What sort of lifespan did you envisage for it at the very beginning?
James Brooks: “Well I tend to be pessimistic. If you’re going to ask, ask Matt.”
Matt Groening: “No, I always thought that the series would be successful. I thought if we could get it on the air, I thought kids would tune in for sure. I didn’t know if adults would give an animated prime time TV series a chance, but I thought kids would. And the fact is adults did too. I would say that one of the interesting things about this whole process has been as famous and big as The Simpsons have been around the world for the last 18 years, we were basically working in the dark. We worked very hard on the show and then we’d go home and watch it with our families. And with the making of the movie and the attention that it’s got and the promotions around the movie, specifically Kwik-e-Mart - to see the lines outside of Kwik-e-Mart and the enthusiasm of people were staggering. Yesterday we were in Springfield, Vermont for the Springfield premiere of the Simpsons movie and it was – for all of us – it was an amazing experience. We were given the keys to the city and it opens up every door.”
Can I ask you about the challenges of the animation, of bringing The Simpsons to the big screen?
David Silverman: “It was always a balance of what you wanted to elaborate on for the big screen but you don’t want to cut your ties from what the show is, neither the specific acting style of the Simpsons, which may be born out of a limitation of animation but it was also a conscious choice in terms of performance of comedy instilments, in holding back and being more realistic really, in how people perform. Wanting crazy, goofy looking animation characters who act more and more like human characters act. And that actually calls for more restraint than people realize. We try to think of the people who are animating and we realized we wanted something that has a control to it.”
James Brooks: “We really tested the system though because at the end of the road, two weeks past where you’re allowed to make any changes, where it’s impossible, where things are being processed, David even managed to make some key changes in the key emotional scene in the movie, you know, when Marge does her take. There were two acting changes in there, which I think really added to it.”
Al Jean: “The production team did an amazing job. You know normally when we do retakes of the show it takes a month or a month and a half to get them back. We were turning around animation this film in a week at the end. And we could actually think of a joke, see it, and then project it in a day almost.”
David Silverman: “At a certain point earlier and the much later in the production, we had actually our animation and clean up staff do specific shots. We were able to do, as you say, not only have them turn around overseas but also here in town, just to make sure we had this key emotional or key acting things finished. That was very liberating. Additionally, wide screen format’s almost impossible 235 ratio as opposed to a 185 standard widescreen ratio to give a greater distinction between the show and the movie, and then added more color details to the background.”
What were you able to do in this film that TV wouldn’t allow you to do?
James Brooks: “Well, strangely, nothing that we weren’t able to do in the early days of the show but lately it’s become very repressive and we’re so happy with the PG-13 because of ‘irreverent humour throughout’. I mean, we won’t get a better review than that.”
Al Jean: “In television what happens is in the light of the Janet Jackson thing, all networks got constricted by the FCC, so the movie takes a little more liberties. We wanted to do a story that was more of a movie story and had a more emotional nature. It wasn’t like South Park where we were going, ‘Okay, we’re going to now show things we couldn’t show on TV.’ We wanted to make a movie.”
Why’d it take 12 people to write it? Who was responsible for Spider Pig?
Al Jean: “It was after the screening in Portland and David Mirkin saw Marge was looking up at the pig tracks ceiling and said, ‘Where did they come from?’ And I said, ‘Well Homer should be holding the pig and saying it’s the amazing Spider Pig.’ And then David Silverman and David Morgan started singing that song - and we’re generous with writing credits.”
David Silverman: “Our feeling is that everyone in the room wrote it, but because it came from the room’s energy that everybody should get credit.”
Will there be allusions to anything in the movie in future Simpsons episodes?
Al Jean: “Because the movie was written up until a couple of weeks ago, we weren’t always sure what was going to be in the movie. There are allusions to the film in the TV show but the other thing I wanted to say is, the movie you actually see is complete. You don’t have to then watch the show. But if you like the movie, there’s a show that we can recommend – starts on September 23rd.”
Will the storyline with Lisa's boyfriend be continuing?
James Brooks: “We talked about it, we talked about. I'm inclined to hope we can bring him back.”
Al Jean: “Part of it was over the writing, the character kept changing. His name was Dexter, then Adrien, then Colin. We couldn't settle on one but Jim thinks that an Irish romance would be suitably tragic for Lisa.”
Mike Scully: “Yeardley Smith had asked, ‘Is there any way she could possibly keep this one?’ Because in the show, we've done a few romances and they always end unhappy for her.”
James Brooks: “And we have active discussions about who Colin's father should be.”
Al Jean: “Well, Yeardley's really funny. She says, ‘Every time you give Lisa something, you take it away whether it's a boy or a pony.’"
