previous page
TOC
TV/Streaming
Cute, Clever and Lots of Trouble: The new show pays homage to Joe Dante’s iconic 1984 movie, which first introduced the mischievous creatures to audiences.
And Never Feed Them After Dark! The artists behind Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai offer us an exclusive sneak peek at the much-anticipated show.
I
t's been 38 years since director Joe Dante introduced us to the wonderful, wicked and unforgettable creatures known as Gremlins. We all knew that these colorful monsters, which go wild if they're fed after midnight, would make great animated characters. This year, we can finally enjoy a new animated show about them, one that centers on a naïve 10-year-old Sam Wing (voiced by Izaac Wang) who meets the young Mogwai known as Gizmo. Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, which premieres on HBO Max and Cartoon Network’s Sunday ACME Night block this fall, is written and executive produced by Tze Chun (Gotham, Once Upon a Time). Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Sam Register and Brendan Hay also serve as exec producers. The stellar voice cast includes Ming-Na Wen, B.D. Wong, James Hong, Matthew Rhys and A.J. LoCascio (as Gizmo). We had a chance to chat with the show’s talented supervising producer Dan Krall and art director Tara Rueping ahead of the show’s special premiere at Annecy in June. “I was a child of the ‘80s, and Gremlins and other similar Amblin movies left a big impact
‘I remember working with Dan on Gizmo and he was very meticulous about getting his mouth shape right. We had to make sure we got his underbite just right.’ — Art director Tara Rueping
on me,” says Krall, an Emmy-winning animation veteran who has worked on a wide range of projects include Samurai Jack, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Powerpuff Girls and Coraline. “I was also a big Chinese mythology and historical drama fan. So, I loved the fact that we could revisit China in a historic period and encounter other mythological creatures. It was a triple grand slam for me!”
Mischief and Mayhem Rueping, a well-respected veteran of animated games such as The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and Tales from the Borderlands, who was also a design artist on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, joined the project about two and a half years ago. “When a co-worker mentioned the
show to me, I got super excited about it because I love all those old ’80s fantasies. So, I actually applied for the art director role through a test,” she tells us. “I think my test showed my enthusiasm, because I got the job.” According to Krall, the series takes place in the early 1920s. “We did a little bit of math, since our character was 70 in 1984,” he points out. “Moving backwards, we figured out where he would have been. We landed in a time when electricity was just introduced after the industrial revolution. Gremlins love electricity, and we wanted to have neon lights around. We kind of picked this sweet spot and left it a little vague for those reasons.” Krall and Rueping both also share a love for visual development artwork. “When we see these ‘art of’ books, you have all these beauti-
www.animationmagazine.net 46
TOC
june|july 22
previous page
