By Gill Pringle & Matt Wilson
If you asked your parents where babies came from back when you were a kid yourself, chances are you got the old stork story, whereupon a magical bird would deliver a baby to your doorstep. While we all obviously grew up to learn that this is not how human beings are created, Nick Stoller’s Storks shows how this story might play out. Stoller (Bad Neighbours, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek), co-director Doug Sweetland, and producer, Brad Lewis, talk about what inspired their latest film.
You’ve said that the idea for Storks came to you because of you and your wife trying for a second child. How did you bash out the whole thing?
Stoller: “I came up with the initial idea based on the fertility struggles that my wife and I had. It was a simple idea: what if storks deliver a baby from Amazon? Then I brought it to Brad and Doug, and many other people, and we started to develop it. The way that animation is, it took four years to get here.”
The setting and story is very unique with the storks and their business. How did you come up with this?
Stoller: “The idea came from my first kid. It was easy to have her; we were very lucky. My second was very hard to have. We had to use a lot of science. We had to see many doctors for her to happen. It made me really appreciate my first child in a way that I hadn’t before. I’d say that Bad Neighbours was all about having a first child, and how you think that having a baby destroys your life, and then you realise that there are great things about having one too. This movie is very much about how fleeting it all is, and how quickly it all goes by. It really is a love letter to parenting.”
Did you make your character, Henry a realtor, because voice actor, Ty Burrell, is a realtor in his TV show, Modern Family?
Stoller: “No, it was a realtor because it was easy to understand. It was a job that everyone understands and it’s a job that you can do at home. That was the reason that we picked it. We had forgotten when we were pitching it to Ty Burrell that he was a realtor in Modern Family and I suddenly remembered it in the middle of the thing. I was like, ‘He’s totally not going to do this.’ But he was not the same type of character. It’s a very simple idea to get across, which is why it’s probably in a lot of movies and TV. It’s a job that you can do at home, which is important to the story.”
Katie Crown is a great new fresh voice as Tulip. Were you under any pressure to get a big name in there instead? It is the lead role.
Sweetland: “We had no pressure when casting Katie in that role. The great thing was that she captured Tulip, and it’s a tough character to nail. She does it in such a warm, unassuming, and teasing way with Junior, that keeps it super light. Both Nick and the studio loved her.”
Lewis: “It’s a part of Nick’s process too, which was new to us, as we’ve worked in animation for a long time. Nick’s process is really improv based. You work on a temp version of the movie for a while before you cast out with temp actors and day players around the office. Nick wanted professional improv actors. It’s a part of his writing process. He’s writing in the booth with multiple actors on their feet. Because these actors are such a part of the writing process, you can’t remove them or replace them with someone else.”
Is this the beginning of a second chapter for you, Nick? Is there more animation lined up?
Stoller: “This was one of the best creative experiences that I’ve had, so I’d love to do animation. I co-wrote the Muppet movies, but I’ve never been this involved in something that isn’t R rated. I have two daughters, and to be able to bring them to something is great. It’s neat to show them something and have them like it and be into it.”
What’s unique about Warner Bros. Animation? How do you try to make it different?
Lewis: “What is different is these two guys. We brought Nick to the world of animation, which he hasn’t had a chance to do to date, and he works with actors to get a spontaneous performance. That rarely happens in animation.”
Stoller: “I like improv, not just to get jokes, but to get more real emotional moments. In animated movies, the emotional moments often hit you over the head. But I believe that if it’s awkward or off kilter, it’s actually more emotional.”
Sweetland: “I would say it’s also because we’re a fledging division. Warner Bros. has been very enabling as far as letting Nick develop material the way that he develops material.”
Storks is in cinemas now. For our interview with star, Andy Samberg, click here.
