Villard explains his new approach, noting, “Well, it's just like with any artwork, you got to make it personal. We’re talking balding, big belly, middle-aged different. So, in the special/episode/pilot, though we venture back to the world of King Star King, this time… things are a bit different. And I was like, ‘All right, JJ, snap out of it. And I geeked out, and did such a shitty job directing, we didn't get what we wanted at all. Because my very first actor hero that I worked with was Linda Blair, from The Exorcist. Yeah.’ But you got to separate the fandom from being a director. He writes about Baltimore in his books, and it was just like, ‘Wow, I'm recording John Waters in Baltimore. And what was so weird was we were recording him from Baltimore. According to Villard, “Yeah, he's so awesome. Such a hero, in fact, that Villard had to force himself to focus during recording sessions, lest he repeat an early career mess-up he can laugh at now. “John’s like a hero of mine,” Villard says. The special stars Tommy Blacha returning as the titular hero, as well as Andi McDowell, Robert Englund of Freddy Krueger fame, Will Sasso, Rachel Butera, and noted filmmaker and raconteur John Waters. Let's go.’ So that's how it all kind of started off.” And I was like, ‘For what?’ And they're like, ‘Canceling King Star King.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ They're like, ‘We want to bring it back.’ And I said, ‘Okay, in what capacity? Series, feature or special? And they said, ‘We want to do a special.’ And I said, ‘I'm in. “It's insane… I mean, it was about two years ago, I got a phone call from Adult Swim, and it started off with an apology,” he shares with a laugh. King Star King!/!/!/ is kind of a special… kind of an episode… kind of a pilot. and yes, that’s one really, really big pivot. He followed those gems with years working on kids’ and family films at DreamWorks Animation. Yes, it's hard not to grin at the mere thought.Īnd yes, it’s the same JJ Villard who began his reign of animated terror years ago with the incredibly nasty Charles Bukowski short, Son of Satan (2003), a Best First/Student Film winner at the 2004 Ottawa International Animation Festival, and equally crazy-assed Chestnuts Icelolly (2004), which took the Grand Prize at the Ottawa festival the following year. In a move most diehard contemporary cartoon animation fans likely support, one of the cartoon biz’s true crazy person types, JJ Villard, returns to his short-lived, Emmy Award-winning 2014 series, King Star King, for a new special, King Star King!/!/!/, animated by Rough Draft Studios, now airing on Adult Swim and streaming on HBO Max.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |