The voice of Vancouver-born Seth Rogen is unmistakable in his latest R-rated film - and the animated movie's connections to the city don’t end with its star.
“Sausage Party,” one of the first R-rated animated films to hit the big screen, was created exclusively in a Downtown Eastside studio.
The film was made at Nitrogen Studios, the same location known for animating the iconic children’s show "Thomas and Friends," featuring Thomas the Tank Engine.
“[It has] millions of fans around the world, but about as far as you could get content-wise from 'Sausage Party,'” said Nitrogen Studios co-owner Greg Tiernan, who directed the film and voiced the character Potato.
Rogen and his producing partner Evan Goldberg, both Vancouver natives, spent nearly 10 years bringing “Sausage Party” to the screen with the help of the team from Nitrogen Studios.
In an interview on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Rogen poked fun at the timeline, saying the long process is “humiliating to say about a talking hotdog movie.”
Rogen told Fallon the goal was to make the film “feel like a Pixar movie.”
Animators were able to bring an emotional depth to the characters in “Sausage Party” thanks to their expertise in creating unconventional characters, Goldberg said.
“They are really good at doing facial expressions because Thomas the Tank Engine, it’s very limited. It’s a train with just a circle. And you’ve got to get everything done with that little circle,” he told CTV News. “They made ['Sausage Party'] so much more emotional than I could have ever hoped.”
Tiernan said the film is setting a precedent for the industry.
“Nobody has ever done this before. There has never been an R-rated CGI-animated theatrical feature film. This is the very first ever, coming right out of the Downtown Eastside,” he said. “There was no guaranteeing that this movie was even going to get green-lit … but it’s sort of ‘he who dares’ type syndrome.”
Though few animated films are specifically target mature audiences, Goldberg said he had no doubt the movie will succeed.
“People have a perception that animation is just for kids. But the biggest shows on television, 'The Simpsons,' 'South Park,' those classic shows are really aimed at adults just as much as they are at kids,” he said.
Nitrogen Studios co-owner Nicole Stinn said she believes animated films should not be limited to kids, especially when deeper messages shine through the story.
“It’s more than a novelty film,” she said. “We’re really hoping this is going to be a breakthrough.”
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Jonathan Glasgow
