Roald Dahl is one of those authors whose controversial views nevertheless don’t stop companies looking to adapt his work. We’ve already had two cinematic versions of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and Wes Anderson had brought several books and short stories to screens.
‘The Twits’ could perhaps be considered second-tier Dahl compared to the likes of Willy Wonka and co., but it nevertheless has enough of the writer’s trademark oddness blended with moral lessons that animation feels like the best medium for it.
Script and Direction
(L to R): Margo Martindale as Mrs. Twit, Johnny Vegas as Mr. Twit, in ‘The Twits.’
Writing with Meg Favreau (‘Barbie: It Takes Two’), main director Phil Johnston clearly seems to be enjoying freedom from the restraints of working on bigger-budget Disney releases. Here, he truly lets his freak flag fly, building a decent if rarely needed narration and making enough changes to have the story work at feature length without sacrificing what fans of the books might expect.
The inclusion of orphan heroes, however, does feel somewhat off-the-peg for this sort of movie, even in the characters are engaging enough.
As director, Johnston (working alongside co-directors Todd Kunjan Demong (‘The Addams Family’) and Katie Shanahan (‘Wild Kratts’) and their animation team, brings the characters to life in fresh fashion, the various personalities looking like a blend of stop-motion and CG, and giving the madness of the story its own visual flare.
Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale are the standouts, voicing the main characters, but there are also good performances from the likes of Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (who voices one of the orphans) and Jason Mantzoukas (as local official Mayor Wayne John John-John).
The Twits tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Twit, the meanest, smelliest, nastiest people on the face of the earth, and their epic battle against a family of magical Muggle-Wumps and two brave children who refuse to let the Twits’ cruelty win.
Appearing in-person were Zack and Deborah Snyder, Craig Robinson, Nick Kroll and Nathan Lane
Netflix announced several new animated movies and TV shows
Timothy Olyphant will voice the Terminator in ‘Terminator Zero’ and Hayley Atwell will voice Lara Croft in ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’
On Thursday June 6th, in Hollywood, Netflix held their Next on Netflix Animation Preview where they presented many of their upcoming animated movies and TV shows.
Moviefone had the pleasure of attending the event, with other members of the press, and even had a chance to speak one on one with Zach Snyder about his work on ‘Twilight of the Gods’.
Host Christopher Sean at Next on Netflix Animation Preview. Photo: Netflix.
The event began with a sizzle reel of Netflix’s upcoming animated projects, which you can watch above. Below is a list of projects presented at the event.
Adult series from action with ‘Arcane’, ‘Twilight of the Gods’ and ‘Terminator Zero’, to comedy with ‘Exploding Kittens’ and the final season of ‘Big Mouth’.
Following the success of all-audience hits like ‘The Sea Beast’ and ‘Leo’, come new films including ‘The Imaginary’, ‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’, ‘Spellbound’, ‘That Christmas’, ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’, ‘The Twits’, ‘K-Pop: Demon Hunters’, ‘Plankton: The Movie’, ‘Pookoo’; and series like ‘Motel Transylvania’ and ‘Jurassic World: Chaos Theory’.
Preschool shows featuring little ones’ favorite friends with ‘CoComelon’, ‘CoComelon Lane’, and ‘Gabby’s Dollhouse’, which collectively amassed more than 650M views last year.
The presentation saw the debut of images and footage from many of Netflix’s upcoming animated projects. Among the first look images presented were photos from Zack Snyder’s ‘Twilight of the Gods’, the SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff ‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’, the new Wallace and Gromit movie ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ and from ‘Love Actually’ filmmaker Richard Curtis, ‘That Christmas’.
‘That Christmas’. Photo: Netflix.
The event also included several cast and project announcements including Natalie Portman and Emilia Clarke joining ‘Twits’, Simu Liu joining Craig Robinson in ‘In Your Dreams,’ Timothy Olyphant voicing the Terminator in ‘Terminator Zero’ and Hayley Atwell playing the lead character in ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’. Other announcements included another SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff ‘Plankton: The Movie’, as well as a TV series based on the ‘Hotel Transylvania’ franchise called ‘Motel Transylvania’.
We also screened footage from the series ‘Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’, ‘Terminator Zero’, and ‘Twilight of the Gods’, as well as a teaser for a ‘Minecraft’ series, and concept art from upcoming ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Stranger Things’ animated shows. Footage from ‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’, ‘In Your Dreams’, ‘That Christmas’, ‘The Twits’, and ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’ was also shown.
‘Big Mouth’s Final Season
Nick Kroll at Next on Netflix Animation Preview. Photo: Netflix.
Comedian and actor Nick Kroll was on hand to discuss the 8th and final season of his popular adult comedy ‘Big Mouth’, and introduced a table read montage video from the series.
“We started ‘Big Mouth’ eight years ago. Season Eight will be coming out early next year. It’s our final season of the show. I think about where when we started, ‘BoJack Horseman’ had come out and we were in the next little round of animation at a time when Netflix itself was just beginning to do original programming. We had unbelievable freedom to create exactly the show we wanted to make. Netflix really gave us the freedom to do that. Eight seasons later, we will be the longest running series in Netflix history for an adult series. I’m incredibly proud of that and I’m proud of how we’ve made the show. I’m proud of the partnership we’ve had with Netflix, and it’s just been an unbelievable joy creating this show with Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett and Andrew Goldberg, our unbelievable cast, our unbelievable writers, and are unbelievable storyboard artists, editors, everyone involved in the engineering of it, the producers, and our partners at Titmouse. This has been an incredible labor of love.”
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Craig Robinson’s Dual Roles
Craig Robinson at Next on Netflix Animation Preview. Photo: Netflix.
Actor, comedian, and singer Craig Robinson took the stage to discuss two upcoming films he will appear in. First, he introduced a scene from ‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’.
“Hey, everybody! I’m here today because SpongeBob is back — and so are his friends. ‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’ is coming exclusively to Netflix in August, and I’m so pumped to be in it”
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Craig Robinson at Next on Netflix Animation Preview. Photo: Netflix.
Robinson then discussed his other Netflix movie, ‘In Your Dreams’ before introducing a video of actor Simu Liu talking about his involvement in the project and presenting a clip from the film.
“As awesome as it was to finally reach a place in my career where I got to voice a Squirrel Dad, it pales in comparison to my next role. I think it proves I’m at the top of my game: A stuffed giraffe. I was told by the filmmakers that I was their first and only choice. They said, “Craig, you were born to play this part.” His name’s Tony Baloney, because he’s stuffed with processed meat. Oh, and he can shoot laser farts. That’s awesome. Daniel Day Lewis had ‘Lincoln’, I got Baloney Tony. I’m already working on my Oscar speech.”
Nathan Lane at Next on Netflix Animation Preview. Photo: Netflix.
Before introducing an animation test from the film ‘Pookoo’, acclaimed actor Nathan Lane discussed his upcoming animated movie ‘Spellbound’.
“’Spellbound’ is about Ellian, the tenacious young daughter of the rulers of Lumbria. She has a secret; a mysterious spell has turned her parents into monsters! Ellian loves her parents. That’s why she summons the mysterious Oracles of the Sun and Moon. I play the Oracle of the Moon and Tituss Burgess plays the Oracle of the Sun and we come to help her break the spell. The cast also includes some other great actors: Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, John Lithgow, and Jenifer Lewis. It also has music by Academy Award winning composer Alan Menken. The film is directed by Vicky Jensen, who also directed a little movie you may have heard of called ‘Shrek.’ ‘Spellbound’ is a big adventure for the whole family, filled with incredible new characters you’ll love. I’m excited to share that the movie, which will release globally on Netflix on November 22, 2024.”
Director Zack Snyder and producer Deborah Snyder at Next on Netflix Animation Preview. Photo: Netflix.
Director Zack Snyder (‘Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire’) and his wife, producer Deborah Snyder presented footage and images from their new animated series ‘Twilight of the Gods’.
Zack Snyder said this about the series:
“’Twilight of the Gods’ was a show that we’ve been working on for quite some time, years in the making. I’ve always been obsessed with Norse mythology. I think it’s an amazing place. I love mythology in general, and so the idea of being able to dig into this rich tapestry of heroes and gods was an incredible opportunity for both of us. This show is really a story. It’s a story about love and revenge, and it just takes us across this massive and beautiful landscape in pursuit of, well, you’ll have to see.”
Deborah Snyder added this:
“As Zack said, it’s been about just over four years in the making, developing these scripts and then having an in-house team of about 48 artists who developed all the characters and the worlds. In animation, nothing is for free. Every prop and everything, as you know, must be created. We were so lucky to be able to work with this group of very global artists.”
Director Zack Snyder at Next on Netflix Animation Preview. Photo: Netflix.
After the presentation, Moviefone had the pleasure of speaking briefly with Zack Snyder one on one about his new animated project.
Moviefone: To begin with, what drew you to adapting Norse mythology for this animated series?
Zack Snyder: Well, we’ve been talking about doing an animated project with Netflix. That had been a conversation that was going on. We had that conversation and are doing an ‘Army of the Dead’ animated series, so that was kind of happening at the same time. This happened because I think (Director) Jay (Oliva) and I were talking about how we both love Norse mythology; wouldn’t it be cool to do something in that world. We started talking to Netflix about it and they said, “Yeah, do that!” So that started us on the journey of developing it.
MF: Finally, I think fans have been waiting for you to adapt this specific mythology for a long time. Did it seem like a no-brainer for you too?
ZS: I think it was easy in us being excited every day. I wasn’t like, “I got to do that Norse mythology thing.” We were utterly and completely off the chain with (the animation) too, so that was cool.
