SETTING OFF AN ANIMATED SPARK
As he prepares to debut his feature Spark at the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International on Friday, Toronto writerdirector Aaron Woodley predicts more homegrown filmmakers will be following in his footsteps.
“There’s really a handful of directors in this country right now who have made animated features, and that is going to change very soon,” he said in a recent phone interview.
Woodley wrote and directed Spark, an epic space tale featuring the voices of Jessica Biel, Hilary Swank, Patrick Stewart and Susan Sarandon.
Jace Norman voices the titular character, a 13-year-old monkey who sets out to confront an evil general who has seized control of Planet Bana and plans to take over the universe.
Woodley, who has also worked as an animator and is the nephew of acclaimed filmmaker David Cronenberg, started writing the project four years ago.
He looked to myths and films that he loved growing up, as well as archetypal stories, including Star Wars and the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.
“It’s Star Wars light,” said Woodley. “I was hoping to get some of the depth of that storytelling with not much of the violence.”
Woodley has directed several live-action films — including Rhinoceros Eyes with Michael Pitt, Tennessee with Mariah Carey and The Entitled with Ray Liotta — but found it hard to get money together to make such features. And it was even harder to get them released.
“There was like this stranglehold on independent filmmaking, live action, and to the point where it all but dried up,” he said.
“I know because many of the filmmakers in this city are my friends and acquaintances and they’re looking for new sources of money elsewhere, like how can we get our films made? If you don’t have a $200-million budget, you can’t compete in the marketplace, right?” By contrast, an animated film can be made for $15 million and do well at the box office, he added, noting the genre appeals to a wider audience and big-name stars love doing such voicework.
Spark does not yet have a release date.