Five Little Words

Ever since I took a behind-the-scenes experience for SPIES IN DISGUISE at Blue Sky Studios in Greenwich, CT back in October I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of the movie. It hits theaters on Christmas Day December 25, 2019. Our day included filmmaker/director interviews, “making of” presentations, clips, animators, a lead sculptor and a sneak peek at some of the movie.

I’ve never been so amazed at what I experienced that day. The time and amount of people it takes to make a movie is mind blowing, especially animation.

I’m the type who stays for all the credits after a movie and appreciate those who made the film possible. I told the directors/filmmakers and they thanked me for that. Do you see how many names pop up at the end? You have to give thanks to all of those amazing people.

SPIES IN DISGUISE:

Super spy Lance Sterling (Will Smith) and scientist Walter Beckett (Tom Holland) are almost exact opposites. Lance is smooth, suave and debonair. Walter is … not. But when events take an unexpected turn, this unlikely duo are forced to team up for the ultimate mission that will require an almost impossible disguise – transforming Lance into the brave, fierce, majestic… pigeon. Walter and Lance suddenly have to work as a team, or the whole world is in peril.

In the roundtable interview the directors said “in Lance they wanted him to be not just a character that made fun of other spies, they wanted to have fun with the genre but to create their own spy a character who stands shoulder to shoulder with Ethan Hunt and James Bond, Jason Bourne and not just be a joke. Lance Sterling makes a mess everywhere he goes but he does it in style. He drinks the best drinks, eats the best food and wants to make an impression. He even shows up with his own soundtrack. He’s smart, he’s fast, he’s sleek, he likes the adventure, he likes the adrenaline. He even has his own spy plane. Lance’s specific philosophy of taking out the bad guys: you gotta hit them first before they hit you but if they do hit first you hit them so hard that they don’t get back up.”

“Audi helped design Lance’s spy car. When you think super spy the biggest thing you think about is that spy car. They felt Lance deserved to have his very own real world car that made him feel legit. Audi came in and designed a car strictly for animation. That has never happened before. “

How cool was that of Audi to collaborate with animation? Can you collaborate with me Audi? It doesn’t have to be a spy car just a cool blogger car. Lol.

“Scientist, Walter Beckett is super optimistic and socially awkward. Walter believes he can save the world with a hug. Growing he felt if there’s no violence then everyone can be safe so he invented unique gadgets. He’s all alone and his only friends are pigeons.” As Walter would say, “if you have a bag of stale bread you have all the friends you ever need.”

I’m impressed with one of his gadgets his backpack which is his mobile lab and on his adventure he can create gadgets along the way. His smart watch is cool too and inspired by ‘Game Boy” because he loves video games too. He tricked out the home he grew up in into his gadget lab.

“Lance and Walter live two totally different lifestyles. Lance is more posh but he’s always on the move so he doesn’t have that place that feels like home and Walter’s home is more cozy, warm and full of life. However they both are really alone and have nobody so that’s where this story takes you on an adventure to see how they can come together and try to save the world. “

“When Lance is turned into a pigeon he is given eyebrows because the directors wanted you to relate to that human character that he was. They wanted you to get Lance expressions, emotionality and attitude so even when you’re looking at the other pigeons you’re still reading Lance Sterling’s character.”

Fanboy, Crazy Eyes and Lovey are the pigeons who’s on this crazy adventure with Lance when he becomes a pigeon.

Who would’ve thought a pigeon as a spy but look at why it’s a great idea. I absolutely loved this part of the interview. “Pigeons fly fast, their only predator is a peregrine falcon who can only fly fast in a straight line but pigeons can bang almost 90 degrees at top speed. They can fly up to 92.7 miles per hour. Very impressive. They’ve got eyes inside of their head which mean they’ve got almost 360 degree vision so no one is sneaking up behind them. Because they can fly so fast and see so wide they see at a faster rate than humans do which means they can slow time down called (pigeon bullet time) so that means when you’re out in the street and you try to kick a pigeon (not that you should) they’re always that split second ahead because they can actually see at a faster rate than you can and they can see in UV light so they can see things not visible to the human eye.”

“Walter tells Lance I can make you disappear but what he means by that is: Pigeons are found in every major city around the world. You don’t even notice them. They blend in everywhere. So in Walter’s head being a pigeon is one of the greatest covers a spy can take.” Built in gadgets and no one is paying attention to you.

Big shoutout to the directors, animators, lead sculptor filmmakers, head of story, storyboard artist, lighting supervisor, senior tech director of materials and artists who were just incredible. I enjoyed learning about pigeons and the process behind everything. I even took a drawing class. Everyone was fun to listen to and I can’t wait for Spies in Disguise to come to theaters. My kids are very excited and wish they could have went behind the scenes with me but also can’t wait to see the movie. You’ll be thinking pigeons are really spies once you see the movie.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. I was hosted/invited to attend/cover this amazing event and opinions are mine 100% as always.