Brad Bird has been trying to make “Ray Gunn” for a really long time. As in, over 30 years.
For a project to captivate the Oscar-winning mind behind “Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles” and “The Iron Giant” for this long, it’s got to be something special, right?
Netflix seems to think so, holding a top-secret press event at its Burbank animation HQ in late July – a whole five months before the project is slated to hit the streamer on Dec. 18.
For Bird, the Netflix film is his first movie since 2018 — and his first for a streaming service. But if he had it his way, “Ray Gunn” would have been made a long time ago — he’s been pitching it since the 1990s.
“I mainly connect to Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football, because I can’t tell you how many times I thought that was going to happen, and then the football would be pulled away, and I’d land on my back,” he told Page Six Hollywood.
So what took so long? To start, it’s not a “kids movie.” The stylish neo-noir flick deals with themes of mystery, intrigue and murder – and while still rated PG, it’s no CocoMelon. “I think that is part of what kept studios from seeing the film,” Bird said. “Not every animated film has to be made for five-year-olds. I just reject that.”
“Ray Gunn” follows private eye Raymond Gunn (Sam Rockwell) in the retro-futuristic city of Metropia as he is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia starlet named Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson).
Bird was on hand at Netflix to show off the first 30 minutes of the film before attendees were cut loose for activities including voiceover sessions, police sketches and a Q&A with composer (and longtime Bird collaborator) Michael Giacchino.
Bird, a fixture of the animation scene since the ‘90s, has been around long enough to see the tides change several times — and nowadays, all eyes are on AI and its impact on filmmaking.
While Bird calls the thought of AI models training on his acclaimed body of work “disturbing,” he’s not against embracing new technologies. “I think that politicians are failing us now in being careful with this,” he says. “I think it can be hugely beneficial if it’s introduced correctly and carefully, and with respect and understanding that it could lead us into some very dark areas if we’re not careful. That said, as it pertains to movies, I think as long as it’s a tool for artists, it’s fine. If it’s used to try to replace artists, then I’m completely and utterly against it.”
But he understands the potential for AI to help decrease budgets on films, something which he believes could help push more creative ideas through – without the fear of a studio going under because of a box office bomb.
“When you make a film, there’s a math that is just ruthless, where your film has to make two and a half times its cost in order to break even. That becomes something that affects people’s decisions on what kind of stories can be made, and it keeps people repeating stories that are already successful instead of making something new,” Bird says. “I think that’s the most worthy thing you can do with money – trying to create and introduce new things into the world.”
Watch the new trailer for “Ray Gunn” now:
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