Director Brad Bird, known for acclaimed animated films like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, has seen his long-gestating passion project, "Ray Gunn," officially set for release on Netflix on December 18. The sci-fi noir film, described by Bird as "The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers," has been in development for decades.
The movie is set in Metropia, a sprawling city in an alternate future designed with a 1930s aesthetic blended with science fiction elements. The narrative follows Raymond Gunn (voiced by Sam Rockwell), the last human private investigator, as he delves into a series of murders connected to a pop superstar named Venus Nova (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). Early glimpses of the film, showcased at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, reveal a stunning visual style that merges Bird's appreciation for art deco and film noir with advanced alien creature designs, fluid animation, and dynamic action sequences, all while hinting at an intricate mystery involving disappearances.
Bird elaborated on the film's transition to animation, a medium he champions even for stories that could theoretically be adapted to live-action. He recounted past experiences where studios pushed for live-action adaptations of his animated concepts. "Something doesn’t need to be in one medium or another; it’s about what your vision for the story best dictates," Bird stated, emphasizing that the choice of medium is dictated by the filmmaker's vision for the story. He also noted that his staging approach often draws parallels between animation and live-action filmmaking, calling it all simply "storytelling."
The journey for "Ray Gunn" was fraught with challenges in securing backing. Bird mentioned that the project's initial conception in the 1990s was envisioned as 2D hand-drawn animation, but the lack of support led to its shift to CG animation as technology evolved. "It was really hard to get backing," Bird remarked, highlighting that even after the success of his previous film, securing financing proved difficult until Netflix stepped in. He also touched on the difficulty of retaining creative control over projects when studios own the rights, a problem he managed to overcome after achieving success with other films.
Inspiration for "Ray Gunn" draws heavily from live-action cinema, particularly film noir, a genre Bird acknowledges might not be familiar to younger audiences. However, he approaches age demographics with a straightforward philosophy: focus on creating a compelling film that he himself would want to see. "If you’re in a darkened theater and the curtains are opening, what do I want to see? And then it becomes very simple because you're just going, what would grab me?" Bird explained.