Director sparks interest
Animated fantasy lures some big-name voice talent
Getting a movie made is difficult. Putting together an animated motion picture can be even more demanding. Just ask Toronto-born filmmaker Aaron Woodley.
“I can tell you the differences are pretty stark,” says Woodley, who directed and co-wrote the animation Spark: A Space Tail. “These things take a lot work and a lot of time because you have to build every little piece of the universe.”
Loosely inspired by a 16th-century Chinese fable, the movie tells the story of Spark (voiced by Jace Norman) a courageous teenage monkey. He is joined by his buddies, the savvy fox Vix (Jessica Biel) and the tech-smart pig Chunk (Rob deLeeuw), on a journey.
Their mission is to thwart the dastardly General Zhog (A.C. Peterson) and his scheme to control the universe. Other guest voices include Susan Sarandon as Bananny, Patrick Stewart’s The Captain (of course) and Hilary Swank’s The Queen.
The light-hearted entertainment combines some laughs with action and lots of film references for kids of all ages.
“It’s really a coming-of-age story with a good-versus-evil theme,” Woodley says. “It’s about (Spark) being tested and becoming, not so much an adult, but a little bit more mature than before.”
The underlying testimonials in the film come from re-creating a space adventure in a fantasy world.
There are lots of references, the director says. “There’s Planet of the Apes, The Lion King, and
there’s Transformers, Star Wars and a Star Trek, too.”
Attracting high-profile names to do voice work was a combination of Woodley’s persuasive personality and the story.
“Biel was the first one who responded to the script and the character,” he says. “It struck a chord with her. And then Hilary (Swank) came on and Susan (Sarandon) and finally Patrick (Stewart).”
It’s impressive stuff for the York University film school graduate who subsequently “paid the bills” as a stop-motion animator for more than a decade while directing a few short films.
He made his feature-length live-action directorial debut with
Rhinoceros Eyes, which picked up the Discovery Award at the
2003 Toronto International Film Festival. That was followed by his movie Tennessee, starring singer Mariah Carey, and the thriller The
Entitled, showcasing Ray Liotta. Next up is another animated motion picture called Arctic
Justice: Thunder Squad, about a canine delivery service with voice talents Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, James Franco and Anjelica Huston, among others.
“This one’s a comedy with an environmental slant to it,” Woodley says of the movie set for release in the summer of 2018.
That makes two animated films in a row.
“It kind of feels like coming full circle and going back home,” he says. “I am very fortunate.”