January 30, 2025 • 47 mins
In 1992, US President George H.W. Bush famously remarked, during a speech at the Annual Convention of the National Religious Broadcasters, that the American family needs to be “a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons.”
The longest-running American animated series, longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, both in seasons and individual episodes. The Simpsons is, quite frankly, a phenomenon, and the long-awaited The Simpsons Movie took nearly two decades to come to fruition, as fans eagerly anticipated a feature film adaptation of their beloved show.
But despite being a long-running, beloved show, the making of the movie wasn't easy, and it faced numerous rewrites, with the script being revised over a hundred times before its release. Many iconic characters from the series made appearances, with a total of over 320 characters included throughout the movie, with creator Matt Groening aiming to create a cinematic experience that would appeal to both long-time fans and newcomers to the franchise.
But appealing to newcomers led to many fan-favourite characters being omitted from the script, and somehow Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rainier Wolfcastle exist within the same universe? But who copied whom? I guess we'll never truly know...
I would love to hear your thoughts on The Simpsons Movie (2007) !
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Episode Transcript
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(03:20):
Hi everyone. I'm Em andwelcome to Verbal diorama, episode
285, the Simpsons Movie. Thisis the podcast that's all about the
history and legacy of moviesyou know and movies you don't that
remembers when do the Bartmancame out. Welcome as always to Verbal
Diorama. Whether you are abrand new listener to this podcast,
whether you are a regularreturning listener, thank you for
(03:42):
being here. Thank you forchoosing to listen to this podcast.
I am so happy to have you herefor the history and legacy of the
Simpsons Movie. And I'm sohappy to have you here to help celebrate
animation in Animation Season2025. This is the fifth annual Animation
Season and it is here tocelebrate animation in all its forms.
(04:05):
Stop motion, CGI andtraditional 2D hand drawn animation.
And also a mix of all of theabove. I don't discriminate when
it comes to animation. I tryto make animation season as varied
as possible. In the past, I'vefeatured animation studios like Leica,
Aardman, Disney, Dreamworks,Sony Animation, Pixar Studio, Ghibli,
(04:30):
Cartoon Saloon, even studiosthat are no longer with us, like
Fox Animation, Blue sky, andDon Bluth Studios. One of the mantras
of Herbal Diorama has alwaysbeen that animation is not a genre.
No matter what Netflix mighttell you. It is not a genre. It is
an art form. It is a medium bywhich to express, by which to tell
(04:52):
a story. And some of thegreatest stories ever told have been
animated. It's just that mostpeople think, and this is another
one of the mantras, thatanimation is just for children when
it's really not. And theSimpsons movie is proof of that.
Because the Simpsons hasalways been for everyone, whether
you are a child, even thoughthey don't really want children to
(05:15):
be watching it. If you are achild, if you are a grown up, everyone
can enjoy and love theSimpsons. In many ways, animation
is the perfect art form. It iscapable of depicting anyone or anything.
There are no limitations,unlike live action cinema. And this
is one of the reasons whyanimation season is so important
(05:36):
to me and so important to thispodcast. And one of the things I
want to do more than anythingis to highlight these incredible
animated movies that you mayhave discounted for whatever reason,
but you shouldn't. And youdefinitely shouldn't discount the
Simpsons movie. But before Ijump into that, I just want to say
a huge thank you to everyonewho listens to this podcast and has
(05:59):
listened to and supported thispodcast. This podcast is almost six
years old. In a couple ofweeks time, this podcast will be
six. And it's just such ahumbling and incredible experience
to have been doing thispodcast for six years. It means so
much to have your ears and tohave you listening to this podcast.
It doesn't even matter ifyou've listened to every episode
(06:20):
or not, even if this is yourfirst episode. I'm genuinely so grateful.
This podcast is a labor oflove and I do it for me. But I also
do it for you. And withoutyou, I would literally just be here
talking to myself. SometimesI'm pretty certain that that I am
talking to myself. However, Ido get some lovely comments from
(06:41):
people who do listen. So Iknow there are people out there who
do listen. But doing a podcaston your own, sometimes it does feel
a little bit like you're kindof shouting into the ether so. So
I am really, really gratefulto everyone who does listen to this
podcast. So, in 2007, theSimpsons gave fans something that
they had been wanting fornearly two decades. The chance to
(07:05):
pay to see the show theynormally watch for free. Here's the
trailer for the Simpsons movie.
(09:24):
Lisa Simpson finally convincesthe locals of Springfield to clean
up the toxic lake Springfield.And everyone agrees to prohibit pollution
from the water. Meanwhile,Homer Simpson saves a pig from being
killed at Krusty Burger andadopts it. After two days, the pig
fills up a silo with itsexcrement, and having nowhere else
(09:44):
to put it, Homer dumps thesilo into the lake, polluting it.
President ArnoldSchwarzenegger blindly chooses to
put a dome over Springfield tocontain the ecological disaster that
is Springfield and trap thepopulation. The residents of the
town discover who the culpritis and. And an angry mob descends
on Evergreen Terrace, forcingthe whole Simpson family to escape
(10:07):
through a portal in Maggie'ssandbox and seek sanctuary in Alaska
because it's not part of theUnited States. When the president
then blindly chooses to blowup Springfield, Marge discovers the
news and races back toSpringfield without Homer to try
to help. But naturally, Homerdoes come back. Let's run through
the cast of this movie. Nowthis is a cast where a lot of the
(10:31):
actors actually have multipleroles. However, I'm just going to
limit it to the main role thatthey play in this movie. And obviously
all of the other roles areavailable on IMDb, but we have Dan
Castellaneta as Homer Simpson,Julie Kavanagh as Marge Simpson,
Nancy Cartwright as BartSimpson, Yardley Smith as Lisa Simpson,
(10:56):
Hank Azaria as Mo Sislak,Harry Shearer as Mr. Burns, Pamela
Hayden as Milhouse Van Houten,Albert Brooks as Russ Cargill and
Tom Hanks as Himself and BillyJoe Armstrong, Frank Edwin Wright
III and Michael Pritchard, themembers of Green Day, also as themselves.
(11:16):
The Simpsons movie has ascreenplay by James L. Brooks, Matt
Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxton,Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin,
Mike Reese, Mike Scully, MattSelman, John Swartzwelder and John
Vitti was directed by DavidSilverman and based on the Simpsons
by Matt Groening. In 1992,President George H.W. bush famously
(11:40):
remarked during his speech atthe annual convention of the National
Religious Broadcasters thatthe American family needed to be
a lot more like the Waltonsand a lot less like the Simpsons.
The longest running Americananimated series, longest running
American sitcom, and thelongest running American scripted
primetime television series,both in seasons and individual episodes.
(12:04):
The Simpsons is quite franklya phenomenon, and it started as all
things do, with humblebeginnings. In 1978 Matt Groening
sold his first professionalcartoon, Life in Hell, to the cutting
edge publication Wet. Itattracted the attention of American
producer James L. Brooks ofGracie Films, who approached Groening
(12:25):
in 1985 about adapting it foranimated sequences for the Fox variety
show the Tracey Ullman Show.Groening developed a new cast of
characters, the dysfunctionalSimpson Family, out of fear of losing
ownership rights to Life inHell. After debuting in 1987 and
after three seasons on theTracey Ullman show, the shorts were
(12:46):
adapted into a half hourprimetime sitcom called the Simpsons,
which debuted on 17th December1989. The animation was produced
domestically at Klasky Chupo,the same animation studio who made
Rugrats as well as of thefamous Nickelodeon cartoon series
with Wes Archer, DavidSilverman and Bill Kopp being animators
(13:08):
for the first season. KlaskiChupo had also done the title sequence
for the Tracy Alton Show.James L. Brooks asked the studio
to produce and animate theoriginal one minute shorts featuring
the characters, and the firstthree seasons of the Simpsons were
all animated by Klasky Shupo.They also produced do the Bartman.
In the height of Simpson ManiaIn 1991, Klaski Schuper created the
(13:33):
Rugrats, which was a huge hitfor Nickelodeon and and in 1992,
Gracie Films moved domesticproduction of the Simpsons to Film
Roman after creativedifferences between the two companies.
Groening named his charactersafter members of his own family.
His father was called Homer.His mother was Marge. His younger
sisters were Lisa and Maggie.His older siblings Patty and Mark
(13:57):
weren't included in thefamily, unless you count Patty Bouvier.
But it's been long rumoredthat Bart is based on a mix of Mark
and himself, but called Bartas an anagram of brat. They live
in Springfield, but it's along running joke as to exactly where
Springfield is in mainlandusa, with its geography and surroundings
changing to fit storylinessuch as random coasts, deserts, mountain
(14:21):
ranges or farmland. Nowreally, the Simpsons is something
that I expect pretty mucheveryone in the world knows or knows
of. And while the number ofviewers has decreased significantly
over the last 35 years, fansof the Simpsons have favorite seasons,
favorite characters, andfavorite long running gags. And a
movie version of any TV showhas to tread that fine line between
(14:43):
keeping fans happy and beingunderstandable for anyone who maybe
hasn't seen an episode of theSimpsons, which I don't know if anyone
hasn't seen an episode of theSimpsons, but please let me know
if you're listening and you'venever seen an episode of the Simpsons.
Long time fans probably wouldhave loved to see the main antagonist
in this movie being HankScorpio, one of the most popular
(15:06):
one time characters in theshow. From season 8, episode 2, you
only move twice and there wasa time when Hank Scorpio was the
main antagonist. But like alot of decisions on this movie in
jokes were removed to make themovie more accessible to everyone.
But why did a Simpsons movietake so long to actually come to
(15:27):
the big screen? The shortanswer is, surprisingly, for something
as big as the Simpsonsdevelopment hell. But the long answer
is there's always more to itthan that. So the Simpsons was a
phenomenon in the early 90s,and very early on talk started happening
about a movie adaptation, butcreator Matt Groening always saw
it as the perfect end to theTV series. But the ratings kept going
(15:52):
up, which is no bad thingreally when your show is literally
the most successful show atthe time. By the time the fourth
season came around, theSimpsons was firing on all cylinders,
with many considering seasonsfour to eight the best the show has
ever been. Camp Crusty thefourth season premiere was written
by James L. Brooks, whosuggested the episode be considered
(16:13):
for a feature film,coincidentally also the last episode
to be animated by KlaskyShoupo before Gracie Films moved
its domestic animationproduction to Film Roman. But they
struggled to make more of CampKrusty than a regular TV episode
and other ideas like SimpStasia, a Simpsons version of Fantasia
and a movie version ofTreehouse of Horror just never went
(16:37):
anywhere. Even a Troy McCluremovie was suggested. You may remember
him from previous appearanceson this podcast. He was spoken about
in episode 199 on Wayne'sWorld and episode 222 on the wedding
Singer, with voice actor PhilHartman keen to make it with the
episode A Fish Called Selma'splot the idea for the movie, but
(16:59):
it ended up becoming one ofthe most beloved episodes of the
TV series instead with a guestappearance by Jeff Goldblum and the
Planet of the Apes musicalwhere he hates every APCs from chimpan
a to Chimpanzee. The idea fora Troy McClure movie then died with
the sudden death of PhilHartman in 1998. Al Jean would also
pitch the Bonfire of theManatees, which would end up becoming
(17:21):
a season 17 episode, but theidea of this feature length Simpsons
adventure kept humming, butthey didn't have the staff to produce
both a weekly TV series and amovie. But it was something that
could be solved. You couldalways hire new people. And so a
movie finally got the greenlight in 1997 and the idea was to
(17:42):
take all the best writers andshowrunners from the early seasons
of the show with DavidSilverman chosen to direct. And Silverman
had been involved with theshow since the very beginning, animating
all of the original shortSimpsons cartoons that aired on the
Tracey Ullman show andanimating the very first season of
the show. He went on to serveas director of animation for several
(18:02):
years and co directed MonstersInc. For Pixar alongside Lee Unkrich.
The list of writers is lengthyfor the very reason that lots of
people have written on theSimpsons. Sam Simon wouldn't return,
having left the show citingcreative differences in 1993. Simon
was credited as co creatingthe show, developing its sensibility
(18:25):
and its humor, but he alsolocked women out of the writing team.
Mimi Pond wrote the firstbroadcast episode of the Simpsons
Simpsons Roasting on an openfire in 1989 and she claimed it was
Sam Simon who wouldn't allowher to join the writing team permanently.
Simon also developed acontentious relationship with Matt
Groening, James L. Brooks andthe production company Gracie Films
(18:48):
before leaving the Simpsons.He negotiated a deal that saw him
receive a share of the show'sprofits every year, particularly
from home media, and anexecutive producer credit. Despite
not having worked on the showsince 1993. The deal meant him receiving
at least $10 million a yearfor the rest of his life. Sam Simon
passed away from colorectalcancer in 2015. So the team that
(19:13):
they amassed for this movie isan incredible team of showrunners
and writers, including MattGroening, James L. Brooks, Mike Scully,
and Al Jean, who continued towork on the TV series as showrunner
between seasons 13 and 31 from2001 to 2020. But there would be
some people missing. Theywouldn't have Conan O'Brien, nor
(19:34):
would they have Brad Bird dueto time limitations and him working
on the Incredibles andRatatouille for Pixar. The voice
cast, who'd always been awareof the potential of a movie, officially
signed on in 2001, and workbegan on the screenplay. At the same
time, the team was alsoworking on regular Simpsons episodes,
(19:54):
and while they were very muchrivals in the animated series world,
south park actually provided alittle bit of inspiration to the
Simpsons team. Now, I havedone an episode on south park, bigger,
longer and uncut. That'sepisode 189. That movie came out
in 1999, and that movie holdsan impressive world record, an Oscar
(20:15):
nomination, and a rathermiraculous R rating Instead of the
NC17 rating it very almostgot. It's also a fantastic musical,
and it also did rather well.And of course the Simpsons wanted
to eclipse that. And the veryfirst ideas for the Simpsons movie
also contained multiplemusical numbers, which over time
(20:35):
just got shorter and shorter.The musical numbers were dropped,
and then the idea was justcompletely scrapped. But what wasn't
scrapped was the idea that theplot of the Simpsons Movie was always
going to be cinematic, biggerthan a TV episode, and the team wanted
it to be something fans wouldwant to go to the cinema to experience.
(20:56):
One of the first ideassuggested by Mike Scully at a writer's
retreat in 2003 was to haveSteven Spielberg guest star as himself,
using Springfield as ashooting location for a movie starring
Tom Hanks also playinghimself, which ends up with Spielberg
blowing up the town. WhileHanks would retain his cameo, Spielberg
(21:17):
wouldn't. He would, however,end up executively producing In Another
Dome Going Over Another townin a TV series in 2013 based on the
Stephen King novel that cameout two years after the Simpsons
Movie. It's worth adding thatKing started to have the ideas fall
under the dome back in the 70sway before the Simpsons ever happened.
(21:39):
But that didn't mean therewasn't concerns over having a dome
in the movie. Because in thewake of hurricane Katrina in the
summer of 2005, grim reportssurfaced about the conditions inside
the Superdome, which wassheltering displaced new Orleans
residents. The producersbecame concerned that a dome based
storyline would seeminsensitive. But two years later,
(22:03):
no one seemed to make thatconnection, and the idea of having
everyone under a dome wasabsolutely fine. Another pitch from
that 2003 Writers Retreatsession involved the Simpsons becoming
aware their lives were beingfilmed for a reality show. A similar
plot to 1998's the Trumanshow, which also happens to star
(22:23):
Simpsons voice actor HarryShearer. Matt Groening vetoed this
more self aware approach forthe film, but elements of this plot
would make it into theSimpsons game, which was released
on various consoles tocoincide with the movie's release.
Remarkably, though, while themovie was greenlit by 20th Century
Fox, the Simpsons producershad a very important clause in their
(22:47):
deal with Fox that at anypoint they could abandon the production
of the Simpsons movie if theyfelt the screenplay wasn't working.
It's pretty unprecedentedcontrol of a movie's production that
the screenwriters couldlegally stop production at any time.
Matt Groening would later saythat while it was important to have
that control, they wereprobably never going to actually
(23:09):
use it. But having thatcontrol gave them the necessary comfort
that they could pull the plugif they were unhappy, and Fox were
willing to give them thatcontrol. The Simpsons was, after
all, one of the most lucrativeTV shows on their network. The eventual
plot point of Homer adopting apig and having to dispose of piggy
poops was suggested by MattGraney, which would eventually become
(23:32):
an environmental message wasinspired by a real story of the pig
manure issues of a real town.The script was split into seven sections,
with seven writers eachcontributing 25 pages per section.
The writing team met a monthlater to amalgamate all the sections
into one cohesive story.Naturally, it didn't quite end up
(23:53):
that way. The writers wouldtake four years to finish it, and
the script would end up beingrewritten over 100 times right up
to a week before release. Sothey were still rewriting scenes
and getting scenes reanimatedup to a week before this movie came
out. Those rewrites also tookaccount of test screenings and also
(24:14):
time to keep the film to atrim 87 minutes. That meant some
celebrity cameos, includingIsla Fisher, Minnie Driver, Kelsey
Grammer as Sideshow Bob, andErin Brockovich. Herself were also
cut from the movie. The cameoby Green Day happened due to them
receiving word that Green Daywould like to be in the TV show the
(24:36):
day they were writing thatparticular scene for the movie. Negotiations
with the band took 18 months.Tom Hanks, on the other hand, took
one phone call to agree to bein the movie. Groening completely
rejected the idea to make theSimpsons movie either CG Animation
or Live Action, wanting it tobe a tribute to hand drawn animation.
(24:58):
The animation production wassplit across several studios worldwide.
Akon in Seoul, South Korea,Rough Draft Studios in Glendale,
California and Film Roman inBurbank, California. And all of these
companies had previouslyworked on the series. Storyboarding,
character designs, backdroplayout, general animation and animatics
(25:19):
were all produced in America,much like the TV show. Before sending
the animation to theproducers, the companies would finish
camera work in betweening anddigital ink and paint. This was also
the first animated feature touse Toon Boom, which streamlined
production and allowed formultiple scenes to be fully animated
before getting completely cutfrom the movie. And one of the things
(25:42):
they wanted to do with thismovie was they wanted to make it
cinematic not only in scope,but also to take advantage of the
technology that the TV seriessimply didn't have the means to.
Such as when the mob preparesto lynch Homer, the camera pans across
the face of almost every minorcharacter or bit player to have appeared
(26:03):
in the TV series, more than320 of them. Matt Groening has said
that they made an effort toinclude every known available character
in the movie with 98 of themhaving dialogue and the majority
of those in the crowd beingwell known characters rather than
just generic extras seriesRegular voice performers, Dan Castellanetta,
(26:24):
Julie Kavanagh, NancyCartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank
Azaria and Harry Shearerreprise their multiple roles. Also
returning were Tress McNeil,Pamela Hayden, Marsha Wallace, Maggie
Roswell, Russie Taylor andCarl Weider got in supporting roles.
Albert Brooks was cast to playRuss Cargill, the primary antagonist,
(26:45):
and he was going to originallyplay Hank Scorpio again for about
a week, but then the characterwas removed from the movie and he
ended up playing this newcharacter, Russ Cargill instead.
Originally Russ Cargill was apear shaped pot bellied guy with
a high waist, no shoulders, abig nose and a receding hairline
(27:05):
based on Donald Rumsfeldbefore the character was redesigned
into the Russ Cargill we seeon screen. The Disney style animated
love sequence between Homerand Marge was supervised by Lauren
McMullen who now works at WaltDisney Animation Studios and The
team at the Simpsons Moviewere very careful to not copy anything
(27:27):
from the quote unquote evilcorporation, including making sure
the deer looked dissimilar toBambi and ensuring there were no
spots. And because this moviewas constantly chopping and changing
things, removing scenes,adding scenes, the production was
exhausting for members of thecast, many of whom had to redo lines
(27:48):
over and over and over againas scripts continued to change. Julie
Kavanagh would end uprecording 100 takes of Marge's emotional
video message to Homer, andthey were recording movie lines at
the same time as recordingseries lines. The sheer scope of
changes on this movie as theywere going through it is phenomenal.
(28:09):
And many of the changes weremade simply because they wanted to
appeal to all audiences andnot just fans of the show. One idea
to have Milhouse as Lisa'slove interest was quashed for a new
character, Colin, because theaudience might not be familiar with
Milhouse's longtime crush onLisa. Colin himself was also a late
(28:30):
addition to the story. Eventhe prophetic scene in church was
originally supposed to beMarge, until it became apparent that
having Grandpa Abe wouldprobably be better because then Marge
could be the one to decipherthe message. That was also a strain
on poor Julie Kavanagh, whoalso recorded Marge going crazy in
(28:50):
church before all of thosevocals were ultimately removed from
the movie. And out of the over100 drafts of the script on this
movie, one particular areathat proved the biggest headache
was the one in the hotel roomwhen the family decides to go to
Alaska. And the writersgravitated towards the Alaskan adventure
(29:11):
for multiple reasons, butmostly the whole we're staying in
Alaska and we're never goingback to America joke, but also visually,
that the characters in Snowwould look cool and Homer could have
jokes with the dogs. Still,many changes and cuts were made along
the way, including a songabout Alaska with music by Dave Stewart
(29:31):
of the Eurythmics. Thepartnership of Homer and Bart would
remain the crux of the movie,though, and the scene where Homer
dares Bart to ride naked onhis skateboard was Matt Groening's
idea, and Mike Scully had theidea of showing Bart's penis for
two seconds. Storyboard artistMartin Archer was credited for devising
the way to cover Bart'sgenitals with different things in
(29:53):
an Austin Powers esque maskingsequence before they are briefly
exposed to the viewer. Whileit was agreed that the gag would
be funny, the team didn't wantto be hit with an R rating for nudity
because the gag was supposedto be non sexual and just silly and
they needed to retain thatPG13 rating. They were ultimately
(30:13):
able to get away with the jokebecause it wasn't live action and
nor was it a grown up'sgenitals. And who knew that after
all of the years of RainierWolfcastle being the de facto Simpsons
version of ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Arnold Schwarzenegger
actually exists in theSimpsons universe, meaning that both
Schwarzenegger and Wolf Castlehave been living in the same world
(30:37):
all along. But who's copyingwho? I guess we'll never know now.
Keanu has never starred in theSimpsons, but this is a really lovely
way to segue into theobligatory Keanu reference for this
episode, which is a part ofthis podcast where I try to link
Keanu Reeves to any movie thatI feature on this podcast, purely
(31:01):
because every movie shouldfeature Keanu Reeves in some small
way. And although he's neveractually physically starred in the
Simpsons, he has beenmentioned twice in some Simpsons
books, once in the Homer bookand then again in Flanders book Faith.
Keanu is also one of thepeople in Ned's list of laudable
(31:21):
lefties. John Wick, though,has appeared in the season 35 episode
Iron Marge, not voiced byKeanu, but voiced by Hank Azaria.
The episode opens with Bartwatching a John wick movie at 3am
and in the film, John Wickgoes to an Assassins Only Frozen
treats and asks to try someMango Mayhem. As he goes to taste
(31:45):
it, a bad guy enters the icecream parlor and tells Wick that
he's going to scream for icecream, but John Wick informs him
that it's actually gelato. Afight ensues and John Wick naturally
kills the bad guy. Soconsidering they got all of these
writers, showrunners andactors back for the Simpsons movie
(32:05):
who work on the Simpsons TVshow, one person who they didn't
ask back was TV seriescomposer Alf Clausen. He wasn't asked
to score the movie. Instead,James L. Brooks asked his friend,
legendary composer HansZimmerman. Zimmer would use Danny
Elfman's opening theme musicbut create new music for each family
(32:26):
member, notably Homer, Bartand Marge. Green Day would also record
their own version of the themesong, which was released as a single.
Now, when it came to marketingthis movie, there was very little
in the way of marketing forthe Simpsons movie, and this was
primarily because the plot wasconstantly in flux. 70% of the things
(32:47):
in an early trailer ended upbeing removed from the finished movie.
The only thing that could beused and was was Spider Pig and Spider
Pig was all over the marketingfor this movie, but otherwise the
makers of the Simpsons justkind of assumed that if you're a
fan of the Simpsons, you don'tknow what an episode of the Simpsons
(33:07):
is going to contain. So whywould you need to know what the movie
version of the Simpsonscontains? But to promote this movie,
11711 stores in the US wererebranded as Kwik E Marts, which
cost the company $10 millionand in that they sold Simpsons themed
merchandise to celebrate themovie along with Merchandising Toys
(33:28):
with McFarlane Toys, Ben andJerry's and the original Russ Cargill
lives on because the marketingtie in products had to ship early
and so the Burger King toysactually show the meeker, slightly
older version of Russ Cargill.Kwik E Mart's 711 stores reported
a 30% rise in profits from thedesign changes. And one of the reasons
(33:52):
that the Simpsons is set inSpringfield is because Springfield
is such a popular name fortowns in the US and 16 Springfields
across the country competed tohost the US premiere, with Springfield,
Minnesota dropping out a fewmonths before the winner was announced.
And on 27 July 2007, theSimpsons Movie opened simultaneously
(34:15):
in the UK and the US followinga premiere in the winning Springfield,
which was Springfield, Vermonton 21 July 2007. The Simpsons Movie
opened at number one at thedomestic US box office, dropping
to second in its second weekas The Bourne Ultimatum took the
number one spot. It would stayin the US box office top ten for
(34:36):
five weeks. Interestingly,when it was shown on FX and on the
Canadian channel Global,Bart's Naked Skateboard Ride through
the town is shortened so youdon't see Bart riding through the
hedge with his genitalscovered, then uncovered when he skates
past the open section. And nordo you see Bart crash into the restaurant
(34:56):
where Ned Flanders and hissons are eating, and nor do you get
the whole bountiful penisjoke. On fx, the sequence was shown
only the open space whereBart's genitals were shown is covered
with a sensor box that readsEuropean version only. And considering
there was so much material cutfrom this movie, there wasn't much
(35:17):
in the way of deleted sceneson the DVD and Blu Ray releases,
with only six deleted scenesincluded on its $75 million budget,
the Simpsons Movie grossed$183.1 million domestically in the
U.S. and $353.3 millioninternationally, for a total worldwide
gross of $536.4 million. Itmade its budget back in the first
(35:43):
week of release in the U.S. itwildly outperformed the $40 million
opening weekend that Fox hadanticipated. It became the record
holder for the highestgrossing opening weekend for a non
CG animated film and for afilm based on a TV series, surpassing
Mission Impossible 2. It wasalso the third highest grossing opening
(36:03):
weekend for an animated filmat the time. On Rotten Tomatoes,
the Simpsons Movie has arating of 87%, and the critical consensus
reads the Simpsons Moviecontains the hearty laughs, biting
satire and honest portrayal ofan American family that makes the
show so popular, and it boastsslicker animation and polished writing
that harkens back to theshow's glory days. While the cast
(36:27):
received praise for theirperformances, criticism was levied
for the movie just feelinglike an extended episode of the show.
At the 35th Annie Awards, thefilm was nominated in four Best Animated
Feature Directing in anAnimated Feature Production, Writing
in an Animated FeatureProduction, and voice Acting in an
Animated Feature productionfor Julie Kavanagh. All four awards
(36:50):
would be won by Ratatouille.It was nominated for Best Animated
Feature film at the 65thGolden Globes and nominated for the
BAFTA for Best Animated Film,but it also lost both of those to
Ratatouille as well. And ifyou stay and watch the end credits
of the movie, you'll see thatbaby Maggie's first word is sequel.
(37:12):
No official green light hasbeen issued for a second Simpsons
movie, but ideas have beenfloating around for several years
and the movie has beendiscussed vaguely and of course,
since this movie. Thecorporate overlords have since bought
Fox and with it the Simpsons,and Disney loves to take full advantage
of an existing ip. They'veproduced several Disney plus shorts
(37:35):
of varying quality sinceacquiring the Simpsons, including
Playdate With Destiny, theForce Awakens from its nap, and Rogue.
Not quite one. A season 26episode that featured Homer and the
family being taken by Kang andKodos to Regale 7 was originally
slated to air in season 24,but it was held back while it was
(37:56):
considered as a possible movieidea. Kang and Kodos were originally
going to be in the end creditsof this movie, but they were removed
after a test screening. And asfar as a sequel to the Simpsons is
Concerned, fans waited 18years for the first one. This year
they'll have waited 18 yearsfor the second one, so maybe they
(38:16):
can wait a little bit longer.So I think we can all agree that
the Itchy and Scratchy moviewas the defining event of our generation.
And opening the movie withItchy and Scratchy was a great move
to tell longtime fans thatyes, this is the Simpsons you know
and love, but it alsostruggles to be the Simpsons we know
and love. Because the show hasevolved so much from that initial
(38:40):
1989 season and an incredible36 seasons later, it's inevitable
that the show has grown up asmuch as the fan base has, but this
is a movie that knew how toplay the hits, bringing back some
of its greatest showrunnersand writers, those who were there
during that golden era for theshow before and beyond. As much as
(39:01):
I enjoy this movie for itssilliness, I also struggle to understand
some of the changes they made.I'm not a hardcore Simpsons fan.
I used to watch it as a kid,early season stuff, but apart from
catching the odd dinner timeepisode on Channel 4 or the odd hangover
episode on a Sunday morning,it was never really a huge part of
my life. Family Guy wasactually a little bit more in all
(39:25):
honesty, but even I know whoHank Scorpio is because he's one
of those iconic one offcharacters that's really memorable.
He would mean a hell of a lotmore to the fans than Russ Cargill
does, and to a non fan thatdoesn't matter. It's the same with
having Arnold Schwarzeneggeras the President. Yes, it's a funny
(39:45):
gag that non fans willunderstand as a funny gag. But but
Raelia Wolfcastle is rightthere and again, just like Troy McClure,
an iconic character and ingiving this movie a plot involving
an environmental disaster, thewriters really couldn't give Lisa
more to do than fall in lovewith an Irish boy. The plot of this
(40:05):
movie could have been Lisa'smovie saying this, the majority of
the jokes are funny and thematerial about Marge and Homer is
cheap. Genuinely sentimentalfan service can be a problem with
movie adaptations of anyexisting IP and callbacks are used
sparingly in this movie.Undoubtedly the biggest nod is Homer
jumping over the Springfieldgorge, which he actually finally
(40:28):
manages to do. Taking theSimpsons out of Springfield was always
going to be contentious, butoverall this movie does what it intended
to do to satisfy fans andpossibly create new ones who somehow
didn't know this was a longrunning TV show. The Simpsons movie
was inevitable. A goodSimpsons movie never was, but there
(40:50):
was very little risk involvedand very little danger of this bombing.
So I personally feel like thismovie could have gone harder than
it did. Maybe it needed to bea little bit more like South Park.
Bigger, longer and uncut. Andknowing how much was changed and
cut over the production sortof makes me wonder why. Why were
they so unsure about certainjokes, certain cameos. Why couldn't
(41:14):
a team of the best writers andshowrunners who know this show inside
and out be that little bitmore certain? And I've spoken on
this podcast a few times aboutlarge teams of writers and how the
end result is usually a bit ofa mishmash and a bit of a movie by
committee. Hello, theFlintstones. But I do genuinely like
this movie as it pertains tobeing an extended episode of the
(41:37):
Simpsons. I think it's a fun,funny movie with some great animation
and great callbacks, but itcould have done more with these iconic
characters that goes waybeyond an extended episode of the
Simpsons. A Treehouse ofhorror movie would for me go some
way towards that Simpsonsesque humor and characters, but really
(41:57):
maxing out the levels ofacceptability. The thing this movie
stands out for and why itshould be appreciated more than it
is is the fact that It's atraditional 2D animated movie coming
out in the mid 2000s whenyou'd had huge CG movies in recent
years like the Incredibles,like ratatouille, like Shrek 2, and
(42:18):
this movie still made bank.Half a billion dollars is nothing
to sniff at. It's nowhere nearthe highest grossing animated movies
of all time, but this moviedid okay. Will we get another? I
guess it's all down to theevil corporation, but like this movie
says at the end, a lot ofpeople worked hard on this film and
(42:38):
all they ask is for you tomemorize their names and possibly
listen to a podcast about it.Thank you for listening. As always,
I would love to hear yourthoughts on the Simpsons movie and
thank you for your continuedsupport of this podcast. If you want
to help and see this podcastgrow, there are several ways you
can do that. You could tellyour friends and family about this
(42:58):
podcast, especially if they'rea big fan of the Simpsons. You can
leave a rating or reviewwherever you found this podcast.
And you can find me. I am atVerbal diorama all over social media,
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,threads, Blue sky, letterboxd. You
can find me, you can followme, you can share posts and like
posts. It all helps with alittle bit of visibility for this
(43:20):
podcast. And if you like thisepisode on the Simpsons Movie, you
might also like the episodethat I did on South Park Bigger,
Longer and Uncut, which I kindof feel like is overall a bit of
a better movie than this. ButI think that's only because south
park as an entity really lovesto take risks and South Park Big
and Longer and Uncut is a bitmore risky, but I think that risk
(43:43):
pays off a little bit morethan the Simpsons movie did. And
the Simpsons movie should havehad songs in it and I'm sad that
they removed them. As always,give me feedback on my recommendations.
Let me know what you think. Sofor the next episode. Somebody once
told me that they enjoyed myepisode Far Far Away that I did on
(44:06):
the original Shrek. Four yearsit's taken to get from the swamp
by royal decree to visitPrincess Fiona's dear mum and dad.
The king and queen are far,far away, which is very far, far
and away for what's oftendeemed one of the best sequels ever
made and inevitable after thesuccess of Shrek. You don't need
(44:30):
to hold out for a hero becauseyour fairy godmother is here and
happiness is but a downloadaway. Join me next episode for the
history and legacy of of Shrek2. And if you enjoy this podcast
and you get value out of whatI do, you can choose to support the
show financially if you wish.Because although it's free to listen
(44:51):
to a podcast, it is not freeto make a podcast. And I am very
grateful that I have somewonderful people who do choose to
support this podcastfinancially. They help to pay for
software, subscriptions,services, equipment, you name it,
they helped me to buy it. Andyou are under no obligation. But
if you have some spare penniesand you want to help support an indie
(45:14):
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to verbal diorama.com tips andyou can give a one off tip. Or you
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patrons of this podcast. Theyare Sade, Claudia, Simon, Laurel,
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(45:58):
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Bye.
Hi everyone. I'm Em andwelcome to Verbal diorama, episode
285, the Simpsons Movie. Thisis the podcast that's all about the
history and legacy of moviesyou know and movies you don't that
remembers when do the Bartmancame out. Welcome as always to Verbal
Diorama. Whether you are abrand new listener to this podcast,
whether you are a regularreturning listener, thank you for
(03:42):
being here. Thank you forchoosing to listen to this podcast.
I am so happy to have you herefor the history and legacy of the
Simpsons Movie. And I'm sohappy to have you here to help celebrate
animation in Animation Season2025. This is the fifth annual Animation
Season and it is here tocelebrate animation in all its forms.
(04:05):
Stop motion, CGI andtraditional 2D hand drawn animation.
And also a mix of all of theabove. I don't discriminate when
it comes to animation. I tryto make animation season as varied
as possible. In the past, I'vefeatured animation studios like Leica,
Aardman, Disney, Dreamworks,Sony Animation, Pixar Studio, Ghibli,
(04:30):
Cartoon Saloon, even studiosthat are no longer with us, like
Fox Animation, Blue sky, andDon Bluth Studios. One of the mantras
of Herbal Diorama has alwaysbeen that animation is not a genre.
No matter what Netflix mighttell you. It is not a genre. It is
an art form. It is a medium bywhich to express, by which to tell
(04:52):
a story. And some of thegreatest stories ever told have been
animated. It's just that mostpeople think, and this is another
one of the mantras, thatanimation is just for children when
it's really not. And theSimpsons movie is proof of that.
Because the Simpsons hasalways been for everyone, whether
you are a child, even thoughthey don't really want children to
(05:15):
be watching it. If you are achild, if you are a grown up, everyone
can enjoy and love theSimpsons. In many ways, animation
is the perfect art form. It iscapable of depicting anyone or anything.
There are no limitations,unlike live action cinema. And this
is one of the reasons whyanimation season is so important
(05:36):
to me and so important to thispodcast. And one of the things I
want to do more than anythingis to highlight these incredible
animated movies that you mayhave discounted for whatever reason,
but you shouldn't. And youdefinitely shouldn't discount the
Simpsons movie. But before Ijump into that, I just want to say
a huge thank you to everyonewho listens to this podcast and has
(05:59):
listened to and supported thispodcast. This podcast is almost six
years old. In a couple ofweeks time, this podcast will be
six. And it's just such ahumbling and incredible experience
to have been doing thispodcast for six years. It means so
much to have your ears and tohave you listening to this podcast.
It doesn't even matter ifyou've listened to every episode
(06:20):
or not, even if this is yourfirst episode. I'm genuinely so grateful.
This podcast is a labor oflove and I do it for me. But I also
do it for you. And withoutyou, I would literally just be here
talking to myself. SometimesI'm pretty certain that that I am
talking to myself. However, Ido get some lovely comments from
(06:41):
people who do listen. So Iknow there are people out there who
do listen. But doing a podcaston your own, sometimes it does feel
a little bit like you're kindof shouting into the ether so. So
I am really, really gratefulto everyone who does listen to this
podcast. So, in 2007, theSimpsons gave fans something that
they had been wanting fornearly two decades. The chance to
(07:05):
pay to see the show theynormally watch for free. Here's the
trailer for the Simpsons movie.
(09:24):
Lisa Simpson finally convincesthe locals of Springfield to clean
up the toxic lake Springfield.And everyone agrees to prohibit pollution
from the water. Meanwhile,Homer Simpson saves a pig from being
killed at Krusty Burger andadopts it. After two days, the pig
fills up a silo with itsexcrement, and having nowhere else
(09:44):
to put it, Homer dumps thesilo into the lake, polluting it.
President ArnoldSchwarzenegger blindly chooses to
put a dome over Springfield tocontain the ecological disaster that
is Springfield and trap thepopulation. The residents of the
town discover who the culpritis and. And an angry mob descends
on Evergreen Terrace, forcingthe whole Simpson family to escape
(10:07):
through a portal in Maggie'ssandbox and seek sanctuary in Alaska
because it's not part of theUnited States. When the president
then blindly chooses to blowup Springfield, Marge discovers the
news and races back toSpringfield without Homer to try
to help. But naturally, Homerdoes come back. Let's run through
the cast of this movie. Nowthis is a cast where a lot of the
(10:31):
actors actually have multipleroles. However, I'm just going to
limit it to the main role thatthey play in this movie. And obviously
all of the other roles areavailable on IMDb, but we have Dan
Castellaneta as Homer Simpson,Julie Kavanagh as Marge Simpson,
Nancy Cartwright as BartSimpson, Yardley Smith as Lisa Simpson,
(10:56):
Hank Azaria as Mo Sislak,Harry Shearer as Mr. Burns, Pamela
Hayden as Milhouse Van Houten,Albert Brooks as Russ Cargill and
Tom Hanks as Himself and BillyJoe Armstrong, Frank Edwin Wright
III and Michael Pritchard, themembers of Green Day, also as themselves.
(11:16):
The Simpsons movie has ascreenplay by James L. Brooks, Matt
Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxton,Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin,
Mike Reese, Mike Scully, MattSelman, John Swartzwelder and John
Vitti was directed by DavidSilverman and based on the Simpsons
by Matt Groening. In 1992,President George H.W. bush famously
(11:40):
remarked during his speech atthe annual convention of the National
Religious Broadcasters thatthe American family needed to be
a lot more like the Waltonsand a lot less like the Simpsons.
The longest running Americananimated series, longest running
American sitcom, and thelongest running American scripted
primetime television series,both in seasons and individual episodes.
(12:04):
The Simpsons is quite franklya phenomenon, and it started as all
things do, with humblebeginnings. In 1978 Matt Groening
sold his first professionalcartoon, Life in Hell, to the cutting
edge publication Wet. Itattracted the attention of American
producer James L. Brooks ofGracie Films, who approached Groening
(12:25):
in 1985 about adapting it foranimated sequences for the Fox variety
show the Tracey Ullman Show.Groening developed a new cast of
characters, the dysfunctionalSimpson Family, out of fear of losing
ownership rights to Life inHell. After debuting in 1987 and
after three seasons on theTracey Ullman show, the shorts were
(12:46):
adapted into a half hourprimetime sitcom called the Simpsons,
which debuted on 17th December1989. The animation was produced
domestically at Klasky Chupo,the same animation studio who made
Rugrats as well as of thefamous Nickelodeon cartoon series
with Wes Archer, DavidSilverman and Bill Kopp being animators
(13:08):
for the first season. KlaskiChupo had also done the title sequence
for the Tracy Alton Show.James L. Brooks asked the studio
to produce and animate theoriginal one minute shorts featuring
the characters, and the firstthree seasons of the Simpsons were
all animated by Klasky Shupo.They also produced do the Bartman.
In the height of Simpson ManiaIn 1991, Klaski Schuper created the
(13:33):
Rugrats, which was a huge hitfor Nickelodeon and and in 1992,
Gracie Films moved domesticproduction of the Simpsons to Film
Roman after creativedifferences between the two companies.
Groening named his charactersafter members of his own family.
His father was called Homer.His mother was Marge. His younger
sisters were Lisa and Maggie.His older siblings Patty and Mark
(13:57):
weren't included in thefamily, unless you count Patty Bouvier.
But it's been long rumoredthat Bart is based on a mix of Mark
and himself, but called Bartas an anagram of brat. They live
in Springfield, but it's along running joke as to exactly where
Springfield is in mainlandusa, with its geography and surroundings
changing to fit storylinessuch as random coasts, deserts, mountain
(14:21):
ranges or farmland. Nowreally, the Simpsons is something
that I expect pretty mucheveryone in the world knows or knows
of. And while the number ofviewers has decreased significantly
over the last 35 years, fansof the Simpsons have favorite seasons,
favorite characters, andfavorite long running gags. And a
movie version of any TV showhas to tread that fine line between
(14:43):
keeping fans happy and beingunderstandable for anyone who maybe
hasn't seen an episode of theSimpsons, which I don't know if anyone
hasn't seen an episode of theSimpsons, but please let me know
if you're listening and you'venever seen an episode of the Simpsons.
Long time fans probably wouldhave loved to see the main antagonist
in this movie being HankScorpio, one of the most popular
(15:06):
one time characters in theshow. From season 8, episode 2, you
only move twice and there wasa time when Hank Scorpio was the
main antagonist. But like alot of decisions on this movie in
jokes were removed to make themovie more accessible to everyone.
But why did a Simpsons movietake so long to actually come to
(15:27):
the big screen? The shortanswer is, surprisingly, for something
as big as the Simpsonsdevelopment hell. But the long answer
is there's always more to itthan that. So the Simpsons was a
phenomenon in the early 90s,and very early on talk started happening
about a movie adaptation, butcreator Matt Groening always saw
it as the perfect end to theTV series. But the ratings kept going
(15:52):
up, which is no bad thingreally when your show is literally
the most successful show atthe time. By the time the fourth
season came around, theSimpsons was firing on all cylinders,
with many considering seasonsfour to eight the best the show has
ever been. Camp Crusty thefourth season premiere was written
by James L. Brooks, whosuggested the episode be considered
(16:13):
for a feature film,coincidentally also the last episode
to be animated by KlaskyShoupo before Gracie Films moved
its domestic animationproduction to Film Roman. But they
struggled to make more of CampKrusty than a regular TV episode
and other ideas like SimpStasia, a Simpsons version of Fantasia
and a movie version ofTreehouse of Horror just never went
(16:37):
anywhere. Even a Troy McCluremovie was suggested. You may remember
him from previous appearanceson this podcast. He was spoken about
in episode 199 on Wayne'sWorld and episode 222 on the wedding
Singer, with voice actor PhilHartman keen to make it with the
episode A Fish Called Selma'splot the idea for the movie, but
(16:59):
it ended up becoming one ofthe most beloved episodes of the
TV series instead with a guestappearance by Jeff Goldblum and the
Planet of the Apes musicalwhere he hates every APCs from chimpan
a to Chimpanzee. The idea fora Troy McClure movie then died with
the sudden death of PhilHartman in 1998. Al Jean would also
pitch the Bonfire of theManatees, which would end up becoming
(17:21):
a season 17 episode, but theidea of this feature length Simpsons
adventure kept humming, butthey didn't have the staff to produce
both a weekly TV series and amovie. But it was something that
could be solved. You couldalways hire new people. And so a
movie finally got the greenlight in 1997 and the idea was to
(17:42):
take all the best writers andshowrunners from the early seasons
of the show with DavidSilverman chosen to direct. And Silverman
had been involved with theshow since the very beginning, animating
all of the original shortSimpsons cartoons that aired on the
Tracey Ullman show andanimating the very first season of
the show. He went on to serveas director of animation for several
(18:02):
years and co directed MonstersInc. For Pixar alongside Lee Unkrich.
The list of writers is lengthyfor the very reason that lots of
people have written on theSimpsons. Sam Simon wouldn't return,
having left the show citingcreative differences in 1993. Simon
was credited as co creatingthe show, developing its sensibility
(18:25):
and its humor, but he alsolocked women out of the writing team.
Mimi Pond wrote the firstbroadcast episode of the Simpsons
Simpsons Roasting on an openfire in 1989 and she claimed it was
Sam Simon who wouldn't allowher to join the writing team permanently.
Simon also developed acontentious relationship with Matt
Groening, James L. Brooks andthe production company Gracie Films
(18:48):
before leaving the Simpsons.He negotiated a deal that saw him
receive a share of the show'sprofits every year, particularly
from home media, and anexecutive producer credit. Despite
not having worked on the showsince 1993. The deal meant him receiving
at least $10 million a yearfor the rest of his life. Sam Simon
passed away from colorectalcancer in 2015. So the team that
(19:13):
they amassed for this movie isan incredible team of showrunners
and writers, including MattGroening, James L. Brooks, Mike Scully,
and Al Jean, who continued towork on the TV series as showrunner
between seasons 13 and 31 from2001 to 2020. But there would be
some people missing. Theywouldn't have Conan O'Brien, nor
(19:34):
would they have Brad Bird dueto time limitations and him working
on the Incredibles andRatatouille for Pixar. The voice
cast, who'd always been awareof the potential of a movie, officially
signed on in 2001, and workbegan on the screenplay. At the same
time, the team was alsoworking on regular Simpsons episodes,
(19:54):
and while they were very muchrivals in the animated series world,
south park actually provided alittle bit of inspiration to the
Simpsons team. Now, I havedone an episode on south park, bigger,
longer and uncut. That'sepisode 189. That movie came out
in 1999, and that movie holdsan impressive world record, an Oscar
(20:15):
nomination, and a rathermiraculous R rating Instead of the
NC17 rating it very almostgot. It's also a fantastic musical,
and it also did rather well.And of course the Simpsons wanted
to eclipse that. And the veryfirst ideas for the Simpsons movie
also contained multiplemusical numbers, which over time
(20:35):
just got shorter and shorter.The musical numbers were dropped,
and then the idea was justcompletely scrapped. But what wasn't
scrapped was the idea that theplot of the Simpsons Movie was always
going to be cinematic, biggerthan a TV episode, and the team wanted
it to be something fans wouldwant to go to the cinema to experience.
(20:56):
One of the first ideassuggested by Mike Scully at a writer's
retreat in 2003 was to haveSteven Spielberg guest star as himself,
using Springfield as ashooting location for a movie starring
Tom Hanks also playinghimself, which ends up with Spielberg
blowing up the town. WhileHanks would retain his cameo, Spielberg
(21:17):
wouldn't. He would, however,end up executively producing In Another
Dome Going Over Another townin a TV series in 2013 based on the
Stephen King novel that cameout two years after the Simpsons
Movie. It's worth adding thatKing started to have the ideas fall
under the dome back in the 70sway before the Simpsons ever happened.
(21:39):
But that didn't mean therewasn't concerns over having a dome
in the movie. Because in thewake of hurricane Katrina in the
summer of 2005, grim reportssurfaced about the conditions inside
the Superdome, which wassheltering displaced new Orleans
residents. The producersbecame concerned that a dome based
storyline would seeminsensitive. But two years later,
(22:03):
no one seemed to make thatconnection, and the idea of having
everyone under a dome wasabsolutely fine. Another pitch from
that 2003 Writers Retreatsession involved the Simpsons becoming
aware their lives were beingfilmed for a reality show. A similar
plot to 1998's the Trumanshow, which also happens to star
(22:23):
Simpsons voice actor HarryShearer. Matt Groening vetoed this
more self aware approach forthe film, but elements of this plot
would make it into theSimpsons game, which was released
on various consoles tocoincide with the movie's release.
Remarkably, though, while themovie was greenlit by 20th Century
Fox, the Simpsons producershad a very important clause in their
(22:47):
deal with Fox that at anypoint they could abandon the production
of the Simpsons movie if theyfelt the screenplay wasn't working.
It's pretty unprecedentedcontrol of a movie's production that
the screenwriters couldlegally stop production at any time.
Matt Groening would later saythat while it was important to have
that control, they wereprobably never going to actually
(23:09):
use it. But having thatcontrol gave them the necessary comfort
that they could pull the plugif they were unhappy, and Fox were
willing to give them thatcontrol. The Simpsons was, after
all, one of the most lucrativeTV shows on their network. The eventual
plot point of Homer adopting apig and having to dispose of piggy
poops was suggested by MattGraney, which would eventually become
(23:32):
an environmental message wasinspired by a real story of the pig
manure issues of a real town.The script was split into seven sections,
with seven writers eachcontributing 25 pages per section.
The writing team met a monthlater to amalgamate all the sections
into one cohesive story.Naturally, it didn't quite end up
(23:53):
that way. The writers wouldtake four years to finish it, and
the script would end up beingrewritten over 100 times right up
to a week before release. Sothey were still rewriting scenes
and getting scenes reanimatedup to a week before this movie came
out. Those rewrites also tookaccount of test screenings and also
(24:14):
time to keep the film to atrim 87 minutes. That meant some
celebrity cameos, includingIsla Fisher, Minnie Driver, Kelsey
Grammer as Sideshow Bob, andErin Brockovich. Herself were also
cut from the movie. The cameoby Green Day happened due to them
receiving word that Green Daywould like to be in the TV show the
(24:36):
day they were writing thatparticular scene for the movie. Negotiations
with the band took 18 months.Tom Hanks, on the other hand, took
one phone call to agree to bein the movie. Groening completely
rejected the idea to make theSimpsons movie either CG Animation
or Live Action, wanting it tobe a tribute to hand drawn animation.
(24:58):
The animation production wassplit across several studios worldwide.
Akon in Seoul, South Korea,Rough Draft Studios in Glendale,
California and Film Roman inBurbank, California. And all of these
companies had previouslyworked on the series. Storyboarding,
character designs, backdroplayout, general animation and animatics
(25:19):
were all produced in America,much like the TV show. Before sending
the animation to theproducers, the companies would finish
camera work in betweening anddigital ink and paint. This was also
the first animated feature touse Toon Boom, which streamlined
production and allowed formultiple scenes to be fully animated
before getting completely cutfrom the movie. And one of the things
(25:42):
they wanted to do with thismovie was they wanted to make it
cinematic not only in scope,but also to take advantage of the
technology that the TV seriessimply didn't have the means to.
Such as when the mob preparesto lynch Homer, the camera pans across
the face of almost every minorcharacter or bit player to have appeared
(26:03):
in the TV series, more than320 of them. Matt Groening has said
that they made an effort toinclude every known available character
in the movie with 98 of themhaving dialogue and the majority
of those in the crowd beingwell known characters rather than
just generic extras seriesRegular voice performers, Dan Castellanetta,
(26:24):
Julie Kavanagh, NancyCartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank
Azaria and Harry Shearerreprise their multiple roles. Also
returning were Tress McNeil,Pamela Hayden, Marsha Wallace, Maggie
Roswell, Russie Taylor andCarl Weider got in supporting roles.
Albert Brooks was cast to playRuss Cargill, the primary antagonist,
(26:45):
and he was going to originallyplay Hank Scorpio again for about
a week, but then the characterwas removed from the movie and he
ended up playing this newcharacter, Russ Cargill instead.
Originally Russ Cargill was apear shaped pot bellied guy with
a high waist, no shoulders, abig nose and a receding hairline
(27:05):
based on Donald Rumsfeldbefore the character was redesigned
into the Russ Cargill we seeon screen. The Disney style animated
love sequence between Homerand Marge was supervised by Lauren
McMullen who now works at WaltDisney Animation Studios and The
team at the Simpsons Moviewere very careful to not copy anything
(27:27):
from the quote unquote evilcorporation, including making sure
the deer looked dissimilar toBambi and ensuring there were no
spots. And because this moviewas constantly chopping and changing
things, removing scenes,adding scenes, the production was
exhausting for members of thecast, many of whom had to redo lines
(27:48):
over and over and over againas scripts continued to change. Julie
Kavanagh would end uprecording 100 takes of Marge's emotional
video message to Homer, andthey were recording movie lines at
the same time as recordingseries lines. The sheer scope of
changes on this movie as theywere going through it is phenomenal.
(28:09):
And many of the changes weremade simply because they wanted to
appeal to all audiences andnot just fans of the show. One idea
to have Milhouse as Lisa'slove interest was quashed for a new
character, Colin, because theaudience might not be familiar with
Milhouse's longtime crush onLisa. Colin himself was also a late
(28:30):
addition to the story. Eventhe prophetic scene in church was
originally supposed to beMarge, until it became apparent that
having Grandpa Abe wouldprobably be better because then Marge
could be the one to decipherthe message. That was also a strain
on poor Julie Kavanagh, whoalso recorded Marge going crazy in
(28:50):
church before all of thosevocals were ultimately removed from
the movie. And out of the over100 drafts of the script on this
movie, one particular areathat proved the biggest headache
was the one in the hotel roomwhen the family decides to go to
Alaska. And the writersgravitated towards the Alaskan adventure
(29:11):
for multiple reasons, butmostly the whole we're staying in
Alaska and we're never goingback to America joke, but also visually,
that the characters in Snowwould look cool and Homer could have
jokes with the dogs. Still,many changes and cuts were made along
the way, including a songabout Alaska with music by Dave Stewart
(29:31):
of the Eurythmics. Thepartnership of Homer and Bart would
remain the crux of the movie,though, and the scene where Homer
dares Bart to ride naked onhis skateboard was Matt Groening's
idea, and Mike Scully had theidea of showing Bart's penis for
two seconds. Storyboard artistMartin Archer was credited for devising
the way to cover Bart'sgenitals with different things in
(29:53):
an Austin Powers esque maskingsequence before they are briefly
exposed to the viewer. Whileit was agreed that the gag would
be funny, the team didn't wantto be hit with an R rating for nudity
because the gag was supposedto be non sexual and just silly and
they needed to retain thatPG13 rating. They were ultimately
(30:13):
able to get away with the jokebecause it wasn't live action and
nor was it a grown up'sgenitals. And who knew that after
all of the years of RainierWolfcastle being the de facto Simpsons
version of ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Arnold Schwarzenegger
actually exists in theSimpsons universe, meaning that both
Schwarzenegger and Wolf Castlehave been living in the same world
(30:37):
all along. But who's copyingwho? I guess we'll never know now.
Keanu has never starred in theSimpsons, but this is a really lovely
way to segue into theobligatory Keanu reference for this
episode, which is a part ofthis podcast where I try to link
Keanu Reeves to any movie thatI feature on this podcast, purely
(31:01):
because every movie shouldfeature Keanu Reeves in some small
way. And although he's neveractually physically starred in the
Simpsons, he has beenmentioned twice in some Simpsons
books, once in the Homer bookand then again in Flanders book Faith.
Keanu is also one of thepeople in Ned's list of laudable
(31:21):
lefties. John Wick, though,has appeared in the season 35 episode
Iron Marge, not voiced byKeanu, but voiced by Hank Azaria.
The episode opens with Bartwatching a John wick movie at 3am
and in the film, John Wickgoes to an Assassins Only Frozen
treats and asks to try someMango Mayhem. As he goes to taste
(31:45):
it, a bad guy enters the icecream parlor and tells Wick that
he's going to scream for icecream, but John Wick informs him
that it's actually gelato. Afight ensues and John Wick naturally
kills the bad guy. Soconsidering they got all of these
writers, showrunners andactors back for the Simpsons movie
(32:05):
who work on the Simpsons TVshow, one person who they didn't
ask back was TV seriescomposer Alf Clausen. He wasn't asked
to score the movie. Instead,James L. Brooks asked his friend,
legendary composer HansZimmerman. Zimmer would use Danny
Elfman's opening theme musicbut create new music for each family
(32:26):
member, notably Homer, Bartand Marge. Green Day would also record
their own version of the themesong, which was released as a single.
Now, when it came to marketingthis movie, there was very little
in the way of marketing forthe Simpsons movie, and this was
primarily because the plot wasconstantly in flux. 70% of the things
(32:47):
in an early trailer ended upbeing removed from the finished movie.
The only thing that could beused and was was Spider Pig and Spider
Pig was all over the marketingfor this movie, but otherwise the
makers of the Simpsons justkind of assumed that if you're a
fan of the Simpsons, you don'tknow what an episode of the Simpsons
(33:07):
is going to contain. So whywould you need to know what the movie
version of the Simpsonscontains? But to promote this movie,
11711 stores in the US wererebranded as Kwik E Marts, which
cost the company $10 millionand in that they sold Simpsons themed
merchandise to celebrate themovie along with Merchandising Toys
(33:28):
with McFarlane Toys, Ben andJerry's and the original Russ Cargill
lives on because the marketingtie in products had to ship early
and so the Burger King toysactually show the meeker, slightly
older version of Russ Cargill.Kwik E Mart's 711 stores reported
a 30% rise in profits from thedesign changes. And one of the reasons
(33:52):
that the Simpsons is set inSpringfield is because Springfield
is such a popular name fortowns in the US and 16 Springfields
across the country competed tohost the US premiere, with Springfield,
Minnesota dropping out a fewmonths before the winner was announced.
And on 27 July 2007, theSimpsons Movie opened simultaneously
(34:15):
in the UK and the US followinga premiere in the winning Springfield,
which was Springfield, Vermonton 21 July 2007. The Simpsons Movie
opened at number one at thedomestic US box office, dropping
to second in its second weekas The Bourne Ultimatum took the
number one spot. It would stayin the US box office top ten for
(34:36):
five weeks. Interestingly,when it was shown on FX and on the
Canadian channel Global,Bart's Naked Skateboard Ride through
the town is shortened so youdon't see Bart riding through the
hedge with his genitalscovered, then uncovered when he skates
past the open section. And nordo you see Bart crash into the restaurant
(34:56):
where Ned Flanders and hissons are eating, and nor do you get
the whole bountiful penisjoke. On fx, the sequence was shown
only the open space whereBart's genitals were shown is covered
with a sensor box that readsEuropean version only. And considering
there was so much material cutfrom this movie, there wasn't much
(35:17):
in the way of deleted sceneson the DVD and Blu Ray releases,
with only six deleted scenesincluded on its $75 million budget,
the Simpsons Movie grossed$183.1 million domestically in the
U.S. and $353.3 millioninternationally, for a total worldwide
gross of $536.4 million. Itmade its budget back in the first
(35:43):
week of release in the U.S. itwildly outperformed the $40 million
opening weekend that Fox hadanticipated. It became the record
holder for the highestgrossing opening weekend for a non
CG animated film and for afilm based on a TV series, surpassing
Mission Impossible 2. It wasalso the third highest grossing opening
(36:03):
weekend for an animated filmat the time. On Rotten Tomatoes,
the Simpsons Movie has arating of 87%, and the critical consensus
reads the Simpsons Moviecontains the hearty laughs, biting
satire and honest portrayal ofan American family that makes the
show so popular, and it boastsslicker animation and polished writing
that harkens back to theshow's glory days. While the cast
(36:27):
received praise for theirperformances, criticism was levied
for the movie just feelinglike an extended episode of the show.
At the 35th Annie Awards, thefilm was nominated in four Best Animated
Feature Directing in anAnimated Feature Production, Writing
in an Animated FeatureProduction, and voice Acting in an
Animated Feature productionfor Julie Kavanagh. All four awards
(36:50):
would be won by Ratatouille.It was nominated for Best Animated
Feature film at the 65thGolden Globes and nominated for the
BAFTA for Best Animated Film,but it also lost both of those to
Ratatouille as well. And ifyou stay and watch the end credits
of the movie, you'll see thatbaby Maggie's first word is sequel.
(37:12):
No official green light hasbeen issued for a second Simpsons
movie, but ideas have beenfloating around for several years
and the movie has beendiscussed vaguely and of course,
since this movie. Thecorporate overlords have since bought
Fox and with it the Simpsons,and Disney loves to take full advantage
of an existing ip. They'veproduced several Disney plus shorts
(37:35):
of varying quality sinceacquiring the Simpsons, including
Playdate With Destiny, theForce Awakens from its nap, and Rogue.
Not quite one. A season 26episode that featured Homer and the
family being taken by Kang andKodos to Regale 7 was originally
slated to air in season 24,but it was held back while it was
(37:56):
considered as a possible movieidea. Kang and Kodos were originally
going to be in the end creditsof this movie, but they were removed
after a test screening. And asfar as a sequel to the Simpsons is
Concerned, fans waited 18years for the first one. This year
they'll have waited 18 yearsfor the second one, so maybe they
(38:16):
can wait a little bit longer.So I think we can all agree that
the Itchy and Scratchy moviewas the defining event of our generation.
And opening the movie withItchy and Scratchy was a great move
to tell longtime fans thatyes, this is the Simpsons you know
and love, but it alsostruggles to be the Simpsons we know
and love. Because the show hasevolved so much from that initial
(38:40):
1989 season and an incredible36 seasons later, it's inevitable
that the show has grown up asmuch as the fan base has, but this
is a movie that knew how toplay the hits, bringing back some
of its greatest showrunnersand writers, those who were there
during that golden era for theshow before and beyond. As much as
(39:01):
I enjoy this movie for itssilliness, I also struggle to understand
some of the changes they made.I'm not a hardcore Simpsons fan.
I used to watch it as a kid,early season stuff, but apart from
catching the odd dinner timeepisode on Channel 4 or the odd hangover
episode on a Sunday morning,it was never really a huge part of
my life. Family Guy wasactually a little bit more in all
(39:25):
honesty, but even I know whoHank Scorpio is because he's one
of those iconic one offcharacters that's really memorable.
He would mean a hell of a lotmore to the fans than Russ Cargill
does, and to a non fan thatdoesn't matter. It's the same with
having Arnold Schwarzeneggeras the President. Yes, it's a funny
(39:45):
gag that non fans willunderstand as a funny gag. But but
Raelia Wolfcastle is rightthere and again, just like Troy McClure,
an iconic character and ingiving this movie a plot involving
an environmental disaster, thewriters really couldn't give Lisa
more to do than fall in lovewith an Irish boy. The plot of this
(40:05):
movie could have been Lisa'smovie saying this, the majority of
the jokes are funny and thematerial about Marge and Homer is
cheap. Genuinely sentimentalfan service can be a problem with
movie adaptations of anyexisting IP and callbacks are used
sparingly in this movie.Undoubtedly the biggest nod is Homer
jumping over the Springfieldgorge, which he actually finally
(40:28):
manages to do. Taking theSimpsons out of Springfield was always
going to be contentious, butoverall this movie does what it intended
to do to satisfy fans andpossibly create new ones who somehow
didn't know this was a longrunning TV show. The Simpsons movie
was inevitable. A goodSimpsons movie never was, but there
(40:50):
was very little risk involvedand very little danger of this bombing.
So I personally feel like thismovie could have gone harder than
it did. Maybe it needed to bea little bit more like South Park.
Bigger, longer and uncut. Andknowing how much was changed and
cut over the production sortof makes me wonder why. Why were
they so unsure about certainjokes, certain cameos. Why couldn't
(41:14):
a team of the best writers andshowrunners who know this show inside
and out be that little bitmore certain? And I've spoken on
this podcast a few times aboutlarge teams of writers and how the
end result is usually a bit ofa mishmash and a bit of a movie by
committee. Hello, theFlintstones. But I do genuinely like
this movie as it pertains tobeing an extended episode of the
(41:37):
Simpsons. I think it's a fun,funny movie with some great animation
and great callbacks, but itcould have done more with these iconic
characters that goes waybeyond an extended episode of the
Simpsons. A Treehouse ofhorror movie would for me go some
way towards that Simpsonsesque humor and characters, but really
(41:57):
maxing out the levels ofacceptability. The thing this movie
stands out for and why itshould be appreciated more than it
is is the fact that It's atraditional 2D animated movie coming
out in the mid 2000s whenyou'd had huge CG movies in recent
years like the Incredibles,like ratatouille, like Shrek 2, and
(42:18):
this movie still made bank.Half a billion dollars is nothing
to sniff at. It's nowhere nearthe highest grossing animated movies
of all time, but this moviedid okay. Will we get another? I
guess it's all down to theevil corporation, but like this movie
says at the end, a lot ofpeople worked hard on this film and
(42:38):
all they ask is for you tomemorize their names and possibly
listen to a podcast about it.Thank you for listening. As always,
I would love to hear yourthoughts on the Simpsons movie and
thank you for your continuedsupport of this podcast. If you want
to help and see this podcastgrow, there are several ways you
can do that. You could tellyour friends and family about this
(42:58):
podcast, especially if they'rea big fan of the Simpsons. You can
leave a rating or reviewwherever you found this podcast.
And you can find me. I am atVerbal diorama all over social media,
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,threads, Blue sky, letterboxd. You
can find me, you can followme, you can share posts and like
posts. It all helps with alittle bit of visibility for this
(43:20):
podcast. And if you like thisepisode on the Simpsons Movie, you
might also like the episodethat I did on South Park Bigger,
Longer and Uncut, which I kindof feel like is overall a bit of
a better movie than this. ButI think that's only because south
park as an entity really lovesto take risks and South Park Big
and Longer and Uncut is a bitmore risky, but I think that risk
(43:43):
pays off a little bit morethan the Simpsons movie did. And
the Simpsons movie should havehad songs in it and I'm sad that
they removed them. As always,give me feedback on my recommendations.
Let me know what you think. Sofor the next episode. Somebody once
told me that they enjoyed myepisode Far Far Away that I did on
(44:06):
the original Shrek. Four yearsit's taken to get from the swamp
by royal decree to visitPrincess Fiona's dear mum and dad.
The king and queen are far,far away, which is very far, far
and away for what's oftendeemed one of the best sequels ever
made and inevitable after thesuccess of Shrek. You don't need
(44:30):
to hold out for a hero becauseyour fairy godmother is here and
happiness is but a downloadaway. Join me next episode for the
history and legacy of of Shrek2. And if you enjoy this podcast
and you get value out of whatI do, you can choose to support the
show financially if you wish.Because although it's free to listen
(44:51):
to a podcast, it is not freeto make a podcast. And I am very
grateful that I have somewonderful people who do choose to
support this podcastfinancially. They help to pay for
software, subscriptions,services, equipment, you name it,
they helped me to buy it. Andyou are under no obligation. But
if you have some spare penniesand you want to help support an indie
(45:14):
podcast creator, you can dothat one of two ways. You can go
to verbal diorama.com tips andyou can give a one off tip. Or you
can go to verbaldiorama.compatreon and you can join the amazing
patrons of this podcast. Theyare Sade, Claudia, Simon, Laurel,
Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke,Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam,
(45:35):
Jack, Dave, Stuart, NicholasSo Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Ali,
Stu, Brett, Finnet, M.Michelle, Xenos, Sean, Rhino, Philip
K, Adam, Elaine, Kyle. AndAaron. And Aaron. If you want to
get in touch, you can emailverbaldioramail.com you can also
go to verbaldiorama.com youcan find all old episodes of the
(45:58):
podcast and a little contactform as well. And you can also find
bits that Ido@filmstories.co.uk too. And finally.
Bye.
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