg is set to star in and produce FOX’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” premiering on
Tuesday, September 17th at 8:30PM EST. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” written by Mike Schur
and Dan Goor, is about a diverse group of detectives in a precinct at the very edge of
New York City, with Samberg playing the lead detective.
Recently Samberg, along with his Lonely Island partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma
Taccone, released their third album The Wack Album on June 11, 2013. The group’s
third studio effort on Republic Records includes new songs featuring Hugh Jackman,
Kristen Wiig, Robyn, Adam Levine, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Too
$hort, Pharrell Williams, T-Pain, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Solange.
This past fall, Samberg starred on the hit BBC Three sitcom Cuckoo, where he played
an idle young American who marries a British girl and comes into conflict with his wife's
overprotective father played by British stand-up comic Greg Davies.
Samberg was also last seen in the Lee Toland Krieger’s critically lauded film Celeste
and Jesse Forever, written by and co-starring Rashida Jones, and lent his vocal talents
to the box office hit Hotel Transylvania alongside Adam Sandler and Kevin James.
Samberg hosted the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, which was the highest rated Movie
Awards since 2004. Samberg was also nominated for a 2009 Emmy® award for
Outstanding Music and Lyrics for his song “Motherlover,” performed alongside Justin
Timberlake.
Other film credits include That’s My Boy, Friends With Benefits, What's Your Number?, I
Love You, Man, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hot Rod, and voicing the lead
character, Ham III, in Fox Studios animated film Space Chimps.
41 Last year, Samberg completed his 7th and final season as a cast member on Saturday
Night Live.
BENJAMIN BRATT’s (Manny) diverse career has successfully spanned film and
television for more than 20 years.
In 2010, Bratt won Cinequest’s Maverick Spirit Award for his work as producer and star
of the San Francisco indie hit La Mission. Written and directed by his brother Peter
Bratt, the locally produced film garnered much critical praise, winning a Best Indie Film
nomination from the NAACP, a GLAAD award nomination, and multiple Imagen Awards,
including two for Best Picture and Best Actor.
Bratt’s distinguished film career includes the critically acclaimed films Piñero, for which
he was lauded for his striking, haunting, and “career defining” performance as the poetplaywright-actor Miguel Piñero; Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, which received five
Academy Award® nominations and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Ensemble Cast;
and The Woodsman, a festival and critical favorite starring Kevin Bacon.
Television audiences perhaps best recognize Bratt from his Emmy-nominated role as
Detective Rey Curtis on NBC’s long-running drama “Law & Order.” He recently starred
in the A&E drama series “The Cleaner,” for which he also served as producer. His
portrayal of “extreme interventionist” William Banks garnered him the 2009 Alma Award
for Best Actor in a Drama Series. A veteran of more than 25 films, Bratt’s other work of
note includes Curtis Hansen’s The River Wild opposite Meryl Streep; Blood In, Blood
Out for director Taylor Hackford; Clear and Present Danger opposite Harrison Ford; the
beloved comedy Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock; and the theatrical adaptation of
the acclaimed novel Love in the Time of Cholera, costarring Javier Bardem.
Most recently Bratt starred in the ABC drama “Private Practice” and in a recurring role
as Sofia Vergara’s ne’er-do-well ex-husband Javier on the smash hit “Modern Family.”
42 2013 will see him starring in The Lesser Blessed and Snitch.
A San Francisco native and proud alumnus of American Conservatory Theater’s ATP
(honorary M.F.A. in 2008), Bratt is married to actress Talisa Soto Bratt and resides in
Los Angeles with her and their two children.
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS (Steve the Monkey) can currently be seen as the womanizing
Barney Stinson in the hit CBS comedy series, “How I Met Your Mother,” a role which
has garnered him multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations, as well as two
People’s Choice Awards for Favorite TV Comedy Actor, and a Critics’ Choice Award for
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2010, Harris won his first two Emmy Awards
for his guest-starring turn in the critically-acclaimed series, “Glee,” in addition to his role
as host of the 63rd Annual Tony Awards. Harris also served as host and producer of the
65th and 66th Annual Tony Awards, winning his third Emmy Award for the former, and
the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Named one of the 2008 Entertainers of the
Year by Entertainment Weekly, Harris was included on Time Magazine’s 2010 Time 100
List, an annual list of the world’s leading thinkers, leaders, artists, and heroes.
Harris gained notoriety on the small screen as the much-adored title character in
“Doogie Howser, M.D.,” a role which also garnered him a Golden Globe nomination.
Created by Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, the television comedy-drama ran for
four seasons and told the story of a brilliant, young doctor who faced the problems of
being a normal teenager. Among Harris’ additional television credits include the NBC
comedy series, “Stark Raving Mad,” opposite Tony Shalhoub; the CBS mini-series
“Joan of Arc,” with Leelee Sobieski & Peter O’Toole; Showtime’s “The Man in the Attic”;
the classic TNT telefilm, “Cold Sassy Tree,” opposite Faye Dunaway; “My Antonia,” with
Jason Robards and Eva Marie Saint; “The Wedding Dress” with Tyne Daly; and CBS’s
top-rated telefilm of 2005, “The Christmas Blessing. Harris has also made notable
guest appearances on such shows as “Glee,” “Sesame Street,” “Numb3rs,” “Law &
43 Order: Criminal Intent,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Ed,” and “Will & Grace,” among many
others.
As a result of the 2007-08 Writer’s Guild of America strike, Harris starred as the aspiring
supervillain and lovelorn title character in Joss Whedon’s Emmy Award-winning, webbased musical miniseries, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” The web series debuted
atop iTunes television charts and produced a subsequently successful soundtrack.
Furthering his appeal with the online community, Harris was also one of the leading cast
members of the all-star internet hit, “Prop 8: The Musical,” co-starring Jack Black, John
C. Reilly and Allison Janney. Most recently, Harris starred in and executive produced
the comedic web series, “Neil’s Puppet Dreams.”
Created by The Jim Henson
Company under its Henson Alternative banner, the seven-episode series, which aired
on The Nerdist Channel, follows Harris’ adventures into his sleeping dream world, which
is filled with puppet characters.
A veteran of the theatre, Harris tackled the leading role of Bobby in the New York
Philharmonic’s concert production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” at Lincoln
Center. The all-star production, co-starring Patti LuPone, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer,
Christina Hendricks, and Martha Plimpton, was also filmed for a subsequent theatrical
release in movie theaters. Harris has starred in three Broadway productions, including
the dual roles of The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning
musical, “Assassins.” Harris made his Broadway debut as Anne Heche’s unexpected
suitor in the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of “Proof,” and he later starred as the
exuberant emcee in “Cabaret” at Studio 54. His additional theatrical credits include the
Hollywood Bowl’s production of “Amadeus,” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Geffen Playhouse production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” “tick,
tick…BOOM!” at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, “The Paris Letter” at the Kirk
Douglas Theatre, the concert production of “Sweeney Todd,” with the San Francisco
Symphony Orchestra, “Romeo & Juliet” at the Old Globe Theater, and the Los Angeles
production of “Rent,” which garnered him a Drama Desk Award.
44 Utilizing his theatrical expertise behind the curtain and furthering his association with the
Pulitzer Prize-winning production, Harris made his musical directorial debut with the
Hollywood Bowl’s recent staging of Jonathan Larson’s “Rent,” starring Nicole
Scherzinger, Vanessa Hudgens, and Wayne Brady. In July 2007, Harris made his
theatrical directing debut with the original comedic script, “I Am Grock,” at the El Portal
Theatre in North Hollywood. He later mixed his love of magic and theatre in directing
“The Expert at the Card Table” at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a production that
Harris subsequently directed at the Broad Stage Theater in Los Angeles. Most recently,
Harris directed two acclaimed young magicians, Derek DelGaudio and Helder
Guimarães, in “Nothing to Hide,” an intimate illusion show at the Geffen Playhouse.
Harris’ feature film debut was a starring role opposite Whoopi Goldberg in the comingof-age drama, Clara’s Heart, for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination.
He was recently seen reprising his role as Patrick Winslow in Columbia Pictures’/Sony
Pictures Animation’s The Smurfs™ 2, the live-action/animation sequel to the original
worldwide hit film, The Smurfs.
Harris’ other film credits include notable roles in
American Reunion, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, Beastly, The Best and the
Brightest, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Harold & Kumar Go to White
Castle, Undercover Brother, The Next Best Thing, The Proposition, and Starship
Troopers.
The multi-talented Harris rounds out his accomplishments on stage and screen with an
equal measure of success in the world of voice-overs. He previously voiced the role of
Steve the Monkey in Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,
based on the beloved children’s book by Judi and Ron Barrett. Among his numerous
voiceover credits for film, television, and video games include The Cartoon Network’s
“Adventure Time,” Dreamworks Animation’s “The Penguins of Madagascar,” Activision’s
“Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions,” Warner Bros.’ Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty
Galore, Warner Bros. Animation’s “Batman: Under the Red Hood,” CBS’ “Yes, Virginia,”
The Cartoon Network’s “Robot Chicken” and “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” Fox’s
“Family Guy,” D3’s “Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard,” Warner Bros. Animation’s
45 “Justice League: The New Frontier,” MTV’s “Spider-Man,” The Cartoon Network’s
“Justice League,” and Fox’s “Capitol Critters.”
Harris’ voice work also includes creating characters for numerous books on tape,
including Ribsy, Henry and Ribsy, and Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary, Slake’s Limbo
by Felice Holman, Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket, and A Very Marley Christmas by
John Grogan.
Former NFL football player TERRY CREWS (Earl Devereaux) traded in his helmet and
cleats to pursue an acting career, and become the ultimate family man and fitness
enthusiast. Since retiring from the NFL in 1997, Crews has landed roles in Friday After
Next, Soul Plane, White Chicks, Idiocracy, Bridesmaids and The Longest Yard. Terry
has starred on shows such as “Are We There Yet?,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” and
HBO's “The Newsroom,” as well as the BET reality series “The Family Crews.” In film,
Crews has starred in The Expendables franchise, has recently wrapped Adam Sandler's
latest production Blended, and has been getting rave reviews for his comedic
performance in Netflix's reboot of “Arrested Development.” Next, Crews can be seen
alongside Andy Samberg in FOX's new comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” He is also the
spokesman for Old Spice's award winning Smell is Power campaign. A true renaissance
man, Crews has entered yet another field and has just inked a book deal with Random
House Publishing.
Crews was born in Flint, Mich., and attended Flint Southwestern Academy. He earned
an Art Excellence Scholarship to attend the Interlochen Center for the Arts and then
Western Michigan University. While completing his studies as an art major, Crews was
a key member of the WMU football team, earning all-conference honors as a defensive
end. Crews was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the 1991 NFL Draft. He carved out
a career that lasted six seasons, including stints with the Rams, San Diego Chargers,
Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles.
46 Crews lives in Los Angeles with his wife of nearly 25 years, Rebecca. They have five
children.
KRISTEN SCHAAL (Barb) starred in the cult hit “Flight of The Conchords,” and is the
Women’s Issues Correspondent for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” She voices the
character Louise in the Fox animated series “Bob’s Burgers,” and has a recurring role
on "30 Rock." Other film and television credits include Toy Story 3, Dinner for
Schmucks, “Mad Men,” “Modern Family,” “Gravity Falls,” and “The Simpsons,” among
others. In 2011, Schaal appeared in “The Coward” at The Lincoln Center Theatre, and
was awarded the Lucille Lortel Award for her performance.
As a stand-up, Schaal won the award for Best Alternative Comic at the 2006 United
States Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and is the recipient of the second annual Andy
Kaufman Award hosted by the New York Comedy Festival. Additionally, Kristen was a
Pierre Award Nominee at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and in October of 2005, she
was included in New York Magazine’s “Ten Funniest New Yorkers You’ve Never Heard
Of.” She has recorded two specials, "Comedy Central Presents: Kristen Schaal," and
"Kristen Schaal: Live at the Fillmore."
Schaal is also a published author. She co-authored a sex guide, The Sexy Book of Sexy
Sex, with fiancé and “Daily Show” writer Rich Blomquist.
47 ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
CODY CAMERON (Director) is the director with Kris Pearn of
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
Cameron most recently directed Open Season 3, the Sony
Pictures Home Entertainment-released sequel to Sony
Pictures Animation’s 2006 hit Open Season. He also directed
the animated short film The Chubbchubbs™ Save Xmas,
based on the Oscar® winning short film The
Chubbchubbs. He joined the staff of Sony Pictures Animation
in 2004 as story artist on Surf’s Up, Sony Pictures Animation’s second theatrical feature.
Cameron started his career at Dreamworks Animation, drawing story boards and writing
dialogue for the first three Shrek movies, Madagascar, and Aardman’s Chicken Run.
He also enjoys doing voice acting during his spare time, best recognized as the voice of
the Three Little Pigs and Pinocchio in the Shrek series and as Mr. Weenie in the Open
Season films.
KRIS PEARN (Director) makes his directorial debut with
Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of
Meatballs 2, teaming in that capacity with Cody Cameron.
Pearn most recently served as Story Supervisor on Sony
Pictures Animation’s and Aardman’s Arthur Christmas, and
was honored for his work with an Annie Award nomination
for Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production. He was
also Head of Story on Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs and served as a story artist on
48 the studio’s critically acclaimed feature Surf’s Up, an Academy Award® nominee for
Best Animated Feature. In 2006, his work on Sony Pictures Animation’s freshman hit,
Open Season, earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Storyboarding in an
Animated Production.
Pearn was profiled by The Hollywood Reporter as part of the “Class of 2007” in their
annual “The NEXT Generation” issue, which profiles and recognized up-and-coming
creative individuals as “ones to watch.”
ERICA RIVINOJA (Story by / Screenplay by) won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding
Animated Program and was nominated for two more as part of the writing-producing
team behind “South Park,” where she served for more than 10 seasons.
Rivinoja’s other credits include the animated series “Clone High,” where she teamed
with Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, and “Grounded for Life.” Most recently, she served
as a writer and consulting producer for NBC’s “Up All Night.” In March, she signed a
two-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop comedy projects for the
studio for both broadcast and cable networks.
JOHN FRANCIS DALEY (Screenplay by) came to national attention when he was cast
as the lead role of Sam Weir in the critically acclaimed Judd Apatow-produced television
series “Freaks and Geeks,” alongside some of the (now) biggest stars in Hollywood,
including Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jason Segel.
Following “Freaks and Geeks,” Daley landed several series regular roles on projects like
“The Geena Davis Show,” “The Kennedys,” “Regular Joe,” and the FOX comedy
“Kitchen Confidential.” For the past six years, he’s been one of the stars of the hit Fox
series “Bones” as Dr. Lance Sweets. His feature film work includes A View from the
Top, 5-25-77 and Waiting, alongside Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris. He is also the
49 lead in Lionsgate’s Rapturepalooza, with Anna Kendrick and Craig Robinson, due out
this year.
In 2007, Daley and his writing partner, Jonathan Goldstein sold their first screenplay,
The $40,000 Man, to New Line Cinema. They have since sold eight more movies to
major studios like Disney and DreamWorks and earlier this year, New Line hired them
to pen the reboot of Vacation, the 1983 classic that starred Chevy Chase, which they
will co-direct this summer starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate.
Daley and Goldstein penned The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, starring Steve Carell,
Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin and Steve Buscemi. They also wrote 2011’s hit
summer comedy, Horrible Bosses, which starred Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie
Foxx, Jason Bateman and Colin Farrell.
Originally from Wheeling, IL, Daley lives in Los Angeles.
After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1995 and practicing for two years at a
large New York law firm, JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN (Screenplay by) ran screaming from
his office, moved to LA and became a comedy writer. Over the next 12 years, he wrote
and produced numerous network television comedies, including “The PJ’s” starring
Eddie Murphy, “The Geena Davis Show,” “Good Morning Miami,” “Four Kings,” and
“The New Adventures of Old Christine.” In 2007, in collaboration with his feature writing
partner, John Francis Daley, Goldstein sold his first film script, The $40,000 Man, to
New Line Cinema. That script landed on the Hollywood “Black List,” and launched the
team’s screenwriting career. Their 2011 comedy, Horrible Bosses, starring Jennifer
Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and
Charlie Day, earned $209 million in worldwide box office. Goldstein and Daley just
completed the script for the sequel, Horrible Bosses 2. Another of their projects, The
Incredible Burt Wonderstone, starring Steve Carell, Jim Carrey and Steve Buscemi was
released in March of 2013. Goldstein and Daley have also been hired by New Line to
50 co-direct their script of Vacation, a “reboot” of the Chevy Chase franchise, with filming to
begin in the summer of 2013.
PHIL LORD (Story by / Executive Producer) and Christopher Miller are most known for
co-directing the hit action-comedy 21 Jump Street, starring Jonah Hill and Channing
Tatum, which took in over $200 million worldwide last year. The critically acclaimed
comedy was honored with a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Comedy of 2012
and Lord and Miller are currently in production on the sequel, 22 Jump Street. Lord and
Miller also co-wrote and co-directed the Sony Pictures Animation feature Cloudy With A
Chance of Meatballs, loosely based on the beloved children’s book of the same name,
Lord and Miller’s unique comic sensibilities earned the film a Golden Globe and Critics
Choice nomination for Best Animated Feature along with four Annie Award nominations
for excellence in animation, including Best Direction and Best Screenplay. Lord also
executive produced the micro-indie film Pincus, which was nominated for an
Independent Spirit Award this year.
The duo is currently in production on the animated adventure-comedy feature film Lego:
The Piece of Resistance, which is slated for a February 7, 2014 release. Additionally,
they will produce the comedy feature, The Reunion. Written and to be directed by Miller,
the film is a comedy murder mystery set at a high school reunion. The pair also directed
the pilot for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” one of television’s most anticipated series of the 2013
Fall Season.
In May, Lord and Miller signed a three year exclusive deal with Twentieth Century Fox
Television where they will develop, write and direct comedy projects, both in live action
and animation for network and cable television.
Lord and Miller’s collaboration started when they met at Dartmouth College. The two
contend it was a comical misunderstanding that landed them a job developing Saturday
morning cartoons for the Walt Disney Company, which led to their stint developing
51 primetime animated shows for Touchstone Television. In 2002, they executive
produced, wrote, and directed the short-lived but highly talked about animated
series Clone High on MTV. The series was critically acclaimed for its well-developed
and unique personalities as well as for its witty, fast-paced dialogue, but is probably
best known for causing a hunger strike in India and being quickly cancelled. Lord voiced
the characters of Principal Scudworth, Genghis Khan, and Geldhemoor, the
Humkeycorn.
Among their television writing credits, Lord and Miller served as co-executive producers
on “How I Met Your Mother,” the Emmy-winning primetime sitcom that began airing on
CBS in September of 2005; and executive producers of many failed pilots
including “Awesometown,” featuring the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, and “Phil
Hendrie,” featuring the radio genius of the same name. The team also worked as
consulting producers on “Jake in Progress” and “Cracking Up” (created and executive
produced by Mike White), supervising producers on “Method & Red” and “Luis,” and
staff writers on “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane.”
Lord graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a degree in Art History. His
college animated short Man Bites Breakfast won Best Animation at the 1998 New
England Film and Video Festival and was also included in several other festivals,
including ASIFA East and ASIFA San Francisco.
He is a native of Coconut Grove, Florida and likes bikes.
CHRISTOPHER MILLER (Story by / Executive Producer) and Phil Lord are most known
for co-directing the hit action-comedy 21 Jump Street, starring Jonah Hill and Channing
Tatum, which took in over $200 million worldwide last year. The critically acclaimed
comedy was honored with a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Comedy of 2012
and Miller and Lord are currently in production on the sequel, 22 Jump Street. Miller
and Lord also co-wrote and co-directed the Sony Pictures Animation feature Cloudy
52 With A Chance of Meatballs, loosely based on the beloved children’s book of the same
name, Miller and Lord’s unique comic sensibilities earned the film a Golden Globe and
Critics Choice nomination for Best Animated Feature along with four Annie Award
nominations for excellence in animation, including Best Direction and Best Screenplay.
The duo is currently in production on the animated adventure-comedy feature film Lego:
The Piece of Resistance, which is slated for a February 7, 2014 release. Additionally,
they will produce the comedy feature, The Reunion. Written and to be directed by Miller,
the film is a comedy murder mystery set at a high school reunion. The pair also directed
the pilot for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” one of television’s most anticipated series of the 2013
Fall Season.
In May, Miller and Lord signed a three year exclusive deal with Twentieth Century Fox
Television where they will develop, write and direct comedy projects, both in live action
and animation for network and cable television.
Miller and Lord’s collaboration started when they met at Dartmouth College. The two
contend it was a mistake that landed them a job developing Saturday morning cartoons
for the Walt Disney Company, which led to their stint developing primetime animated
shows for Touchstone Television. In 2002, they executive produced, wrote, and directed
the short-lived but highly talked about animated series Clone High on MTV. The series
was critically acclaimed for its well-developed and unique personalities as well as for its
witty, fast-paced dialogue, but is probably best known for causing a hunger strike in
India and being quickly cancelled. Miller voiced the characters of John F. Kennedy and
Mr. Butlertron.
Among their television writing credits, Miller and Lord served as co-executive producers
on “How I Met Your Mother,” the Emmy-winning primetime sitcom that began airing on
CBS in September of 2005; and executive producers of many failed pilots
including “Awesometown,” featuring the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, and “Phil
Hendrie,” featuring the radio genius of the same name. The team also worked as
53 consulting producers on “Jake in Progress” and “Cracking Up” (created and executive
produced by Mike White), supervising producers on “Method & Red” and “Luis,” and
staff writers on “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane.”
While still pursuing his education, Miller received the 1998 New England Film and Video
Festival Awards prize for his animated short, Sleazy Goes to France. He also served as
editor-in-chief of the Dartmouth College campus humor magazine, The Jack-O-Lantern.
Miller is a native of Lake Stevens, Washington. He left there to attend Dartmouth
College, where he found a lifelong friend in Phil Lord while obtaining a degree in
government and studio art: three achievements, two of which are useful to his career.
PAM MARSDEN (producer) is currently serving as the Senior Vice President of
Production for Sony Pictures Animation, where she is responsible for planning,
budgeting and supervising all projects on the Sony Pictures Animation slate, working
with individual show producers, their creative teams and Sony Pictures Imageworks.
Prior to her current position, Marsden produced Sony Pictures Animation’s feature
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a mouth-watering 3D comedy based on the popular
children’s book of the same name by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett.
Before joining Sony Pictures Animation in 2005, Marsden produced Dinosaur for Walt
Disney Feature Animation and the home entertainment feature Mickey’s Twice Upon a
Christmas for Walt Disney Pictures’ DisneyToon Studios.
She has worked as a production stage manager in Chicago and Off Broadway and also
served as the managing director for the International Theatre Festival of Chicago.
54 Marsden is a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her educational background includes a
degree in theater arts from Kalamazoo College and post-graduate study at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
KIRK BODYFELT (producer) most recently served as producer on Open Season 2 and
Open Season 3, the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment-released sequels to Sony
Pictures Animation’s 2006 hit Open Season. He is well-respected in the animation
industry for his ability to lead teams telling engaging stories with wonderful characters,
rich environments and spectacular effects using the latest digital production capabilities.
He joined the staff of Sony Pictures Imageworks in 2004 as digital producer on Open
Season, Sony Pictures Animation’s first feature. He also served as producer of the
award-winning animated short film The Chubbchubbs™ Save Xmas, based on the
Oscar® winning short film, The Chubbchubbs.
Bodyfelt previously spent 14 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he worked
on 10 different feature animated films, quickly rising through the ranks to manager of
digital production. He helped develop the process to blend 3D characters and
technologies with 2D animation on such films as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King,
Tarzan, Hercules, and Mulan, among others.
Bodyfelt, an alumnus of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts,
is originally from Tigard, Oregon.
MARK MOTHERSBAUGH (Music by) is one of this era’s most unique and prolific
composers. Deeply aware of the ability of precise, multi-faceted artistic expression to
deliver vital social commentary, he has perpetually challenged and redefined musical
and visual boundaries. Mothersbaugh co-founded influential rock group DEVO, and
then parlayed his avant-garde musical background into a leading role in the world of
scoring for filmed and animated entertainment, interactive media and commercials.
55 As an award winning composer, his credits include Hotel Transylvania, 21 Jump
Street, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The
Life Aquatic, “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” and the hugely successful “Rugrats” television,
stage and film franchise.
Through his multimedia company, Mutato Muzika, Mark has scored hundreds of
commercials. Mothersbaugh received the BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding
Career Achievement at the organization’s 2004 Film/TV Awards. He can currently be
seen as the art teacher on the hit television series, Yo Gabba Gabba!
“Academy Award®” and “Oscar®” are the registered trademarks and service marks of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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