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Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs The Sequel?

Laura Aguirre — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:18:12 +0000

When Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs ended many wondered what was next for the townspeople of Chewandswallow — today there’s a rumor going around the web that includes you finding out. Pajiba reports that Sony Animation has put a sequel development to the charming movie.

If this were to be true (which wouldn’t seem like a bad idea seeing as Cloudy grossed $124 million at the box-office and was generally loved) the sequel would most likely be based on the book’s sequel Pickles to Pittsburgh (really, who comes up with these amazing names?). The sequel will involve a return to the town of Chewandswallow where Flint Lockwood’s food rain is used to feed the hungry around the world.

According to the summary of of the novel, the sequel would be about…

In this charming sequel to the classic Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Kate and Henry eagerly await Grandpa’s return from a vacation that his postcard says has been one of the best and most unusual ever. Thinking about that postcard Kate drifts off to sleep that night and…

“With Henry as my co-pilot…” she visits the strange land of Chewandswallow — a land characterized by massive amounts of food, immense carrots, leafy jungles of lettuce, and tuna fish sandwiches so gigantic they have to be moved by helicopter. What the people of Chewandswallow are doing with all that food is most intriguing of all. Fans of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs will applaud this return trip with its underlying message of generosity and a world community.

It seems like new characters will be introduced in the sequel of Cloudy, so the question of whether or not Bill Hader and Anna Faris will return as Flint and Sam comes to play.

On the other hand, two people who are returning for the sequel will be directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Until then, Lord and Miller are off remaking 21 Jump Street for the big screen.

Will you be watching the sequel?

New DVD Releases: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Big Love, 10 Things I Hate About You

Andrew Payne — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:03:47 +0000

The only thing worse than January movie releases? January DVD releases. Let’s just say that the pickins are slim as everyone’s favorite DVD release column returns from a two-week hiatus. There is a silver lining (pun intended); however, because no new movies on DVD gives everyone a chance to catch up on the truncated season 3 of Big Love – on DVD just in time for the new season to begin.

Check it all out below…

FEATURE FILMS

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

It’s the attack of 3-D again. How else do you explain how a somewhat obscure kiddie flick notched $180MM at the worldwide box office. It’s simple: the tickets cost more.

Right now, everybody is salivating over Avatar’s massive box office and delighting about how everybody prefers to go see 3-D movies. Always pointing to the box office gross as the reason. But what nobody ever really wants to mention? You’re paying about 30% more for that IMAX 3-D ticket, and about 15% more for the regular 3-D ticket. Therefore, more money does not equal more tickets sold.

So that raises the question. Is the 3-D thing for real? Or is it just a byproduct of higher ticket prices?

So much to ponder. Maybe the number of people who buy this DVD will tell us the truth.

Also:

The Final Destination – Buy Now
Trucker – Buy Now

TV ON DVD

“Big Love” – The Complete Second Season

It’s hard to get more underrated than “Big Love”. It’s watched by nearly as many people as “True Blood”, it’s better-written than “Mad Men” and just as well-acted as “Breaking Bad”. Yet while those three dramas march to the beat of the critical darlings’ buzz drum, “Big Love” remains in some sort of strange limbo.

Well, now’s the perfect time to remedy that. Buying this DVD set as a means of catching up is a perfect way to remedy the crime of underatedness currently afflicting this polygamist clan. You’ve got a week to catch up, and, since the DVD offerings are pretty thin this week, no real excuses!

“Chuck”: Season 2 – Buy Now
“Kendra”: Season 1 – Buy Now
“The Philanthropist”: Complete Series – Buy Now

SPECIAL EDITION OF THE WEEK

10 Things I Hate About You – 2-Disc Special Edition

Time to feel old kids. Why is the quintessential turn-of-the-century teen rom-com getting the two-disc treatment now? Because it came out ten years ago.

Yes, it’s been ten years since we first welcomed a gothy looking Heath Ledger into the zeitgeist. Ten years since Julia Child was relevant. Ten years since Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the kid from “3rd Rock From the Sun”. Ten years since every teenage boy had a crush on Larisa Oleynik based on her turn in “The Secret World of Alex Mack” (Whatever happened to her anyway?).

So, are you too young to feel nostalgic? Buy this special edition DVD and find out.

Weekend Box Office: Meatballs Takes It Again

Mali Elfman — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:12:40 +0000

It’s clear, audiences loves them some meatballs… and hamburgers, hot dogs, pancakes, jello and anything else artery clogging. Apparently if you want a film to go number one and stay there make a funny animation about something people love. Up already played the animal card, so not Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs plays with food! It even beat out Bruce Willis in an action film and a bunch of teenagers dancing around.

Check out the numbers below…

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | LW 1 | Weekend Gross $24,600,000 | Average Per Theater $7,887 | Total Gross $60,036,000 | Production Budget $100 | Week 2
Surrogates | New | Weekend Gross $15,000,000 | Average Per Theater $5,083 | Total Gross $15,000,000 | Production Budget $80 | Week 1
Fame (2009) | New | Weekend Gross $10,033,000 | Average Per Theater $3,241 | Total Gross $10,033,000 | Production Budget $18 | Week 1
The Informant! | LW 2 | Weekend Gross $6,915,000 | Average Per Theater $2,760 | Total Gross $20,992,000 | Production Budget $22 | Week 2
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself | LW 3 | Weekend Gross $4,750,000 | Average Per Theater $2,241 | Total Gross $44,543,000 | Week 3
Pandorum | New | Weekend Gross $4,408,000 | Average Per Theater $1,759 | Total Gross $4,408,000 | Production Budget $40 | Week 1
Love Happens | LW 4 | Weekend Gross $4,327,000 | Average Per Theater $2,280 | Total Gross $14,728,000 | Production Budget $18 | Week 2
Jennifer’s Body | LW 5 | Weekend Gross $3,500,000 | Average Per Theater $1,278 | Total Gross $12,306,000 | Production Budget $16 | Week 2
9 | LW 6 | Weekend Gross $2,832,000 | Average Per Theater $1,399 | Total Gross $27,101,000 | Production Budget $30 | Week 3
Inglourious Basterds | LW 7 | Weekend Gross $2,722,000 | Average Per Theater $1,389 | Total Gross $114,460,000 | Production Budget $70 | Week 6

Which film did you pay to see this week?

Weekend Box Office: Of Course… Food Wins

Mali Elfman — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:56:38 +0000

As we predicted, Chris Miller and Phil Lord‘s new animated comedy with Bill Hader and Anna Faris, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs fell to number one this weekend faster than a pancake could rain from a cloud. Finally! More people went to theaters to see (or rather listen to) Hader in a smart new comedy than to see Megan Fox mostly naked! It’s about time! And it’s also nice to see Hader, one of the best working comedians today, leading the way to box office victory, even if he was animated! Still counts!

Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh came in a distant second leading off the rest of the new-comers in that looked like a slowish week in theaters. Check out the box office numbers for this weekends movie releases…

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | New | Weekend Gross $30,100,000 | Average Per Theater $9,651 | Total Gross $30,100,000 | Production Budget $100 | Week 1
The Informant! | New | Weekend Gross $10,545,000 | Average Per Theater $4,210 | Total Gross $10,545,000 | Production Budget $22 | Week 1
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself | LW 1 | Weekend Gross $10,060,000 | Average Per Theater $4,461 | Total Gross $37,932,000 | Week 2
Love Happens | New | Weekend Gross $8,456,000 | Average Per Theater $4,455 | Total Gross $8,456,000 | Production Budget $18 | Week 1
Jennifer’s Body | New | Weekend Gross $6,800,000 | Average Per Theater $2,517 | Total Gross $6,800,000 | Production Budget $16 | Week 1
9 | LW 2 | $5,458,000 | Average Per Theater $2,650 | Total Gross $22,794,000 | Production Budget $30 | Week 2
Inglourious Basterds | LW 3 | Weekend Gross $3,603,000 | Average Per Theater $1,430 | Total Gross $109,901,000 | Production Budget $70 | Week 5
All About Steve | LW 4 | Weekend Gross $3,400,000 | Average Per Theater $1,575 | Total Gross $26,678,000 | Week 3
Sorority Row | LW 6 | Weekend Gross $2,489,000 | Average Per Theater $961 | Total Gross $8,870,000 | Production Budget $12.5 | Week 2
The Final Destination | LW 5 | Weekend Gross $2,375,000 | Average Per Theater $1,316 | Total Gross $62,392,000 | Production Budget $40 | Week 4

The only thing I find odd is that Love Happens beat out Jennifer’s Body. I guess people aren’t ready for a Diablo Cody horror film.

What do you think about the top ten this past weekend? Do you agree with the order? Which movie did you pay to see?

Box Office Predictions: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Laura Aguirre — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:54:42 +0000

There’s a little something for everyone at the box office this weekend. If you’re a 4 or 40-year-old looking to have fun, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs is the animated-adventure for you. If you’re looking to satisfy that Megan Fox obsession you’ve been harboring since 2007, you can check her out in the overly sexual horror-comedy, Jennifer’s Body. For the more educated comedy audience you have Matt Damon disguising himself as an out of shape narc in Steven Soderbergh‘s The Informant! And lastly, if you’re into watching Jennifer Aniston in another romance filled film, Love Happens is for you.

So now the question is, which one of these differing films with take home the box office gold, and which will tank? All the evidence suggests that Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs will come out on top leaving Jennifer’s (broken) Body in its wake…

Sony‘s Meatballs is sure to attract and win the title, due to the family friendly moviegoers out there as well as it’s great reviews. According to pre-release tracking surveys THR, is anticipating an opening of $25 million-$30 million for the animated 3-D film. Although the studio’s last animated film (G-Force) fell more into the category of live-action and received very poor reviews, it still managed to rake $31.7 million opening week. Unlike its predecessor, Meatballs has received mostly positive reviews, its G-rating means that EVERYONE can enjoy it.

Megan Fox’s last film was both a smash and slump. It was the worst-reviewed $400 million dollar hit ever made. But Jennifer’s Body won’t have the fanboys lining up around the block. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Karyn Kusama‘s film is headed for a second-place bow in the low-teen millions and once word gets out that the film sucks, it will most likely drop even lower.

The film that will attract a bit of an more sophisticated (and therefore much smaller) crowd is Warner Bros. The Informant! Even with Damon’s star power, the odds are that is will more than likely come in, in the low millions. Love Happens is bound to attract many women, but not enough to keep the Universal picture from being a bust. How many times can we watch Jennifer Aniston find and lose love in a film?

Last weekend Tyler Perry‘s I Can Do Bad All by Myself dominated the box office, but with a low double-digit gross — $26.9 million. Although Meatballs and Jennifer’s Body are bound to kick Bad out of the number one spot, the film will still manage to snag more double digit millions.

Our Pick: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

What film will you go see this weekend? Do you agree with our pick, or do you think Jennifer’s bloody body will reign supreme?

Anna Faris Talks About Producing and Future Projects

Kara Stanford-Jones — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:56:59 +0000

Many people see Anna Faris as a blond, with big lips and a perfect body, and although she does have all those attributes, they go along quiet nicely with a strong passion for make fun films. As we’ve seen in roles like Observe and Report, she’s not afraid to play with her looks and in many ways make fun of the cliche she represents. In the recent interview we had with her for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, she talked about a few upcoming projects she’s working on and her interest in producing films.

First she revealed that she will will be working on the new Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel (we all need a paycheck)…

“I am doing Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, the sequel. I am a Chipette along with Amy Poehler and Christina Applegate. That has been challenging for different reasons, much more technical reasons. You have to slow your cadence down in a specific way, because they speed everything up. That has been really interesting, but the movie looks so cute.”

In addition to talking about the latest sequel, she talked a bit about what role she would really like play, that of a producer. She like many actresses gets sick of waiting around for the right roles, (hence the above project), so why not take on a role where you get to have some say in the movies getting made. She worked as an executive producer on her film, The House Bunny, and she would like to continue the trend.

Here is what she had to say about a few of her future plans…

“I sold a movie to Paramount. Right now, it is called Gold Diggers. It is, sort of, a female-buddy comedy. Then a couple other things that I am producing and trying to get made, which is a long, hard road. I produced The House Bunny, and I found it so rewarding. It felt so good to have a little control over your career in this crazy industry. So, I want to do more of that…I feel like if I am not part of the creative process, I won’t be able to be in the kind of movies I want to make. I won’t be able to play the types of characters that I want to play. I want to play funny women. Crazy people. I want to play crazy people.”

If reading takes up too much energy for you, fear not. We have the entire thing on video for you. Check it out…

What do you think?

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: Movie Review

Diana Cammarota — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:00:26 +0000

Grab the kids and head to the theater this Friday, September 18^th, for a spectacular 3D feeding frenzy compliments of writers/directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord. Columbia Pictures’ and Sony Pictures Animation have joined forces with Miller and Lord (for their directorial debut) to bring us their take on the perennial favorite children’s book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

The original book is actually a story about a story. In it, two children listen with rapt attention as their grandfather spins the yarn of the legendary sardine town Chewandswallow where three times a day, food of every kind fell from the sky. The children delight in the idea, “Wouldn’t it be marvelous?” and recoil at the pitfalls, “What if we didn’t like what fell?” But no one asks how it came to be that food could fall from the sky – and whatever happened to the land of Chewandswallow? That is, until now…

PLOT

This is the story of Flint Lockwood – the young and awkward but fiercely tenacious inventor who, after several disastrous attempts finally creates something that will save his one-food town from its monotonous torpor: a machine that turns water into food! When the machine is accidentally shot skyward, the celebration begins with restaurants opening their roofs to welcome a the falling food. As a hero and celebrity, Flint finds himself on top of the world! The townspeople adore him, the woman he loves takes notice and his loving, but none-too-sympathetic father may finally come around. So, with a heaping pile of food, fortune and fame at his feet, what could possibly go wrong? Put on your 3D glasses, have a seat and see for yourself!

THE PLAYERS

Written and Directed by: Chris Miller and Phil Lord (read interview)
Produced by: Columbia Pictures’ and Sony Pictures Animation
Adapted from: The 1978 book, of the same name, written by Judi Barret and illustrated by Ron Barrett.
Voices: Bill Hader as Flint Lockwood (read interview) and Anna Faris as Sam Sparks (read interview) along with James Caan, Neil Patrick Harris, Mr. T, Bruce Campbell, Al Roker, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt and Bobb’e J. Thompson.

THE GOOD:

Visual Effects: Miller, Lord and digital supervisor Daniel Kramer can definitely add “detail oriented” to their resumes. You find yourself marveling at a mountainous Jello mold and a spaghetti cyclone just as you would with any live action adventure film out there. With a wink and a nod to such epic movies as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Twister and The Day After Tomorrow, Cloudy takes us on a wild and visually stunning ride that will hold the attention of both children and adults for the entire 87 minutes.
Running time: In a theater half full of children – not one case of ants in the pants.
Music Score: When Public Enemy and the Alan Parsons Project share the bill on a children’s film, you know you’ve got one creative team. With cheeky songs alongside grandiose 100 piece orchestra arrangements, Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo fame) knew precisely how to set the stage for a film that is at once both silly and epic.
Voices: A well-cast group of some of today’s best comedic voices. It is nice to hear that Mr. T’s still got it after all these years and I applaud Neil Patrick Harris for his sense of humor and teamwork by playing a monkey.
Dialogue: Clever and well delivered with plenty of humor for audiences of all ages.
Plotline: The writers worked with the original book in an interesting way – one that defies comparison between the two. Instead of creating a direct or parallel adaptation, they focus on the part of the book that was never fully dramatized. Unlike many adaptations that co-opt the main narrative of an original story, Miller and Lord create more of a “spin-off” type scenario that compliments the original work very well.

THE BAD:

Tough shallow: If you’re looking for a deeply insightful children’s story or a moral tale with staying power – Cloudy will probably fall short. Yes, it modestly cautions the dangers of gluttony, greed and excess but its main function is to be a lighthearted and cinematic splendor , and this it delivers.
Some gross scenes: I have nerves of steel, but the film could have done without the headless, plucked chickens. Most of the audience was silent during these parts leading me to think I was perhaps not the only one more disturbed than amused. They weren’t something that would traumatize a child, and they weren’t meant to be lovable, but they didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the film’s aesthetic.
Needs the theater: It is definitely one of those movies that should be caught on the big screen because the entertainment value is rather tied up in its special effects – even outside of 3D.
The 3D glasses hurt my nose.
Don’t go see it hungry!

OVERALL:

To sum it up in two words: Mission accomplished. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is not only a delight for audiences, it is a “filmmakers film” in many regards. Chris Miller and Phil Lord have solidly demonstrated their creativity, tenacity and pluck, and, while none of us are quite sure what the town of Chewandswallow has in store for it next, I see a zero percent chance of rain in this teams future.

RATING: 9/10

Interview with Anna Faris for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Kara Stanford-Jones — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:49:56 +0000

Recently, we had the opportunity to interview Anna Faris for her latest movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by first time directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The film stars the lovely Faris alongside funnyman Bill Hader, James Caan, Mr. T, and Bruce Campbell.

In the movie, Faris plays brilliant intern/weather girl Sam Sparks, who is sent to work on a small fishing island in the middle of nowhere. She happens to hit a goldmine when she meets aspiring inventor, Flint Lockwood (Hader) and his crazy contraption that makes food fall from the sky!

This interview is slightly different from other ones that we’ve done; it’s a combination of written quotes and a few videos. In the interview, she talked about the different and unexpected aspects of doing voice over work, working with the directors, meeting Mr. T, and what type of food she would have fall from the sky. Be warned, this isn’t your typical interview.

Check out what she had to say below…

You seem to play ditsy characters a lot, but in this movie your character is actually hiding the fact that she’s smart. What was it like playing this role?

AF: It was fun to have that reversal. Normally, you have the nerdy girl becoming hot and cool, but it was fun to kind of flip that on its head. In a weird way, I guess thematically, it is a little sad that she feels the need to suppress that. I had a blast doing that.

Did you have a basic character sketch to guide you at all?

AF: Yeah. I loved the way she looked. She has little hips. I liked that.

Were there any scenes that you just couldn’t picture?

AF: Early on, we didn’t have any animation to work with, so they would describe the scene. They would say something like, “She’s walking. Okay, she’s hopping from one fry to the next through a river of hot, boiling oil. So, make that noise.” [Grunting noise]

I was really confused about being inside the food machine and the army of roasted chickens. But, that is what makes it so amazing to see.

What food would you have fall from the sky?

AF: Well, I love nachos!

Now to the videos!

Part 1: Anna talks about making Cloudy

Part 2: Anna talks about her career and a few funny stories along the way

Part 3: Anna talks about a few of her future plans

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs hits theaters on September 18

Watch the trailer below…

Interview with Bill Hader for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Kara Stanford-Jones — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:59:42 +0000

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by directing duo, Chris Miller and Phil Lord, starring Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Neil Patrick Harris, and Mr. T. hits theaters Friday, and although it may look like “kid’s movie” due to it’s brightly-colored animation, don’t be fooled, it’s a smart, entertaining movie about when excessive consumption gets taken to the extreme! In the movie, Bill Hader voices the character of Flint Lockwood; the geeky, but kind of cool, aspiring inventor that causes havoc in his small fishing town.

Recently, we sat around a round-table to interview the always hilarious Hader and talk to him about bringing the character of Flint Lockwood to life and how much more difficult voice-over work was than he expected.

Check out what he had to say below…

Did you know of the book when you did this movie?

Bill Hader: When I was a kid, that book was in every classroom. I really loved it.

Did you wonder how they were going to put a story in it?

BH: It’s funny too because you see a lot of people — I’ve read online and stuff — they’ve seen the trailer and go, “That’s not the book,” and I’m like, “The book’s — if you actually just did the book, it would be a two minute movie.” [Laughs]

BH: I just knew Chris and Phil — their stuff from” Clone High” was really funny. They showed me the part where Sam is walking on Jell-O and it was really cool. And The storyboard scene of when Flint is throwing snowballs at people, I was like, “Aw, man!”

Is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs your first animated film?

BH: No, I had done some anime stuff before, but I always did different voices and stuff. This was the first time they wanted my normal voice. I didn’t know how to do that, we had to scrap my whole first day of work because they wanted my voice that was really tough. Also, it is so insanely draining — you scream for four hours into a microphone and then you think you’re done and their like, “Now we need efforts.” (Panting and grunting sounds)

Did you and Anna Faris work in the same room?

BH: We did that like two days and that was good.

Did you get chance to ad-lib things?

BH: I don’t remember doing a ton of ad-libing; I mean the script was really funny. Their vision was super specific. We thought it was going to be easier than it was.

Do you think of the character you play in this movie the same way you would for other movies?

BH: There’s an emotional thing to it. There were scenes in it where I’d approach it like an actor, it’s not all yelling and screaming. Other animated movies I’ve done, it’s like, “You’re a British guy,” or whatever and all you kind of do is that. I remember doing a scene where Flint is in the trash can and the guy is talking me through saying, “You’re really sad man.” They were really good in walking you through it and saying, “No, no, this is like a real moment, not a funny moment.” Then I saw that scene in the movie, and my wife — I think because she knows me — got really sad. He’s throwing himself away. You do really have to think about it. The only kind of research I did, I remember I read a couple interviews of Tom Hanks about Toy Story and kind of how he approached that and in one of those interviews I read, “It’s really hard; it’s really exhausting,” I was like, “God, I’m not a pussy.”

What was the biggest thing you learned in this project?

BH: I learned that I can gasp for two minutes. Like the scene where we all gasp — you have the ability in movies now to splice takes together and you could make food fall the sky, but apparently you can’t make a gasp for two minutes and Phil (Lord) and Chris (Miller) were like, “Yeah, give it to us — two minutes,” and I was like, “I’ll die.” So I’d sit there for a while and be like (gasping sound). Try doing that for as long as you possibly can and then you’d be done and be all light-headed. And they’d say, “No, it’s not what we want, it’s more from the belly.”

What are you able to relate to the most about this movie?

BH: The thing that I can relate to the most is having that thing that in your little community makes you weird or people don’t really get it. That makes you unique and you should just commit to it 100 percent, and enjoy it and I think that’s a cool message — except if you’re a serial killer, right? [Laughs]

What food would order to fall from the sky if you were going to be able to do this?

BH: I really got to think for a second, you put me on the spot. Momofuku pork buns!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs hits theaters on September 18

Check out the trailer below…

Interview with Directors of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Kara Stanford-Jones — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:27:21 +0000

This weekend, prepare yourselves for the storm of a lifetime! From the creators of the TV show, How I met your Mother and Clone High, Chris Miller and Phil Lord comes Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Thanks to this amazing directing duo, this is a must see comedy for both children and adults. Although many of you have never heard of Miller and Lord before, they’re on the way to becoming household names with the help of their amazing new film, with a title that is far too long to type out more than once, so we’ll just call it Cloudy.

In case you haven’t already heard, Cloudy is the story of the aspiring inventor, Flint Lockwood’s (Bill Hader) and his unlikely friendship with Sam Sparks (Anna Faris). At first, Flint’s inventions are a nuisance, that is until he creates a machine that causes cheeseburgers, steaks, and ice cream to fall from the sky!

We had a chance to join a round table of journalists to talk to Miller and Lord about their careers and how they talked Sony into letting them make this movie (which wasn’t easy). Check out the interview below where they talk about their road to success, what drew them to the story, playing with food, and how they landed a deal with Disney straight out of college…

What drew you two to this particular book?

Chris Miller: We had both grown up with the book, and it was an influence on our comedic sensibilities. We looked at it and saw pickles smashing into buildings and pancakes on the school and thought, “This is a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, but silly on purpose!”

Did Sony approach you to make this film?

CM: Sony had approached us because they knew of our very short-lived T.V. show, “Clone High.” They were fans of it and wanted to do something with us. When we found out they owned the rights, then we commandeered the meeting to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

How helpful was it that you have a background in live-action writing when you were doing this movie?

CM: In television, you can get by with jokes and having a loose structure for a story. We realized, pretty early, that to keep peoples attention for almost 90 minutes, there needs to be an emotional through-line. You need to care about the characters and try to have some heart to the movie. That was hard for us, because we have never done that before! We have never been really sincere! You can get by being really glib and silly.

The book doesn’t have a lot of the themes that are present in the film. What themes did you like from the story and which ones did you create for the movie?

Phil Lord: I would say that in the illustrations, there is an undertone of excess, consumption, and how silly it all is. We were inspired by that to say something about consumption, wanting too much, and things being kind of excessive. Once we started getting into the Flint Lockwood story, a lot of it became about what it is like being a creative outsider in a small town, embracing your inner geek, and believing in yourself. A lot of those classic movie themes.

What was the most difficult part of making this movie?

PL: The biggest challenge of all was to create a story that one would want to watch for 86 minutes. It is not easy to make it funny. We were less adept, in the beginning, at making the emotional beats work, but it became clear that we needed to do that to make you sit through the movie.

CM: You have to care about the characters. We had to dig deep behind our veneer of irony and sarcasim and get to the sincere, chewy core.

PL: Then you have to find a way for the audience to stomach that stuff. Then we went to all of these “movie places” of father and son relationships and saying “I love you.” Then how do you do that in a way that is novel and unique, and maybe a little bit twisted.

How did you go about creating the emotional depth for these animated characters?

CM: That is the trick when you are recording these voices in a padded room. You are not on a set, or in a giant spaghetti tornado. We were always trying to paint as clear a picture as possible. We were on the same wavelength as Bill, so it was really easy to communicate with him.

PL: It helps to hire really talented actors too.

CM: One of our inspirations was “The Muppets”. They are really expressive. Their eyes don’t ever move, and some of them don’t have eyes.

PL: They have really limited dimensions of movement.

CM: For a character like Tim, who is unable to express his emotions, it was very good to hide the window to the soul. We were able to get a really subtle performance by subtle movements of his unibrow.

Did you have any actors in mind when you were writing the characters?

CM: For a number of them, we wrote or rewrote the parts. Obviously for Mr. T, we went back and completely rewrote the part. Mr. T is a personal hero of ours.

PL: Bill and Anna came along about half way through the story process. So, we were kind of finalizing what the characters were going to be and casting at the same time. We were able rewrite a little bit for them.

You guys did a lot of research seeing how food bounces and reacts. What was the most fun for you?

PL: During the recording sessions, Anna, Bill, and some of the other actors had to do lines with their mouths full, so every time that would happen we would order cheeseburgers for everyone. That was fun. We were all eating them. Obviously, we had to know how to direct them. We were like, “No, put more burgers in your mouth!”

CM: The slow-motion footage of dropping action figures into a bathtub full of Jell-O is pretty awesome. On a scale of 1 to Awesome, that’s up there.

The snowball fight scene is really not the typical jolly snowball fight. Can you tell us about that scene?

CM: We described it as sort of Children of Men style. We wanted it to be like Children of Men, but the comedy version! It’s a real knee slapper, that movie!

PL: The fact that that joke is in that movie is the small miracle. It is super funny. It is right on that line where some parents are like, “I don’t know,” but the kids are freaking out laughing.

Are you guys fans of Bruce Campbell?

PL: Oh man, of course!

CM: I mean, it wasn’t like we were super popular and didn’t watch movies like Evil Dead or anything. [laughs]

You guys had a development deal with Disney. How did you end up with that deal?

PL: Yes, a comical misunderstanding with every step in our career.

CM: We both went to Dartmouth. They wrote an article in the Alumni magazine about me, and some of the things I had done; editing the humor magazine, doing these comic strips and student films. It was full of exaggerations and wildly inaccurate. It made its way to Michael Eisner, somehow.

PL: His son, Eric, is a Dartmouth Alum ’95. We never knew him, but Dartmouth was always sending stuff to get the Eisner’s to donate money.

CM: He had apparently seen it and passed it down. By the time it went down the telephone, it went from “Oh, check out this guy” to “Get this guy!” So I got a call in my dorm room saying, “Hey, we want to fly you out for a meeting.” I was like, “Gaah! I got midterms,” because I am a total idiot. I sent them our student films, and then we went out for a meeting the summer after we graduated. We went together, and they were like, “Oh you guys are a team? Okay great! We liked your films. Well, we would like to offer you a development deal.” We were like, “Cool! What’s that?” It was the craziest story ever.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be released into theaters on September 18! Don’t miss it!

Check out the trailer…

Extended Trailer for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Mali Elfman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:40:32 +0000

At first I thought that they were basing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs somewhat off the real world but what this trailer shows me is that quite literally everything is fantasy. At first the film looked like it was taking the real world and adding an extraordinary and fantastical invention. But now I’m realizing that the real world has nothing to do with this. There is no massive drought, sardines somehow are the only food left on earth, hamburgers don’t fall apart in midair only when they hit the ground, and you will not die of asphyxiation when trapped inside a jello mold.

Sounds like fun! Check out the trailer below…

What do you think of the trailer? Does it look like a fun ride? Or too far out there for your liking?

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Teaser Trailer

Mali Elfman — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:24:12 +0000

Just what we need, food falling from the sky. With voices by Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, and Bruce Campbell, writer/director Chris Miller brings us Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The film is about a mad scientist, who while trying to solve world hunger solve ends up covering the town of Chewandswallow in burgers, meatballs, and more.

Personally I love this kind of off the wall humor, but it’s not for everyone.

Check out the trailer below…

Ummmm… pancakes.

What do you think of the trailer?Does it make you interested in the film or just hungry?

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