Ron’s Gone Wrong – Trailer and Interview
It’s a big day for UK animation as the final trailer for Ron’s Gone Wrong is released. The film centres around Barney, a not too popular kid who finds himself the owner of a B-Bot, the latest bit of tech that bundles together your social media needs into a portable pal, but Barney’s B-Bot is a little, well wrong. As the trailer is launched Skwigly caught up with Directorial team Sarah Smith and JP Vine to discuss the film.
Locksmith have a lot to deliver if they are to keep all of their promises. Widely promoted as the ‘British Pixar’ due to their vocal mission to create CGI family films at the size and scale of the American offerings so their debut feature has a lot riding on it. “Our ambition is to make global movies in London for the world!” Says Sarah Smith, Director and co-founder of the young studio that is packed with experienced talent from across the feature world who have all come to London to work on Ron.
Such talent has given the studio the capacity to realise the tech heavy world in Ron’s Gone Wrong, namely through the design of the shiny B-Bots, not as far fetched as we might believe, in fact tantalisingly realistic enough to make every viewer want one. Exciting in design and premise the B-Bots are not so far removed from what we currently use “Most of the functions are already here in our iPads and laptops but hyped up to be the perfect device every kid wants.” said Smith, with Co-Director JP Vine adding “We wanted the movie to feel like it’s set right around now so the bot needs to feel tangible.” The studio went so far as to work with the company who made Star Wars BB8 so the B-Bots feel just about on the bounds of possibility.
RON’S GONE WRONG – Ron (voiced by Zack Galifianakis). © 2021 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
It’s a modern movie, and in spite of the tried and tested ‘robot pal’ premise, the filmmakers have taken plenty of effort to align the heart of the story to the digital natives in the audience by exploring how likes, shares and digital social interactions are just as important as in person social interactions as Vine explains, “People ask us what’s different about a robot movie than Iron Giant or Mitchells vs the Machines and it’s social media personified in a robot and come to life.” This premise is sure to show off something new and elevate the film above typical fare and Vine continues “Our main interests were looking at how kids are filtering themselves through a lens of their content creation or social media or network and how Barney sees himself as a result. When you compare the insides of you to the outside of others seen on social media”.
The script for the film sees Sarah Smith reunited with long time collaborator Pete Baynham (Alan Partridge, The Thick of It), with whom she has worked with on Arthur Christmas and prior to that in her earlier comedy career. Smith recalls the initial workshopping of ideas with Baynham “I went to Pete with a paragraph of a story, but the basic idea would be that Barney would teach by imitation, but then Pete said – but what if it was an idiot and it was annoying?” As well as the mechanical main characters, the larger cast were fleshed out through personal inspiration. “All of the characters around Ron are based on people he and I have known together. Pete is a bit Ron, Barney is both of our daughters, Donka (the Grandmother) is the badly behaved Grandparents we both had!”
L to R: Ron (voiced by Zack Galifianakis) and Barney (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer)
Though the film centres around a young man and his bot, the cross generational culture clash is explored in the film too. “You have the point of view of parents in the digital world, but also Barney talking to his Dad and explaining that this is how the world is now, all these digital things are valid and make for a story that can be explored from all angles.”
Locksmith are plugging a gap in the family animated feature market by creating a British studio that will deliver the types of films only American companies have largely managed up until now. It’s a British film, but American in its setting so it is natural to wonder if there was any pressure to set it in the USA perhaps to appeal to a broader audience, Sarah Smith answered, “There has been so many amazing movies by amazing filmmakers in America that there is now a landscape of adventure and imagination that is globally recognised and understood. It’s somewhere that kids and adults feel imaginatively comfortable and that was the world we felt the movie should be set in, the world of The Goonies and E.T. You’re trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience and to make it feel relatable and recognisable. The world has evolved so much that it’s possible to set any movie in any place and still have it feel universal, it just felt right for this story to set it in America.”
L to R: Barney (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer) and Ron (voiced by Zack Galifianakis)
With an international team of some of animation’s finest telling stories for a worldwide audience, Ron’s Gone Wrong looks to be getting everything right.
The world premiere of Ron’s Gone Wrong will take place as part of the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday 9 October, ahead of the UK release in cinemas on Friday 15 October.