At an early press day for Disney’s upcoming animated movie “Strange World”, a group of journalists were invited to the Walt Disney Animation Studio for a special presentation with Don Hall (director), Qui Nguyen (co-director, writer), and Ron Conli (producer). During the presentation, Hall and Nguyen talked about the inspiration behind the upcoming action adventure – from character creation to world-building. We were treated to exclusive scenes and concept art from the movie as well.
On what inspired the story of Strange World:
DH: I have a deep personal connection to this story, family and fathers and sons, both having
children of our own. And we have a strong desire to leave them a better world. So that is the
driving inspiration for this film is our kids. And the story has been a labor of love years in the
making, even long before Raya And The Last Dragon. So since around 2018, Qui [Nguyen] and I have been asking the big important questions that are driving this film, which is how do we become good ancestors?
QN: How do we pay attention to the general impacts of our decisions we make today? How do we make the world for both today and tomorrow? And as storytellers, we feel like we have an opportunity to use our voice to tell a story about our relationship with the planet.
DH: That story is told through the lens of three generations of one family, the Clades, as we
examine the complications and connections that arise between fathers and sons, parents and
children. So essentially, it’s a story about family, including an amazingly wonderful
three-legged dog, and some incredibly interesting creatures that populate this strange world,
including that little blue blob right there who just may become your favorite character.
The Characters Of Strange World
QN: We have an amazing cast on the film. We’ve got the ultra-talented and charming Jake Gyllenhaal. He was a complete dream to work with, super passionate, enthusiastic, and an incredible collaborator and he plays our leading man – Searcher Clade. Playing the role of Searcher’s father, the one and only Jaeger Clade, is the one and only Dennis Quaid. We’re having so much fun with Dennis. He’s simply one of the funniest guys that we’ve worked with. He’s having a blast playing this larger-than-life character. Born to play Jaeger Clade.
DH: And the third generation Clade Family, Searcher’s 16-year-old son Ethan, being voiced by Jaboukie Young-White, an incredible young comedian [and actor], I’m sure a lot of you guys know, who’s been a lot of cool movies and somebody whose star is definitely on the rise. Rallying up the Clade family, Meridian Clade – Searcher’s pilot wife and the glue that keeps the family together being voiced by the fantastic and mighty Gabrielle Union.
QN: And finally we’ve got the uber-talented Lucy Liu playing the role of Callisto Mal. A one-time explorer, Callisto is now the head of Avalonia. And as such, she’s the one who
organizes the team that descends into Strange World. Altogether, it’s an incredible
cast that we’ve assembled. But there are two non-speaking roles who are also part of the story.
Creating Splat And Legend
What do you need in a Strange World? Naturally, a mischievous blue blob and a three-legged dog that’ll steal every scene they’re in.
DH: There’s the Clade family dog Legend that I mentioned earlier, he’s a sweet, silly boy who just wants to love everyone and everything and has absolutely no survival instincts whatsoever. Here’s an early innovation test of our wonderful Legend. [Shows us a photo of Legend] By the way, that’s the one emotion he shows through the whole film. We’re all dog people and we just love him so much.
We’re gonna take a little moment to fill you in on how Legend became Legend. So some of you may or may not know one of our greatest story artists ever to work at Disney is Burny Mattinson who’s been with the company for a record 69 years. He was in between around Lady and the Tramp, directed one of my favorites – Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Produced The Great Mouse Detective, just all around an amazing story artist. And I worked with him on many films but Winnie the Pooh, he was absolutely essential to that film. Big Hero 6 he worked [on] with me. I kind of refused to do a movie without him. So Burny was coming out onto Strange World with us and he loves this film. Championed for it very early on. So one day we’re in a story meeting with all the story artists and Burny said, “You create this really cool, wonderful world but you need something to kind of grounded in in our reality. You need a dog.” And I said “I don’t know Burny, Splat’s gonna be the dog… Do we really need a dog?” But of course, all story artists rallied around Burny and “We want a dog!”. And so we put Legend in the movie and he steals every scene. And so we named the dog Legend after Burny who was a bonafide full-on Disney legend and that’s my nickname for him. So we named the dog after Burny because he was such a champion for him.
QN: We love Burny, we love Legend. And now you’ve also met our wonderful Splat – a funny, curious creature the Clades encounter on their adventure. Here’s a couple of animation tests from our animators Louie Jones, Justice Sklar and Adam green.
They showed us the animation test of Splat’s movement, how he walks, runs, sometimes he’s bipedal, and sometimes he’s on four or six legs.
The Land Of Avalonia
DH: In our valley surrounded by impassable mountains lies the mythical land of Avalonia. No one’s ever been able to press those keys to see what’s on the other side. Our story begins when one fearless explorer is about to try. The one and only Jaeger Clade. Along with his young son Searcher, and a team of other adventurers, they set out to conquer the boundaries of their world.
QN: Months into their expedition, young Searcher discovers a miraculous glowing plant that
generates energy. Searcher recognizes this discovery is significant. It can change light as they
know in Avalonia and begs his father to return home with this plant. Jaeger, however, is obsessed with his own legacy and wants to push on. For the first time in his life Searcher stands up to his father “No Dad, you’re wrong. These plants are special and we need to bring them back.” The team agrees with Searcher. After month after month of trudging through the snow, they’ve had enough.
DH: Jaeger dismisses them all and tells Search “Have fun playing with your plants!” and heads off alone deeper into the snow-covered mountains. Search and the team return to Avalonia and indeed Search was right. The plant he discovered – Pando – transforms Avalonia to a thriving metropolis, from candles to electric lights from horse and buggy to these fantastic airships.
QN: Searcher is considered a hero in Avalonian, “The father of Pando”. Jaeger, however, never returns. Lost like dozens of explorers before him who tried to conquer those mountains. 25 years now passed, Searcher together with his wife Meridian and his son Ethan farm Pando outside the city. He’s a humble family man. The farm he’s built is his legacy. And it’s Searcher’s pride that Ethan his son will one day inherit the farm that he’s built.
A Life Changing Adventure
QN: At its core, “Strange World” is an adventure filled with lots of art and comedy, a story about the beautiful, yet complex relationship between fathers and sons, parents and children, and
humanity’s role within their greater environment. And ultimately what it might take to truly
save the world.
DH: As the character set off on their epic, life-changing adventure, is to realize that not everything is as it seems. That this world might be strange or bigger and more complex, with stakes even higher than they ever could have imagined.
“Strange World” will premiere in theaters on November 23rd.
