Interview with Director Rob Minkoff – Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Last week I was given the chance to sit down and chat about the newly release, Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie with Director Rob Minkoff.

First I must say Rob Minkoff is very smart and talented and friendly and well… he is just a great guy to talk to. We had a very small group at the table, six of us to be exact, and we all shared many laughs.

The original Mr. Peabody & Sherman cartoon has been around for so long. Why now? Why wait this long to create a movie?

I got involved 12 years ago. I thought with great characters and a great premise it was the perfect animated movie to do. Plus it seemed like there were so many elements to it that felt fresh, it would just be a fun thing to take and update in a way.

Walden Media – from the Narnia movies – they said yes 12 years ago but there was some issues with the chain of titles.

Tiffany, Jay Ward‘s daughter, had to invest a year to try to get the title switched over so they could have rights to create the movie. At the end of that year we went back to Walden Media, whom was still interested but had a different business model at this point due to other investments.

I went on a quest for many years trying to find a partner to invest in Mr. Peabody & Sherman along side of Walden Media.

Jeffrey with DreamWorks in 2005 said yes to me on Mr. Peabody & Sherman but no to Walden Media.

Why decide to go 3D?

12 years ago we didn’t even think about 3D. When we went into production three years ago DreamWorks Animation had already made the decision that all of their movies would be made in 3D so there was no option on whether or not Mr. Peabody & Sherman would only be released in 2D.

How long was the movie in production?

They green-lit the movie in 2011. So it took three solid years in production.

When you went to cast the movie how much thought was put into the voices of the Peterson family?

A lot of thought. That is the biggest part of creating an animated character, the voice. We originally thought Stephen Colbert would be a good voice for Mr. Peabody and when we reached out to him he expressed his love for the original cartoon but unfortunately his schedule would not allow enough availability for recording Mr. Peabody. We knew Penny is very smart, strong-willed and has an edge. We assumed Penny must get her personality from at least one of her parents. The dad is a bit of the tough critic, with Colbert’s humor we knew it would be a perfect role for him.

I must tell you, I was so nervous to meet Stephen Colbert for the first time. I’m such a big fan and he is so smart and so funny that I thought, oh no he could be a big jerk. Fearing my expectations for him would be too high. I was so pleased to discover that he is a really nice man, super friendly and collaborative. He’s a family man and a really great guy. He is a great artist and gives it his all. He would throw himself into it 110%. There is a scene where Mr. Peabody adjusts his back and Stephen Colbert put his full body into it while filming that scene. Just really funny….

If you had a WABAC time machine and you could travel back to any point in history, where would you go?

I would like to say my first stop would be Liverpool in the early 60’s to see the Beatles perform for the first time at The Cavern Club. I could also imagine traveling back to 1939 to Hollywood. So many amazing movies were made that year. Such as Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. Meeting Walt Disney would be an awesome thing to do.

Did you spend a lot of time doing research into the old cartoon before creating the movie?

Yes, absolutely. In one way or another everyone that worked on the movie was a real fan. I had seen every episode multiple times. I grew up with it as a kid but never thought I would make a movie about it back then. Mr. Peabody & Sherman was part of my DNA. As I got older I gained a new appreciation. Not all of the jokes are geared towards kids, they won’t understand them. So the more I came back to the cartoon, the more I got out of it. The crew all knew who the characters were so it wasn’t like we had to go back and study it a lot in that way. I did re-watch every episode over the last 12 years. The movie is not a copy, we were not trying to make it exactly the same. We just wanted the characters and the puns from the cartoon – keep the same feel.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman releases in theaters everywhere on Friday, March 7, 2014.