As The Angry Birds Movie prepares to catapult into cinemas this Friday, we caught up with Irish director and animation supremo Fergal Reilly to talk about his directorial debut. A native of Hunterstown, outside Ardee in Co. Louth, Reilly has worked extensively behind the scenes as a story board artist on some of our favourite animations from Space Jam to The Iron Giant, Hotel Transylvania to Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, as well as adventures in live action with Stuart Little 2 and Spiderman 2, to name but a few.
He tells us what drew him to The Angry Birds Movie with co-helmer Clay Kaytis, the challenges involved in adapting one of the world's most successful mobile games, what cartoons inspired his love of animation and the highlights so far in his twenty year career in Los Angeles. Check it out below..
Synopsis: The movie takes us to an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds – or almost entirely. In this paradise, Red (Jason Sudeikis, We're the Millers, Horrible Bosses), a bird with a temper problem, speedy Chuck (Josh Gad in his first animated role since Frozen), and the volatile Bomb (Danny McBride, This is the End, Eastbound and Down) have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up to. Featuring a hilarious, all-star voice cast that includes Bill Hader (Trainwreck, Inside Out), Maya Rudolph(Bridesmaids), and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), as well as Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live, next year's Ghostbusters), Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development), Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project, Neighbors), Hannibal Buress (Broad City, Why? With Hannibal Buress), Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Latin musicsensation Romeo Santos, and YouTube stars Smosh (Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla), the Columbia Pictures/Rovio Entertainment film is directed by Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis, produced by John Cohen and Catherine Winder, screenplay by Jon Vitti, and executive produced by Mikael Hed and David Maisel.
He tells us what drew him to The Angry Birds Movie with co-helmer Clay Kaytis, the challenges involved in adapting one of the world's most successful mobile games, what cartoons inspired his love of animation and the highlights so far in his twenty year career in Los Angeles. Check it out below..
Synopsis: The movie takes us to an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds – or almost entirely. In this paradise, Red (Jason Sudeikis, We're the Millers, Horrible Bosses), a bird with a temper problem, speedy Chuck (Josh Gad in his first animated role since Frozen), and the volatile Bomb (Danny McBride, This is the End, Eastbound and Down) have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up to. Featuring a hilarious, all-star voice cast that includes Bill Hader (Trainwreck, Inside Out), Maya Rudolph(Bridesmaids), and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), as well as Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live, next year's Ghostbusters), Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development), Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project, Neighbors), Hannibal Buress (Broad City, Why? With Hannibal Buress), Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Latin musicsensation Romeo Santos, and YouTube stars Smosh (Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla), the Columbia Pictures/Rovio Entertainment film is directed by Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis, produced by John Cohen and Catherine Winder, screenplay by Jon Vitti, and executive produced by Mikael Hed and David Maisel.
