In episode 94 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we meet Alex Dowding, producer at Amsterdam-based production company Submarine whose projects include the recent Amazon Prime original series Undone, an international co-production with The Tornante Company and Minnow Mountain created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy.

A genre-bending (and mind-bending) eight-part half-hour animation series, Undone premiered last month to critical acclaim, described as “a heartbreakingly gorgeous look at mental illness” by Decider and considered “a wake-up call for the tv industry” by Cartoon Brew as well as “indescribably great television” by Forbes Magazine. The show “explores the elastic nature of reality through its central character, Alma (Rose Salazar), a 28-year-old living in San Antonio, Texas”. When Alma survives a near-fatal road collision she finds herself visited by her deceased father Jacob (Bob Odenkirk) who helps her cultivate a natural gift for bending time, space and reality while appealing to her to discover the truth about his presumed-accidental death. Throughout the series her ensuing emotional and investigative journey is equally interpretable as either a sophisticated depiction of schizophrenic delusion or as a metaphysical sci-fi odyssey. Also starring Angelique Cabral, Constance Marie, Siddarth Dhananjay and Daveed Diggs, Undone was produced with a contribution from the Netherlands Film Production Incentive.

Prior to working at Submarine, Alex’s work in animation has spanned a range of production management and supervisor roles across such projects as Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, Minions, The Tale of Despereux and The Lorax.

Also discussed in this episode: The strong critical response to Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon, the lukewarm critical response to The Addams Family remake, the growing fondness for Laika’s Missing Link, the fight for the South Park streaming rights, upcoming Manchester Animation Festival highlights, the British Animation Awards and Autour de Minuit‘s Rosto graphic novel campaign.

Direct download this episode here or stream below:

Presented by Ben Mitchell and Steve Henderson
Interview conducted by Ben Mitchell
Edited, produced and music by Ben Mitchell

See more of the work of Submarine at submarine.nl