Trolls take over Comic-Con, but not the internet kind
Posted Jul 21, 2016 8:33 pm.
Last Updated Jul 21, 2016 10:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SAN DIEGO – Trolls turned out in full force to kick off the first day of programming at Comic-Con — the ones with the wacky hair, not the ones that hurl insults on the internet.
Audience members in brightly colored wigs watched Thursday as DreamWorks Animation debuted 16 minutes of footage from “Trolls,” an animated feature coming to theatres Nov. 4. It’s based on the toy with tall, neon hair.
Co-directors Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn said they were excited by the prospect of creating something with no pre-existing mythology
In this world, trolls are tiny packages of positivity, who hug every hour. Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake voice a pair of mismatched trolls who have to rescue their friends from troll-eating giants.
Timberlake served as executive producer on the soundtrack, which includes remixes of classics like Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” and four originals such as “Can’t Stop the Music.”
Part of the footage shows Kendrick’s character, Poppy, who is bright fuchsia pink from hair to toe, tormenting Timberlake’s killjoy troll Branch with her singing. Branch gets his own musical moment too, eventually.
Producer Gina Shay said the film is informed by 1970s esthetics — the troll’s are the happy, bright, lava-lamp side of things, and the evil giants, called Bergens, are brutalist and polyester.
“The whole production has a crocheted blanket vibe,” Shay said.
They also made sure to break “every princess rule in the book” by letting the female trolls be stumpy, short and shoeless.
Hall H audiences also got a sneak peek at “Boss Baby,” an animated film about a devious baby with a grown-up demeanour and voice. Alec Baldwin, who voices the baby, surprised the crowd with an appearance.
Director Tom McGrath said part of the process of getting studio approval was showing an animation test with the baby saying lines from “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Baldwin laughed that he hopes that expletive-ridden test is never made available.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
