WAMG Interview: Alex Zamm – Director of WOODY WOODPECKER

Chaos ensues in the all-new family comedy, Woody Woodpecker, now available on DVD, Digital and On Demand from Universal 1440 Entertainment, a production entity of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The film blends live action and CGI animation to tell the crazy and humorous story of an all-out turf war between the mischievous prankster and a big city lawyer who wants to build his dream home in Woody’s backyard. Directed by Alex Zamm (Inspector Gadget 2, The Little Rascals Save the Day), Woody Woodpecker stars Timothy Omundson (“Psych”), Thaila Ayala (“Rio Heat”), Graham Verchere (“Fargo”) Jordana Largy (Monster Trucks) and Eric Bauza (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water), as the voice of Woody. The Woody Woodpecker  DVD and digital features deleted scenes and an exclusive inside look at the making of the film as well as the evolution of Woody’s iconic cartoon character.

Alex Zamm, the director of Woody Woodpecker, took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about the film and his career.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman February 1st, 2018

Tom Stockman: Woody Woodpecker did not play theatrically here in my town so I look forward to watching it when it premieres on Netflix on February 6. I’ve heard that Woody is extremely popular in certain parts of the world. Did it play theatrically overseas?

Alex Zamm: Yes it’s kind of an interesting story. It’s true for so many cartoon characters now that, if they’re not in the public eye, they slowly fade away. There were hundreds and thousands of characters in the Marvel universe and the Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes library. All of these characters were at one period playing in theaters and then on television. Fortunately Woody Woodpecker has never been out of the public eye in many parts of South and Latin America. He’s been running there on television since his inception. So yes, it played theatrically there. It was the number one movie in Brazil. It’s currently on an 11 country tour. It opened in Mexico last week, and then Ecuador and Bolivia. I’ve done interviews there too. It’s wonderful that it’s been doing so well theatrically in those countries.I think it’s kind of endemic to the current climate where it’s so expensive to release movies theatrical. There are a lot more releases that are split releases, combinations of theatrical and streaming.

TS: Was the Walter Lantz estate involved in the production of this film in anyway?

AZ: No, I’m involved in another project called Hong Kong Phooey. Right away I reached out to Joseph Barbera when he was alive to go over the project with him and I tried to do the same with Woody Woodpecker but there are no more really living relatives. Walter Lantz’ children did not live to see this new incarnation of their father and mother‘s character.

TS: You seem to specialize in movies that combine animation with live action. How did you get involved in that?

AZ: I’ve always loved surrealism. I’ve always loved movies and comic books and paintings where you take an unreal element and insert it into the real world. I think there’s something magical about that. I’ve always love stories like that and that’s why Iv’e made so many films where there are talking animals, like Beverly Hills Chihuahua, or where someone is half-man/half-robot like Inspector Gadget. I like those types of films. I think they’re challenging in terms of making the special effects integrate. I was a big fan of Woody Woodpecker growing up. I just love this character and I wanted to make a hybrid film and there was this enourmous opportunity. The technology has become cheaper to make this type of film, the way Alvin and the Chipmunks has been done or even Gollum in Lord of the Rings. It’s easier now to integrate these characters into the real world so seamlessly. I pursued the project, and found that the rights for Woody Woodpecker were available and brought it to every producer on the Universal lot. For 10 years no one wanted to make the movie. But they claimed to love the character, who I thought it was one of the crown jewels of universal’s library, and also a real legacy character in the history of animation,. People all over the world recognize this character and his laugh. He’s an iconic troublemaker. Finally, I had made a reboot of The Little Rascals for Universal and they asked me what I wanted to do next. I wanted to do Woody Woodpecker and it turned out that the timing was perfect as that they had literally just acquired the rights at their division, A division called Universal 1440 Home Entertainment. They were so good to me, they claimed they loved the treatment, and we went off to make this movie. After 10 years, it was as simple as that. I thought it was important that, with these characters that languish and disappear, to carry the torch and to bring the spirit of that character to a new generation.

TS: Woody Woodpecker started in 1940. How is the Woody in your movie different than the one that debuted 78 years ago?

AZ: If you look at Woody’s history over all of these years, he’s changed slightly. There are a couple of things that are wired to his DNA. He’s always been a troublemaker, He’s an eternally optimistic and happy character. in earlier versions, he was a little bit crazier, a little anarchic and vindictive. Later on, like a lot of popular characters, he became a little bit softer and a little more human. There were a couple of distinctive design looks for Woody, and what we did was try to stay true to the spirit of woody. We took the last incarnation of him, with the pompadour and more human quality, but we gave him more of an anarchic attitude, more of a troublemaker, the way he was in the original cartoon.

 TS: Is your background in animation?

AZ:  I started out as a cartoonist. I was in illustrator, and I started doing cartoons for magazine. I always thought that animation was one of the highest art forms. I studied stop-motion and cut-out animation. When I started doing special effects, I saw it is as an enormous opportunity with mixed media, which I think is exciting.

TS: Where did you grow up?

AZ: I grew up in Woodstock New York.

TS: Did you watch Saturday morning cartoons when you were a kid?

AZ: I lived for Saturday morning cartoons!  As soon as I would wake up I would grab the biggest bowl of Cap’n Crunch and park myself in front of the television. I think that was such a ritual for all of us. And to me it was an education in animation and irreverence. And they don’t have them on anymore!

TS: Yes, it’s a crime I loved to get up and watch Wacky Racers and Josie and the Pussycats.

AZ: Yes, to me those are iconic and I hope another generation gets to know them because if they don’t, they’re missing something pretty great.

TS: I’m surprised they haven’t rebooted Johnny Quest!

AZ: They’re talking about that, there’s a discussion at Warner Bros. about Johnny Quest and  The Flintstones and The Jetsons, about bringing those back. But Johnny Quest was great. That was the first Indiana Jones experience for so many. One thing we tried to do with Woody, was to give him more attitude. He’s rude and crude and a perpetual surly teenager. And I think that’s a wish fulfillment for the audience this film is designed for. Getting away with things you wished you could get away with.

TS: Eric Bauza provides the voice for Woody in your film. Did you audition a lot of actors for this part?

AZ: Eric is it super- talented voice actor. I listened to about 75 different actors for this role. There are so many wonderful actors that we would have been lucky to have in the role, but Eric had the right combination of being able to do the iconic voice and he was also a comedian. Erik is a standup comic. That gave me the ability to improvise with him. That’s a lot of my background too, improv comedy. Plus, Erik is a fine actor so he can take on the dramatic scenes and deliver the emotional beats. It couldn’t just to be about the voice because that would just be mechanical.

TS: Best of luck with Woody Woodpecker and all of your future projects.

AZ: Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy Woody Woodpecker.