Director Chris Wedge has worked on a couple of highly successful animated films that are one day destined to be known as classics, such as the ICE AGE movies and ROBOTS. His new movie EPIC, which hit theatres May 24, has a huge cast, a huge story and is a huge adventure in a tiny world. It’s about a girl named MK, who discovers a tiny civilization of warriors, known as The Leafmen, hidden in the forest. The Leafmen protect the forest and its inhabitants, all while keeping their world a secret from humans like us. Along with her new friends Nod, a leafman in training, Mub and Grub, a slug and snail, and the leader of the Leafmen, Ronin, MKgoes on a big adventure to save the forest from Mandrake, a creature ofrot. After all, who wants to see the world rot?
THE MAGAZINE got a chance to sit down and chat with Chris about the movie. Read on to find out what he had to say!
The movie is loosely based off of THE LEAFMEN AND THE BRAVE GOOD BUGS, why call the movie EPIC?
I started thinking about this movie with Bill Joyce who wrote that book, but we were working on our own original story. We borrowed the notion that there are little leaf men from his book. We amped them up into cool samurai warriors that ride on hummingbirds and fly through the forest like jet fighters and movie like action heroes. The story is nothing like Bill’s book, it’s just that we took the leafmen. When we announced that we were making this movie our working title was THE LEAFMEN, so I think people went on the Internet and looked for the book and assumed that we built it off of the book, but it’s an original story.
So what brought you to the title EPIC?
Well, it was tough to come up with a title for this movie because it isn’t just about the Leafmen and it isn’t just about the forest. There’s a big ensemble of characters I think finally EPIC was the title that we thought. It’s meant to be a big story in a tiny world. I think when you see the movie, you feel like you’ve been through a pretty big adventure.
There were a lot of important and heroic characters. You had Nod, MK, The Leafmen, Ronin, the slug and the snail, was there one you thought was more of a lead?
Who did you think was the lead?
I’m still not sure if it’s MK or Nod to be honest!
I love that! I wanted to make an ensemble piece, I wanted a lot of characters and I wanted them to all have equal weight. I mean, that’s part of what gives you a big feeling story. That you get to see a lot of characters and that you get intimately involved with. You care about all of them. You know some people think it’s MK, some people think it’s Nod and very close behind are Ronin and Bomba.
Who is your favourite character? Well, you know you can’t tell your kids which is your favourite. You can’t have a favourite, but I do have one … Okay, I’ll say Bomba [MK’s dad voiced by Jason Sudeikis].
MK’s pretty much a normal girl who stumbles into the world [of The Leafmen]. What makes her special?
I don’t think I wanted her to feel that special. I wanted a character that people could relate to. She’s smart. Mary Katherine’s father is the only one who believes that there are creatures out there in the woods. He’s so convinced of it that he seems like a fanatic. He seems crazy, but it’s just because he’s excited about it. She’s very skeptical at the beginning and she wants to figure out if he’s crazy or not. She assumes that he is, but she has to go through this adventure to realize that he wasn’t. The process of her going through it is part of what gives the story some emotional resonance.
What was it like working with such a diverse and award winning cast?
It was fun! You know we cast each voice for each character. You don’t go after the whole cast at once. You build it a bit at a time, so I’m very pleased with the cast we’ve got. Everyone was chosen for their unique talent and I think everyone worked very beautifully together.
Did you know from the beginning that you wanted to cast Beyoncé as Queen Tara?
It takes almost a year to cast the movie. For Tara, I wanted a queen that felt contemporary and fresh and iconic. I wanted her to be a role model for people. I didn’t want her to feel old fashioned. Beyoncé’s name came to the top of that list.
What was the most Challenging experience making the movie?
Getting it started. Convincing people to make this movie was the hardest part of making it.
Are there any talks of a sequel?
We’ll see what the box office gods have to say about that!
What do you want the most for viewers to take away from this story and movie?
I want them to be intrigued and entertained and immersed in the world. One thing I’d like is after you see this movie, you take a walk in the woods or you see the woods and you just think, “Wow, I thought I just saw something out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw that leaf move. It could have been a cricket jumping off it but you know, it could have been a leafman!”
Thank you, Chris Wedge!
Be sure to check out EPIC, in theatres now!