{"id":115443,"date":"2025-02-28T15:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T15:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/animation\/the-movie-animation-scoop\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T15:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T15:15:17","slug":"the-movie-animation-scoop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=115443","title":{"rendered":"The Movie\u201d \u2013 Animation Scoop"},"content":{"rendered":"


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New SpongeBob spinoff feature film Plankton: The Movie<\/em> debuts next Friday March 7th on Netflix. Director Dave Needham (The Loud House Movie) and stars Mr. Lawrence (Plankton) and Jill Talley (the voice of Karen) join me for a deep dive into the latest Bikini Bottom adventure. (These interviews were conducted separately. This Animation Scoop Q&A<\/em> was edited for length and clarity.)<\/p>\n

Jackson Murphy:<\/strong> Last time we talked about \u201cThe Loud House Movie\u201d. Do you go right from that to \u201cPlankton: The Movie\u201d?<\/p>\n

Dave Needham:<\/strong> Yeah, I did. I was at Nickelodeon and they asked me if I was interested in working in the \u201cSpongeBob\u201d world. I love villains. I thought this could be so much fun \u2014 getting to do a \u201cSpongeBob\u201d movie that\u2019s a little bit different. I always pitched it as, \u201cYou know what a \u201cSpongeBob\u201d movie is. He\u2019s the happiest character in the world. It\u2019s sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. My movie\u2019s just gonna be a little bit off to the side of that, being a little bit weirder.\u201d It was a privilege to get to play in that world.<\/p>\n

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JM<\/strong>: This film is so many different genres, so clearly that was one of your goals. You wanted the whole package.<\/p>\n

DN<\/strong>: Oh yeah. It\u2019s an overload. A key part of it is that it\u2019s a musical. We got Bret McKenzie, who won an Oscar for \u201cThe Muppets\u201d, the Mothersbaugh brothers, Linda Perry and others. They were all amazing to work with. And not only are they super catchy but they really progress the story.<\/p>\n

JM<\/strong>: Do you remember the first time you saw Plankton and Karen and that dynamic?<\/p>\n

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Dave Needham<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

DN<\/strong>: I remember mostly the first movie [in 2004], when he\u2019s looking at Plan Z. She\u2019s the brains of the combo. And in this movie\u2026 she\u2019s waited 25 years supporting Plankton and she finally snaps. She\u2019s had enough. She\u2019s a real threat because she\u2019s the real deal. She really could take over the world. That\u2019s something interesting and cool in this movie. She could succeed. She\u2019s got the skills.<\/p>\n

JM<\/strong>: What the movie\u2019s really about is trying to repair Plankton and Karen\u2019s relationship, which is deep and a little different from what we\u2019ve seen before. What was the thought process behind going as deep comedically and emotionally as you do?<\/p>\n

DN<\/strong>: It goes back to Doug [Lawrence]. This is his story \u2014 the story he\u2019s wanted to tell for, I think, 20 years. We really get to go back and see Plankton as a kid. We get to explore those key moments in his growth.<\/p>\n

JM<\/strong>: What do you think the SpongeBob brand stands for?<\/p>\n

DN:<\/strong> I\u2019ve never thought about this before, but I think it\u2019s about childhood. SpongeBob\u2019s kind of like a man-child. He has a job but he has the joy of a child and the sort of naivete like a child. It\u2019s super fun to see a character who has an adult role in that world but still has the joy of a child.<\/p>\n

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JM:<\/strong> SpongeBob and Patrick \u2014 one of the most iconic duos of all-time. So is Plankton and Karen. Do you like that pairing dynamic?<\/p>\n

DN<\/strong>: Oh yeah. Definitely. Plankton and SpongeBob together is the perfect \u2018odd couple\u2019.<\/p>\n

JM<\/strong>: That\u2019s true too!<\/p>\n

DN<\/strong>: And they have different objectives as well, even though the other one might not know about it to start with. And we get to team-up Patrick with SpongeBob towards the later part of the movie. I love that all Patrick does in this is eat. (laughs)<\/p>\n

JM<\/strong>: This is such a fun movie. Mr. Lawrence, Dave just told me you\u2019ve had this idea for 20 years. How does it feel to finally have it out here after 20 years?<\/p>\n

Mr. Lawrence:<\/strong> Yeah, It was almost that long. (laughs) We\u2019ve always stuff on the show that we\u2019ve had to decide how we\u2019re going to do more with Plankton and Karen as a couple\u2026 and do more with them so that it\u2019s not just a one-note joke and bickering all the time. There\u2019s been a ramp up to this movie rather than an idea over that time. The episodes themselves have been a ramp up to this movie and how we write the characters and how they go through the relationship is a set up for what\u2019s happening here. I did want to do it earlier\u2026 but it was a bigger idea, and it needed to be a special or a movie, and luckily we needed a movie at the time, so it turned into a movie.<\/p>\n

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Jill Talley, Mr. Lawrence and Jackson Murphy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

JM<\/strong>: It is a big movie. Jill, it\u2019s more of Karen than ever before, visually, and was it more challenging for you vocally with the new songs and vocal ranges of the different Karens that we see?<\/p>\n

Jill Talley<\/strong>: You have no idea. (laughs) It was challenging. When they first came to me and told me this is what\u2019s gonna happen, \u201cShe\u2019s gonna split and have different heads and different voices\u201d, I was like, \u201cOkay\u2026\u201d Karen is pretty monotone and lives vocally in this one plane. That was challenging, but once we landed on it and worked with Dave, Tom [Kenny] and Doug, then it became really fun. And the singing was scary too but in the end it became fun.<\/p>\n

JM<\/strong>: Mr. Lawrence, when you\u2019re in the booth recording for this movie or an episode, like \u201cPlankton\u2019s Army\u201d from 2004 when we see the reveal of Sheldon as Plankton\u2019s first name, do you know, \u201cI think this is a moment that\u2019s gonna last or have so much impact\u201d?<\/p>\n

ML:<\/strong> No. Never. I mean, \u201cMy Leg!\u201d? That\u2019s ridiculous. It turned into something people picked up on. When we\u2019re doing this stuff, we\u2019re just hoping it\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: And we try to make each other laugh.<\/p>\n

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JM<\/strong>: So much has lasted. I got to visit the recording booth at Nickelodeon in 2019, and I whispered, \u201cIs mayonnaise an instrument?\u201d just so I say that I said it in the room.<\/p>\n

ML & JT<\/strong>: (laugh)<\/em><\/p>\n

JM:<\/strong> Jill, are there parallels [from] now to 2004 when the first \u201cSpongeBob\u201d movie came out in theaters\u2026 nerves and this kind of an impact of a Karen and Plankton story? Do you feel similar vibes 20 years later?<\/p>\n

JT:<\/strong> Yeah, going to see the screening at Nickelodeon, I felt a lot of anticipation and nervous energy. It was really exciting to see it.<\/p>\n

ML:<\/strong> And you see the billboards of the movie too. To see Sandy get a movie and get a whole story about her was great for us to work on, and then to do this \u2014 take a slightly different turn with these characters. That\u2019s what you always hope for: to continue to do new and exciting things with the same characters you\u2019ve been working with for years. We\u2019re kind of patrons of these characters, so we always want to do right by them. We want it to always be true to character and be funny, and if we accomplish those two things, then we did it.<\/p>\n

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JM<\/strong>: I\u2019ve been a SpongeBob fan my whole life. You deliver here. There are some great callbacks here to previous moments. Mr. Lawrence, is it a risk to do that \u2014 and a lot of thought that goes into that\u2026 mixing it with the new?<\/p>\n

ML<\/strong>: Yeah. And we actually went back and watched a lot of the old episodes again from the first and second seasons just to make sure there weren\u2019t stones left unturned and we weren\u2019t missing out on some great throughline. It was more just attitudes and emotions from the characters that we realized we could keep turning and go further with. \u201cI went to college\u201d was the biggest one. \u201cWe have to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n

JM<\/strong>: I can tell how much care was put into this movie \u2014 and all of these movies that have come out. This is such a fluid, freeing film and experience. Jill, do you really feel that the \u201cSpongeBob\u201d brand in 2025 is fluid and freeing \u2014 and endless possibilities?<\/p>\n

JT<\/strong>: Well, if it surprises me\u2026 that\u2019s a good thing. I\u2019m surprised by what the writers are coming up with\u2026 their concepts. And I go, \u201cOh, wow, that\u2019s so cool. I never would\u2019ve thought of that.\u201d So after 25 years, you think, \u201cOh I\u2019ve seen it all. Whatever.\u201d But these guys manage to come up with an angle and a story that we haven\u2019t seen before. So that is fresh and exciting, and I\u2019m grateful for that\u2026 and that there\u2019s still concern and care for the characters \u2014 to keep them true to who they are but also find new storylines.<\/p>\n

ML<\/strong>: And when people respond well to it and they keep watching, that\u2019s the thing that makes us go, \u201cOh I guess we\u2019re on the right track.\u201d<\/p>\n