Posted in: Adult Swim, Movies, TV | Tagged: rick and morty
Rick and Morty Movie: Dan Harmon Offers Promising Writing Update
Two months after the project was announced, Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon had some good news regarding how the film is progressing.
Article Summary
- Dan Harmon says the Rick and Morty movie script is actively being written, with steady progress alongside Season 9.
- Harmon notes animation makes Rick and Morty: The Movie easier to develop since character schedules are not a factor.
- Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon and showrunner Scott Marder previously confirmed Jacob Hair is directing.
- Adult Swim boss Michael Ouweleen says the Rick and Morty movie aims for an Indiana Jones-style adventure feel.
Looking back, the way that the news was announced seemed very in line with the Emmy Award-winning Adult Swim series. In May, Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon and showrunner Scott Marder revealed that work was underway on an animated feature film adventure for the dimension-hopping duo – with series vet Jacob Hair tapped to direct. It just came up in the middle of an interview in support of the dimension-hopping duo’s ninth season. While we wait to see if something a bit more official gets announced during San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) this week, Harmon had some good news to share regarding how things are looking on the writing side.
“Oh, that is on Ruby on Rails, baby. That’ll be released next summer,” Harmon joked with ScreenRant when asked for an update on how the film was looking. The President Curtis EP added, “But yeah, we’re picking away at that as a script right now, and the hope is to get that over to whoever we’re working for when we’re done writing that.” Harmon went on to explain the advantage of writing for an animated film, compared to writing for a season. “So, that’s a lot easier because you don’t have to wrangle cartoons’ schedules. They’re drawings of people, and so they’re all in as far as writing the script,” he explained. “That can be picked away at the same time as doing the show. Yeah, that’s what’s going on with that.”
Rick and Morty: The Movie? Yup…
“We saw the same leak, and we are therefore, now able to confirm that there is a movie in the works. Jacob Hair is, is the director. I mean, we didn’t shop around. He is an absolute, to say rock star is honestly feels like trie pan, kind of exciting. I mean, Jacob has it like came onto our team. It was like adding a pillar to it,” Harmon shared during an interview with CinemaBlend regarding the movie news
Marder pointed to the current season as proof of why Hair was the right choice, adding, “He’s our supervising director. I mean, if [Season] 9 feels good to you, he’s got a hand. He is responsible for that.” Harmon continued, “I think when we started talking about a movie and could a movie happen and who would direct it, the first question was, ‘Can Jacob do it?’ Because that would be a dream, as opposed to going out and just getting somebody that did a great job on another animated thing. This is our guy, who has done some of the most amazing work on the show. It’s like the director version of Donald Glover in that I don’t know if there’s a limitation to what he can do; we haven’t found it yet.” It isn’t clear of the animated film would be a theatrical release or streaming.
Checking in during IGN Live, Ian Cardoni (the voice of Rick) and Harry Belden (the voice of Morty) shared what one of the biggest advantages the show has when it comes to a film: it can go epic, it can go game-changing – or it can go both. Belden explained why being in that position is creatively “freeing” for the film’s writers, adding, “With the way the story is set up and the world and the universe of Rick and Morty, like you said, literally anything could happen. You can’t think of a scenario where it’s like, ‘No, that actually wouldn’t make sense cuz literally anything can happen.’ So, creatively, it just brings so much freedom. You know, we can do whatever.” Cardoni added, “I might be more scared if it was on us to come up with those stories, but we have an amazing writing staff. We just kind of go where they direct us.”
“Oh, God, no,” was Cartoon Network/Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen‘s response when asked by Collider in June if the film had a title yet. But Ouweleen did have insights to share, even this early into development, like how new viewers “won’t have to have studied ‘Rick and Morty.'” to enjoy it. “These guys understand story and adventure better than anybody. What Dan would want to do with the ‘Rick and Morty’ movie is that he indelibly remembers going to see the Indiana Jones movies, so he’s solving for that feeling of walking out. He’s like, ‘I want to replicate the feeling of walking out and hitting the sidewalk having just seen an Indiana Jones.’ And you know he holds himself to a high bar, so that’s the bar he’s holding himself to on that thing,” Ouweleen shared regarding Harmon’s approach to the film.
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