Chris Wedge tells Epic tale
Ice Age creator spent years on his 3-D fantasy
By Hollywood standards, Chris Wedge should be a soughtafter visionary.
In 2002, Wedge’s Ice Age cartoon introduced the lucrative animated motion picture franchise by scoring an impressive $383.3 million at the worldwide box office.
That led to his transition from director to executive producer on three subsequent Ice Age films, which have pulled in nearly $3 billion theatrically.
So you would think that the filmmaker would get a quick “yes” for anything he wanted to do; but not so fast.
His latest, Epic, turned out to be an appropriate title in more ways than the theme. It took Wedge eight frustrating years to get his 3-D animated fantasy onto the big screen.
“I would have done Epic sooner, but I had trouble getting a green light,” confirmed the 56-year-old at a Toronto hotel. “It did take me a while to get the story right, but it took me longer to convince people this would be the right thing to do.”
Now playing, the movie seems made to order for kids of all ages with its combination of action and adventure, which sometimes references Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz along the way.
In the film, a rebellious teen, Mary Katherine a.k.a. M.K. (voiced by Amanda Seyfried) is inadvertently transported into a miniature forest world in which Leafmen, the guardians of the woods, are confronting evil nature destroyers called Boggans who are led by the reprehensible Mandrake (Christoph Waltz).
The shrunken M.K. becomes embroiled in a battle to save the woods from decimation even as she realizes her professor father (Jason Sudeikis) was right about his odd theory that minuscule beings protect the forest.
Rounding out the fantastical cast of characters is Ronin (Colin Farrell), the brave Leafmen leader. Nod (Josh Hutcherson) is Ronen’s reluctant protege and there’s forest Queen Tara (Beyonce Knowles), whose ethereal transition sets off the critical series of clashes.
Comic relief is provided by Mub (Aziz Ansari), a slug with eyes for M.K. Grub (Chris O’Dowd) is a snail who yearns to be part of the Leafmen brigade.
“I have to say, as I have been watching the finished film a lot, I do get a whiff of The Wizard of Oz,” admitted Wedge. “And there’s a little bit of The Adventures of Robin Hood and maybe some Lord of the Rings set in the forest behind your house.”
The essence of the animation is intended to be original, however.
“I did want to put a unique stamp on Epic,” said the director.
“I didn’t want audiences to think of this as just an animation makeover for kids. I mean when I was a kid I wanted to watch things that adults wanted to watch, because I think that kids aspire to be older.”
Another key development in the Epic story was re-defining M.K. and the professor as a disconnected daughter and dad, whose relationship had become strained over years of neglect.
“And what adolescent daughter doesn’t think their father is a little weird and a little crazy?”
As the story was massaged, the Leafmen became more complex, as well.
“I decided I wanted to imply that these Leafmen are from all over the forest, and they are in different shapes and sizes and colours, and that they are male and female,” Wedge said.
He was also creatively motivated to make another adjustment with Farrell’s approach after their first recording sessions.
The Irish actor was doing his usual version of an American accent for the Ronin character, but during a break early in the process, Wedge said he was impressed with Farrell’s casual easygoing Irish-laced banter with his assistant.
“I chose Colin for his voice talent, and he just assumed we wanted American, so that’s what he did for a while,” the director said.
“We ended up using his normal voice because he’s just so much more charming.”
The inspiration for Epic was charming, too, despite the long and involved pre-production.
It began after the 2002 release of Ice Age and just before Wedge’s second animated feature Robots in 2005.
That’s when Wedge and his friend and colleague William Joyce attended an art exhibition together. It showcased paintings which depicted magical notions of living things in bushes and trees. And they became hooked on the premise.
Joyce went on to write the book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, and then served as Epic’s co-writer, executive producer and production designer when they decided to make the film.
They had already established a great working relationship; Joyce was Wedge’s producer and production designer on Robots (and is best known for the TV shows based on his books George Shrinks and Rolie Polie Olie).
“Joyce is a great friend and I’ve always admired his imagination,” said Wedge.
Their collaboration certainly made the difficult process of getting Epic into theatres a little bit easier to take. The fact that Blue Sky Studios is handling Epic provided some vindication, too.
“It’s the company I helped start 25 years ago,” said Wedge of Blue Sky.
“But I am not trying to claim a victory or prove myself again. At my age, I just want to work.”