Producer, CLARK SPENCER (Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph, Lilo and Stitch), will join Fan Expo to give an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Ralph Breaks the Internet with some never-before-seen footage from the film. During the subsequent Q&A with “Pop Life” host Richard Crouse, Spencer will provide a deeper look at how his team is bringing the internet to life with favourite characters from the original and a new cast who help Ralph and Vanellope to navigate this vast, unfamiliar world.
Attendance is on a first-come, first-served basis for anyone attending Fan Expo.
Fans will also be able to experience the Ralph Breaks the Internet photo-ops, open to the public all weekend at Fan Expo.
WHEN:
Friday, August 31, 2018
4:00 PM
WHERE:
Constitution Hall 106
Fan Expo Canada
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
222 Bremner Blvd.
ABOUT RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET:
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” leaves Litwak’s video arcade behind, venturing into the uncharted, expansive and thrilling world of the internet—which may or may not survive Ralph’s wrecking. Video game bad guy Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) and fellow misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman) must risk it all by traveling to the world wide web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope’s video game, Sugar Rush. In way over their heads, Ralph and Vanellope rely on the citizens of the internet—the netizens—to help navigate their way, including a website entrepreneur named Yesss (voice of Taraji P. Henson), who is the head algorithm and the heart and soul of the trend-making site “BuzzzTube.” Directed by Rich Moore (“Zootopia,” “Wreck-It Ralph”) and Phil Johnston (co-writer “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Zootopia,” writer, “Cedar Rapids”), and produced by Clark Spencer (“Zootopia,” “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Bolt,” “Lilo & Stitch”).
Idris Elba is a busy man. He’s released seven movies this year and has several more on tap for 2017. He’s on track to join Dwayne Johnson, Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio as one of the world’s highest earning actors after turns in the mega-grossing The Jungle Book, Finding Dory and Zootopia.
If you don’t know the name you haven’t been paying attention. Rev up Netflix and check out his work on TV shows like The Wire or Luther and movies like RocknRolla or Beasts of No Nation and become a fan. You should know he was once voted one of People magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful People in the World and more than one twitter friend of mine refers to him as a “pretend boyfriend.”
Not only busy but good looking as well! I was pleased to be granted a fifteen-minute phone interview to discuss his debut in the Star Trek franchise as Krall, a hostile alien who causes trouble for Kirk, Spock and company in Star Trek Beyond.
I don’t usually write questions but I thought I might ask him if he watched Star Trek as a child. Would he consider himself a Trekker? Did he have a favourite Star Trek character growing up? Did he wonder what Star Trek fans would think of the predatory new character? Are there parallels between the film—and his character—and our world today? Has he considered what being part of the legacy of the show means?
If there was time at the end I might even follow up on the rumours and ask if he even wants to play James Bond.
Then the first call came in. “Idris is running behind.” Cool. This happens all the time on press days. Then another call and another and another. My phone hasn’t gotten this kind of workout since a Nigerian Prince called over and over to solicit my assistance in moving his fortune to North America. Each time a publicist announced another delay with the assurance the interview would still happen. As the time wore on the actual length of my interview began to tumble downhill from fifteen minutes down to seven.
In all two hours passed from my scheduled start time until my phone rang for real.
“Hi Richard, I’ll connect you with Idris,” said the perky voice on the other end of the line.
Silence.
A minute passed before Elba’s familiar husky London accent filled my ear. Hallelujah! Better late than never. We talk over one another. “Hello… HELLO… Can you hear me?” It’s a bad cell phone connection. It sounds as if we’re talking through two tin cans connected by strings but I’ll take it.
I ask him about his childhood memories of Star Trek.
“It was a show me, my mum and my dad watched together,” he says. “They both liked it. It was a show that really took your imagination places. That’s my early memory of it. It was a really imaginative show that showed space travel in a way that was different, you know?”
It took him 23 seconds to speak the 50 words that told me his parents liked Star Trek. I mention this because as soon as he stopped talking and I started asking the next question I heard a strange beep beep sound followed by… nothing. The great void. No more husky voice. And like that, poof. He’s gone.
“Are you still there? I think we just lost him,” the eavesdropping publicist said. “Let me get him back for you. Just one second.”
I had visions of the actor walking around Fifth Avenue desperately yelling into his phone, “Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?” but in my heart I knew that wasn’t happening.
Minutes later she’s back. “I’m so sorry. We lost him. I know you only had a couple of minutes to speak with him…” actually it was twenty three seconds… “Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with him.”
My interview with Idris was over. Still born. Terminated before it even really began.
Was I mad? Not really. Frustrated? Yes. Not only had I wasted the afternoon waiting for Idris but now I didn’t have a story to file.
My friends on social media didn’t exactly see it my way. “What do you expect?” wrote one person. “He is the hottest man alive.” Another chose to look on the bright side. “That’s 45 seconds more Idris than the rest of us.” (I hadn’t yet timed the actual quote when hit facebook to vent.)
In the end it’s not a big deal. I’m choosing to look at the bright side. I didn’t get to chat with him but I do have a contender for the Guinness Book of World Records for Shortest (And Least Satisfying) Interview Ever.
Welcome to the House of Crouse. This week Robert Carlyle gives us news on the upcoming Trainspotting sequel while Canadian news legend Peter Mansbridge tells us how he joined the ranks of Mickey Mouse, Jiminy Cricket and Aladdin and became a Disney character in Zootopia.
Richard and CP24 anchor Nneka Elliot have a look at the weekend’s big releases, the Tina Fey dramedy “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” the 80s action of “London Has Fallen” and the animated animals of “Zootopia”!
Richard and “Canada AM” host Beverly Thomson have a look at the weekend’s big releases, the Tina Fey dramedy “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” the 80s action of “London Has Fallen” and the animated animals of “Zootopia”!
Disney animator Trent Correy may be an Ottawa native, but three years of living and working in Burbank, Calif., have changed him.
“I get home about once or twice a year now,” he says. “It’s hard to go in the winter, my body has adapted to here. I tend to send my parents photos of me on the beach in February when it is -42 C back home. I have flip flops on now while we’re talking just to turn the knife a little bit.”
Ironically the sun worshipper’s breakout was helping to animate the snowman Olaf in Frozen. You’ve also seen his handiwork in Big Hero 6 and this weekend he’s back with the furry and funny film Zootopia.
Disney animator Trent Correy may be an Ottawa native, but three years of living and working in Burbank, Calif., have changed him.
“I get home about once or twice a year now,” he says. “It’s hard to go in the winter, my body has adapted to here. I tend to send my parents photos of me on the beach in February when it is -42 C back home. I have flip flops on now while we’re talking just to turn the knife a little bit.”
Ironically the sun worshipper’s breakout was helping to animate the snowman Olaf in Frozen. You’ve also seen his handiwork in Big Hero 6 and this weekend he’s back with the furry and funny film Zootopia.
“The nice part of Zootopia was working with a number of different characters,” says the Algonquin College graduate. “I worked with everything from a mouse to a sloth to an elephant. It kept the job very interesting.”
Set in an alternate universe where animals, both predator and prey, live harmoniously in a city called Zootopia, the movie’s funniest sequence involves a slow moving sloth named Flash. It was the first scene Correy helped animate. “There are a lot of challenges animating a sloth moving at that speed,” he says, “and a lot of other challenges animating a mouse or an elephant with their different weights and animal attributes.”
The 28-year-old is a rising star at Disney — he’s currently working on the mythological epic Moana — so it might come as a surprise that he didn’t take art in high school.
“I failed art,” he admits. “It was totally my fault. I wasn’t into the art history stuff at the time and I was really interested in drawing cartoons. That was looked upon as not real art so the teacher and myself had disagreements. I ended up having to take drama, and that’s fun too.
“I did always love to draw. I have to thank my mom, who is an artist, who encouraged me to draw and keep going.”
He rediscovered his passion for art after high school and now joins the rather long and impressive list of Canadians who are helping to shape the future of animation. I ask him why Canadians are so in demand as animators.
“There is a rich history of animation in Canada with the NFB and a lot of TV work in the ’80s and ’90s,” he says. “I think a lot of it has to do with work ethic. I tend to see a lot of people who come from TV animation who are faster. They have to be because they get paid per frame in a lot of places in Canada, whereas here it’s salary. So to make your money you have to be fast, you have to be efficient and you have to be economical in your choices.
“Our whole crew here is very international, we have people from all over the world. I think there is a bit of, ‘I’m coming from a different country and I’m trying to prove myself in this big place.’ It feels so far away from Ottawa.”
Around this time of year bunnies usually visit kids with baskets of jellybeans and chocolate. This March, however, a baby rabbit named Judy “Don’t call me cute!” Hopps bounces into theatres bringing with her a message of tolerance. The new Disney film “Zootopia” is social commentary disguised as a furry and funny cartoon.
Growing up on a carrot farm Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) has dreamed of being a police officer in the city of Zootopia, despite the fact, as her father (Don Lake) constantly reminds her, “There’s never been a bunny cop.” In fact, her parents preach the virtues of complacency and want her to go into the family business and become a carrot farmer. “It’s OK to have dreams,” says dad, “just as long as you don’t believe in them too much.”
The call to service to too strong, however, and she soon graduates for the Police Academy at the top of her class. Despite her small size (Message #1: Never give up on your dreams.) she’s sent to Zootopia’s city center, a cosmopolitan place filled with hustle and bustle and animals of all shapes and sizes. “In Zootopia,” she says, “anyone can be anything.”
She’s a keener who introduces herself with, “Ready to make the world a better place?” only to be assigned to parking enforcement duty. True to form she becomes the city’s best ticketer (Message #2: Be The Best Version Of You!) but is unsatisfied by the work. When a missing otter case falls into her lap she starts her investigation by questioning a con artist named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a sly fox with a smart mouth and underworld connections. Together (Message #3: We all do better when we work together.) they learn to look past sly fox/dumb bunny stereotypes (Message #4: Er… look past stereotypes and don’t judge others.) and uncover a plot that threatens Zootopia’s basic precept of celebrating one another’s differences. (Message #5: There is beauty and strength in diversity.)
There are more messages in “Zootopia” than in Hillary Clinton’s private server’s spam folder but the film doesn’t feel like a Successories motivational poster come to life. The life lessons are nicely woven into the story and washed down with a spoonful of humour. Kids and parents alike should find Flash, the fastest sloth at the DMV funny, although for very different reasons, while a “Godfather” take-off will likely mean nothing to children but give older folks a chuckle.
Co-directors Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush pack every inch of the frame with in-jokes, like a billboard for Zuber car services, the carrot logo on a smart phone, or my favourite, the sloth’s mug that reads “You want it when?” If the messages don’t connect the animation will.
“Zootopia” is more than just another cartoon to entertain the eye. It’s a timely and relevant children’s tale with a social agenda.
