Real Talk. Bear Talk.

Last night I had a 30 minute serious conversation with the Line Producer about Yogi Bear. Not just him, the director also, has a very clear vision for this film: "It's an adult movie that kids will enjoy. That's the movie. It's a comedy for adults that kids will get a kick out of. Everyone in the live action world has to be grounded, the comedy has to be as real as possible." These people have been thinking for months, almost years about how to make this the best talking bear comedy that's possible. I found myself discussing how I need to appeal to both children and adults, that the physical comedy I do will be geared towards children, and the verbal towards the adult.
The Line producer talked about how when he first heard it was going to be 3-D in ADDITION to being hybrid live action and cartoon, he was skeptical. Yogi Bear is a 2-D Cell character, in the live action world, and he felt that to do it as 3-D, that's going too far. Then he saw the 5 minute test the director did, and realized that the 3-D aspect takes it back, we are first brought into the live action world with the cartoons and then the 3-D brings us back to the animated. It works.
He also mentioned he did The Italian Job, and that the movie worked in part because all the action was designed to be able to be done without special effects, all the action was real. Charlize Theron was able to do all of the driving, and in Yogi we're going to be able to do all the action without the aid of special effects.

He also mentioned that McDonald's is in. This thing is going to reach a lot of people. Age 8-80, man, that's our demographic. Everyone knows Yogi Bear. You got to understand, this is going to be good for adults and for kids.

I simply enjoyed talking about the intricacies of Yogi Bear over bacon wrapped steak bites, asparagus wrapped prosciutto and Sauvignon Blanc.