Presents a BRON Animation Production, in association with Creative Wealth Media 

 

 
 
Directed by Kris Pearn 
Screenplay by Kris Pearn and M
​ ark Stanleigh 
Based on the book b​ y Lois Lowry  
 
 
Starring Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Seán 
Cullen and Ricky Gervais 
 
RUNTIME: 97 minutes 
 
For press materials, please visit  
https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80239482  
 
Press Contacts: 
 
Olivier Mouroux ​Kristin Kirkland Amina Fishburn
[email protected]  K
​ [email protected] ​ ​[email protected]
     

1 
  
 
 
Logline 
 
Convinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children hatch a sneaky 
plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own 
high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family. 
 
 
Context 
 
Instead of running away from home, frustrated siblings Tim (Will Forte), Jane (Alessia Cara) 
and the Barnabys (Seán Cullen) use their ingenuity to achieve independence in ​The 
Willoughbys​. The source of their troubles is parents who twirl each other around in evening 
gloves and three-piece suits, too love-struck and self-centered to give their kids proper 
attention.  
 
Director, co-writer and executive producer ​Kris Pearn 
(​Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2​) was instantly 
intrigued by the tone of L
​ ois Lowry​’s 2008 children’s novel. 
“It reminded me of some of the books and movies I loved as 
a kid growing up, from the works of Roald Dahl and 
Mordecai Richler to ​The Goonies​ and S ​ tand by Me​,” he said. 
“Stories where kids aren’t always nice and parents aren’t 
always nice. There is a really funny, subversive thread 
through her writing that feels contemporary. In a world 
where there’s a lot of helicopter parenting, I love this idea 
about the opposite.” 
 

2 
Lowry’s canon encompasses 40-plus titles, including Newbery 
Medal winners ​Number the Stars​ and T ​ he Giver​. “I’ve always 
written different kinds of books and I try to go back and forth 
between things that are serious and profound to things that are 
lighter-hearted,” she said. “Most often my books have wonderful 
parents because I had wonderful parents and I hope that I was a 
wonderful parent. However, when I wrote T ​ he Willoughbys​, I 
created terrible parents, which was sort of fun. But the children 
triumph in the end.” 
 
Beginning her text with “Once upon a time,” Lowry parodied 
children’s classics like H
​ eidi​, T
​ he Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 
and ​James and the Giant Peach​. With such stories in mind, the 
siblings conclude that their parents are holding them back from 
their destinies.  
 
Thus they trick Mother (Jane Krakowski) and Father (Martin Short) 
into taking a couple’s excursion abroad. When an array of unwanted visitors arrive on their 
doorstep, the kids quickly realize the countless disadvantages 
of being modern-day “orphans.” With guidance from a lovable 
nanny (Maya Rudolph) and a generous candymaker (Terry 
Crews), they chase after their folks. 
 
“I thought the story was really quirky and refreshing,” said 
Aniket Natekar​, one of the film’s lead animators. “It reminded 
me of folklore because it has a ‘Hansel and Gretel’ vibe.”  
 
Composer ​Mark Mothersbaugh​ — who has worked on 
approximately 150 films — added, “The story went beyond the 
guardrails that are set up at every other studio.” 
 
To further heighten the comedy in the film's self-awareness, 
executive producer ​Ricky Gervais​ narrates as a world-weary cat. “He’s playing a character, 
but it sounds very much like him because he’s a brilliant 
comedian who likes to poke fun at us humans,” said Pearn. 
 
Unlike the Willoughbys, The Cat roams freely between the 
bustling city and the family home, an antiquated, museum-like 
setting inspired by the documentary G ​ rey Gardens​ and 
memories from Pearn’s upbringing in London, Ontario, Canada. 
Pearn was raised on a goat farm, but during his youth, his 
grandparents were hired to be the caretakers of a stately local 
mansion. “This was a weird old Victorian house, and it had all 
these nooks and crannies and stairways and bats and weird 
animal heads on the wall,” he said. “I was terrified of the house, 
but I loved being on the grounds and running around. Exploring 
in a place like this was a kid’s fantasy.”   

3 
 The Film’s Origins 
 
In Summer 2014, producer L ​ uke Carroll​ took a road trip across 
Vancouver Island with his family. While exploring small-town 
Canada, Luke’s wife, Frances Horner, checked out T ​ he 
Willoughbys​ audiobook from the local library. Along with their 
daughter Mabel, then 8, the family couldn’t stop laughing while 
listening to the charming and offbeat tale. During the next few 
detours, “We ​couldn’t wait to get back in the car,” Carroll said.   
 
Back home, Carroll acquired the newly-available rights to the 
book. Gervais joined the project next, encouraged by his partner, 
best-selling author Jane Fallon.  
 
“​I loved the twisted, narcissism of the parents,” said Gervais. 
“The cruel indifference to their own offspring really appealed to 
my sense of humour and I loved that the film doesn’t water that down. Kids hate to be 
patronised and they’re not as afraid of the dark as we think. I was flattered to be asked to be a 
part of such a smart and classy project.” 
  
Over breakfast in Los Angeles 
— where Pearn was working 
as a story artist on S​ olo: A Star 
Wars Story​ — Carroll asked 
Pearn to read the book and 
consider adapting a 
screenplay. While Pearn was 
polishing the second draft, 
Caroll remembers “a very 
casual moment where Kris 
said that h
​ e felt like he was 
writing a love letter to his kids. 
That was when I knew that he was definitely the right person to helm the project creatively, 
because of his innate sensitivity to the source material. It became really personal for him.” 
 
Since the late 90s, Pearn’s 
jobs in the animation industry 
have included animator, story 
artist, character designer, 
writer and director, a career 
path that directly impacts his 
children. “I chase projects, 
and my career has bounced 
around all over the world,” he 
said. “My kids have been in 
public school, we pulled them 

4 
out and home-schooled them, 
and even toured them around 
Europe.” Although Pearn can’t 
believe how fast his kids are 
growing up and occasionally 
wishes he could stop time, it’s 
been thrilling to see them 
develop “this quiet confidence 
that comes from a non-linear 
childhood. I love that they’re 
adventurous, they make their 
own choices, and they’re 
independent.” 
  
Once Pearn signed on to direct T ​ he Willoughbys​, he started selecting his crew. ​“I’d come 
from big studios in the States,” he said. “This is my first film that I’ve made in Canada, my 
home country. The long-form feature is not as common up here. I 
just can’t say enough about the team we built at Bron.”  
 
To avoid “getting lost in my own head,” he brought on story artist 
Mark Stanleigh​ as his co-writer. “We went through a year-long 
process of being in the story room, just putting stuff up on the wall 
and pulling it down,” Pearn said. Another key hire was production 
designer K​ yle McQueen​ who Pearn taught in 2001 at his alma 
mater​, Sheridan College, but had not yet collaborated with 
professionally.  
 
“Sometimes the director's job is like the head of a summer camp, 
and he has to blow the whistle and make sure everybody gets things 
done,” said Mothersbaugh, another of Pearn’s early recruits. “Kris is 
more involved. He really is an artist. I love getting a chance to work with artists and he's got a 
good heart. You try to collect people in your life like that.” 
 
The entire crew and cast recognized what a passion project this was for Pearn. “Kris lives and 
breathes animation and loves it so much,” said A ​ lessia Cara​, who makes her film debut with 
The Willoughbys​. “Every time 
I recorded my lines, I’d see 
him out of the corner of my 
eye mouthing them and 
acting them out. He’s so 
bright and sweet and kind and 
really just cares about the 
story and getting it across in 
the best way. That’s his only 
intention, which I think is 
really pure.”   

5 
 Meet the Characters 
 
In​ The Willoughbys​, the sibling bond is strong - the young protagonists have defined, often 
contradicting viewpoints, and great care was taken to establish a dynamic where they could 
learn to work together.   
 
Tim Willoughby  
 
Reuniting with Pearn after the C ​ loudy with a Chance of Meatballs 
franchise, W
​ ill Forte ​voices Tim, the 14-year-old eldest. “Tim is a 
complicated young man,” said Forte, a four-time Emmy nominated 
actor. “He is fearless. He is fearful. He really wants to be the head of 
the household, the head of the kids. And, to a degree, he is.”  
 
Raised without doting parents (who have tarnished the Willoughby 
name), Tim takes it upon himself to set rules that he thinks will lead his 
siblings to greatness. “The thing I really relate to, as the oldest brother 
in my family, is that Tim’s a little bit know-it-all. ​I wasn’t always as nice 
to my siblings as I wished I was… Tim figures that out,​” said Pearn — 
at least until he starts accounting for other opinions. 
 
Aspiring to be like the intrepid Willougbys of yore — risk takers who made discoveries and 
returned home with treasures — Tim always wears an explorer’s helmet. The accessory 
comes in plenty handy at home. “When you see Tim try to make a meal or clean the house, he 
just doesn’t have the skills yet,” said Pearn. “What’s funny to me is that he’s a kid with a lot of 
good intentions, but nothing to back them up when it comes to his abilities.” 
 
Jane Willoughby  
 
Singer and songwriter ​Cara​ — who had a viral smash with 
“How Far I’ll Go” from the M​ oana​ soundtrack — portrays 
Jane, the sole Willoughby daughter. While appearing on ​The 
Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon ​in February 2017, she and 
the host grasped hands and closed their eyes as Cara made 
a wish to the universe: she wanted to voice an animated film 
character. Producers from BRON Animation saw the 
segment, and contacted her the following day about this 
role.  
 
“I remember growing up and watching T ​ he Little Mermaid ​or 
Alice in Wonderland w ​ ith my mom, and those things stay 
with you forever,” Cara said. Seeing rough images of Jane, 
12, Cara “instantly loved her,” accepting the part before 
learning that Jane would sing onscreen.  
 

6 
“For me, Jane became the center of the film,” said Pearn. “She was this character who had a 
lot to say, but nobody listened”. As a playful twist, the filmmakers made Jane “a terrible 
listener herself,” especially when it came to Tim’s needs.   
 
“She's particularly annoying in the book to Tim, because he's a bossy oldest brother,” said 
Lowry. “That's the way families work. Even when something is written as a satire in an attempt 
to be humorous, it's still based on the way life really is.” 
 
The reason Tim and Jane clash, according to Forte, is that “Tim looks at the past, and thinks 
that the way the Willoughbys have always done things is great. Jane is more 
forward-thinking. She wants to get out and see the world.”  
 
An artist coming into her own, Jane is naturally excited, trusting and eager to connect. “Tim is 
always trying to reel her in and she’s always trying to pull him out of his shell,” said Cara. 

Prior to T
​ he Willoughbys​, Pearn had little experience in recording booths with singers. He was 
delighted to hear musical inflection in Cara’s every take. “Her kinetic energy felt so buoyant 
and optimistic,” he said. “While Jane could cause a lot of problems in Tim’s life, you always 
love her because she’s sweet about it.” 

Barnaby A & B  

 
Pint-sized twins fall last in the birth order. They 
share a sweater and a name — Barnaby — and 
seem to ricochet between their big brother and 
sister. “Pretty much with everything I’ve ever done, 
I’ve always tried to find a role for ​Seán Cullen​,” said 
Pearn of the Toronto actor and stand-up cast in 
both parts. “He’s open to ad-libbing, and such an 
amazing arbiter of comedy. He never overplays a 
joke.”  
 
When The Cat prowls elsewhere, the Barnabys are the audience proxy into this old-fashioned 
story, muttering musings under their breath. The practical Willoughbys, they are young men 
of action with practical minds. “If Tim represents the legacy and stoicism and pride of being a 
Willoughby, and Jane represents the creativity and the hope of being a Willoughby, the 
Barnabys represent the family’s practical imagination,” said Pearn. “If they can think of it, they 
can build it. That ends up being their superpower.” 
 
Commander Melannoff  
 
The film’s main action begins when the redheaded siblings receive an anonymous delivery: 
Ruth, a mewling infant in a cardboard box. Outside, a rainbow drifts over the neighboring 
metropolis, and Jane predicts that its origin — Commander Melanoff’s factory — will be an 
enchanting home for this growing baby.  

7 
“While he’s a little bit gruff and slightly unhinged at the 
beginning of their collision, he immediately chooses to 
help the kids,” said Pearn of the crackerjack 
confectioner. Furthermore, Melanoff becomes “a 
beacon for Tim: a grown-up male who’s kind.” 

Once again, Pearn reached out to T ​ erry Crews​, a fellow 

Cloudy with a​ C
​ hance of Meatballs 2​ alum. “It’s 
impossible not to love Terry Crews,” said the director. 
“He’s got a lot of muscles. He used to play football but I 
always connected with him as an artist. Terry’s an 
amazing painter, and he is the sweetest human being 
I’ve ever met in my life. Even when he's stomping 
around and roaring, you just know that he’s a good 
person.” 

Melanoff wants to surround himself with people, but has 

found success isolating. Crews was enthusiastic to supply this gentle giant with emotional 
complexity.   

“Melanoff’s great,” said Crews. “He’s nutty, dressing up in all kinds of regalia, but when you 
look closely, it’s all made from waffles and ice cream. He’s a big kid himself. He’s all alone in a 
huge house, and he wants to fill it with laughter. He’s dependable, always there when the 
siblings need him. And that’s exactly what I want to be.” 
 
Nanny  
 
Once Ruth is safely with Melanoff, the Willoughby 
children traipse home. Passing a travel agency, 
they conspire to send Mother and Father on 
holiday, with help from a crayon-and-glue 
brochure. The experiment works, but 
unbeknownst to them, their parents have 
entrusted their care to Nanny.  
 
“Nanny comes in like this walking hug,” said 
Pearn. “The comedy comes from the fact that the 
kids don’t know anything about being loved by an 
adult. She’s really sweet but the kids don’t know 
how to react. Yet no matter how weird the 
Willoughbys are, Nanny accepts them.” 
 
Nanny was among the hardest roles to cast, he said, because she was initially envisioned as 
an outrageous comedy presence that disrupts the kids’ status quo. “Then M ​ aya Rudolph​ had 
the idea of calming her down: ‘What if we played her genuine?’ ​In an ad lib, she referred to 
Tim as “Skinnybones”. She told me that’s what she calls her son, so we leaned into it. Maya’s 
warmth towards Tim made all of their scenes funnier because it felt honest​.​” 

8 
 
 
“When Nanny arrives at the Willoughby house, she’s 
feeling vulnerable, too,” said Rudolph. “She has no 
idea if the kids will like her or what circumstances 
caused the parents to leave so suddenly. Since she 
was going to be a model of responsible adulthood, I 
thought she should approach the situation with 
empathy and honesty.” 
 
Forte was ecstatic to hear when his good friend 
Rudolph — who he shared the stage with at The 
Groundlings and on ​Saturday Night Live​ — signed 
on. “Maya Rudolph is a wonderful choice for any 
kind of acting role,” he said. “I’ve had the good 
fortune of knowing her since maybe 1996. She’s 
such a naturally warm person and such a great actress that it just was a natural role for her.”  
 
At first, Tim regards Nanny with the most suspicion — she’s nothing like the stone-faced men 
and women commemorated in historic portraits around every corridor. But Jane embraces 
Nanny, spurring him to do the same. “Jane initially bonded with Nanny because she’s the only 
other person that ever allows her to sing and that sings with her,” said Cara. “She forms the 
greatest female bond in her life with someone over singing.” 
 
Father 
 
Rudolph’s ​Maya & Marty​ co-star, M ​ artin Short​, plays Father, a 
casting that still leaves Pearn starstruck. “As a Canadian 
growing up, I loved ​SCTV​, so Martin Short has always been one 
of my heroes,” he said. Recalling Short’s later career 
transformations into Jiminy Glick, Pearn noted that even with 
Short’s most caustic characters, he’s still endearing.  
 
“Father is snobby and not so pleasant to the kids,” said Short. 
“There were moments I felt guilty, but soon enough, karma 
intervenes. This was a very merry shoot — ​ Jane and I did as 
much faux swooning as we could, but we were also laughing a 
lot.”   
 
Mother 
 
A master of the aloof, narcissist archetype on shows like 3
​ 0 
Rock​ and U
​ nbreakable Kimmy Schmidt​, ​Jane Krakowski​ imbued those qualities in Mother. 
“We needed somebody who could lyrically pick up anything Martin threw out and run with it,” 
said Pearn. “Jane’s got this amazing theater background and she always makes me laugh.”  
 

9 
Krakowski had lots of fun embracing her character’s outrageousness. “These are completely 
impractical people with no desire to change,” she said. “Their love for each other blinds them 
to everything else around them, including their children. I loved working with everything 
Martin brings to his role and found the animation so inspiring. I had a blast working with Kris 
and Martin to make the parents skittish, outrageous and oblivious from love.” 
 
Happily removed from technology and modern distractions, Mother and Father “are living in 
this soup of their own love story,” said Pearn. “They’ve stopped going out. And these children 
keep popping up around them, cluttering their ability to spend quality time alone,” a feeling 
somewhat relatable to most parents. “The thing I loved about working with Jane and Martin is 
even though the two of them knew that their characters were a little bit gross and gooey, they 
always stayed on the knuckle of where that love story was funny.” 
 
The Cat  
 
The final onscreen personality is Gervais’ Cat, the product 
of much ad-libbing. “We don’t really know if The Cat’s 
real or not; it’s a bit of a magical element through the 
story,” said Pearn. Whether his presence is felt or seen, 
The Cat gets involved in the film’s third act hijinks, 
securing him a place in a non-traditional new family, 
based on love. 
 
“Of course I jumped at the chance to play a cat — the 
coolest creature on the planet and the most important 
member of any family,” said Gervais. “I’ve always liked 
that saying, ‘Dogs have owners, cats have staff.’ They used to be worshipped as gods and 
they’ve never forgotten that. I loved the role, and based a lot of the mannerisms and 
observations on my own beautiful little cat, Ollie, who sadly died earlier this year at the ripe old 
age of 16-and-a-half. I dedicate this film to her.” 

Animation Aesthetic 
 
“A book, of course, is black and white,” said Lowry. “It's words on a page. The reader has to 
create the pictures in his or her mind. A movie, and particularly an animated movie, puts it all 
right out there in full color. That's kind of exciting.” 
 
Of all the creative steps taken to make the story cinematic, perhaps none impacted the look 
and feel of the film more than designating The Cat as narrator. If ​The Willoughbys​ was told 
from a feline viewpoint, Pearn believed his CG animation could be more stylized and eccentric 
than what the medium typically delivers.  
 
“When I pitched the idea to K ​ yle McQueen​, he immediately got excited by the notion of 
boiling the shapes down to simple cartoon principles with heightened textures, almost in the 
vein of stop-motion,” said Pearn, who spent part of his career at Aardman Animation, the 

10 
British studio that made ​Shaun the 
Sheep​. “Everything in 
stop-motion’s handmade, so we 
started wondering, ​What if 
everything in this world was 
handmade?​” Hence countless 
frames overflowing with textures 
and toy-like components.   
 
“The stop motion influence in T ​ he 
Willoughbys​ came from this idea of 
an old-fashioned story — kids 
growing up on books rather than 
the Internet — and so we really 
wanted to dive into that from a 
visual standpoint and create 
something that didn’t feel digital,” said McQueen. “We wanted a world that really felt tactile 
and visceral, like turning the pages of a book and smelling the ink.” 
 
Story and visuals are inherently linked, so McQueen felt fortunate to be involved from the 
scripting stage. To translate the book’s tone into production design, he began by singling out 
five keywords: clever, sentimental, mischievous, playful and absurd. “Once I defined those, I 
was able to pull reference imagery with designs, lighting, photography and color.” 
 
McQueen devised an environment that could be captured without a lot of digital moving 
cameras, and Pearn decided to use minimal motion blur, citing the Hal Ashby’s H ​ arold & 
Maude​ and three-camera sitcoms as inspirations. “When we do move a camera, you feel it,” 
said Pearn. “We tried to pick cameras and do setups that gave us a lot of width. We use a lot 
of depth of field, so that your eye always knows where to go. It does kind of feel like miniature 
photography. And that’s a big part of the stop-motion appeal.”  
 
On the children’s sweaters, a larger-than-normal thread 
size gives the impression that the figures are 
miniatures. And all six Willoughbys have crimson yarn 
manes.  
 
As a nod to their arcs, Pearn wanted the first human 
characters onscreen — the Willoughbys — to look “a 
little bit depleted. They’re all kind of based on Q-tips. 
Anytime we cross their gate, the real world floods in. 
Everything from the lighting to the color to the sound 
gets bigger; new shapes enter their lives. Ultimately, 
the movie was a celebration of breaking down walls and 
letting new ideas in. I wanted a design to mimic that.” 
 
Each character’s mentality also informed his or her 
blueprint. Pearn explained how, using the siblings as 
examples: “Tim wants to act like the provider but he's not, he's young. He holds these 

11 
grandiose gestures as he's pretending to be a grownup. Jane is looking ahead to a bright 
future, and she also sings. So there's this flow in her movement, almost a sense of lightness. 
Tim has sharper corners, Jane’s silhouette is fluid and smooth. I always thought of the 
Barnabys as hummingbirds darting. They’re just going, ‘Go,’ ‘Wait,’ ‘No,’ ‘Yes.’ They’re very 
binary.” 
 
With the sound and movement, Commander Melanoff and Nanny are meant to mirror the 
elder siblings. In addition, Melanoff and Nanny each have full contours, a clue that they will 
replace the children’s emotional longing with love and cheer.  
 
Head of effects H ​ elén Ahlberg ​was determined to 
continue the homespun aesthetic without 
upstaging the characters, or being hindered by 
accurate physics. “For fire, we hand-sculpted all 
the shapes to look like paper, making them very 
angular and harsh to symbolize chaos,”said 
Ahlberg, a native Swede. “For smoke or dust or 
clouds, we tried to make them look like cotton or 
even spun cotton candy. And for water, we didn’t 
feel like fluid would really fit the style of this film. So 
we thought more about the material and played 
around with Mylar strips, just deforming them and 
breaking them apart.”  
 
To further implement the less-is-more approach of simple, graphic character designs, the 
crew coined a term related to T ​ he Willoughbys​’ cinematography: variable frame exposure. 
Today, standard features are filmed in 24 frames per second, with every frame displaying a 
different image. With variable frame exposure, the filmmakers showed certain images for one, 
two or three frames. “You might be giving them less images per second, but it never came at 
the cost of less information,” said Natekar. “All the nuances of your acting and the characters' 
desires have to come through. We have really tried to create a hybrid world that looks like a 
cross between CG and stop-motion. This is a movie that looks like nothing else out there.” 
 
The entire set has also been tilted, a method Carroll describes as 
“representative of the story being slightly askew.” He expanded on 
watching Pearn make legions of minute decisions with the audience 
foremost in his mind: “Kris would look to garner a massive influx of 
feedback on a daily basis. Then he would filter it, staying true to his 
take on the story.” Ahlberg concluded, “Kris was just meant to make 
this film.” 
 
Lowry was surprised when she saw physically exaggerated versions 
of the characters she dreamed up. “I envisioned the characters in the 
book to be looking like human people,” she said. “In the film, they had 
very long, pointy noses and a certain elasticity to their bodies that 
stretch out and boing back. That was very different from what I had 
pictured. There were many changes and that's appropriate. Kids will 
enjoy those changes.”   

12 
 Music 
 
For T
​ he Willoughbys​’ score, Pearn re teamed with M​ ark Mothersbaugh​, an Emmy winner 
who received an Annie Award nomination for C ​ loudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2​. “We had a 
really good experience on that, and then all these years passed and he showed up with this 
amazing movie,” Motherbaugh said.  

The composer was impressed 

with Pearn’s “retro-forward” 
early visuals: “They sort of 
had one foot in the 50s and 
60s world of more stylized, 
Beatnik-y animation,” 
Mothersbaugh said. “I found it 
really fascinating. Especially 
when he showed that 
rendered things would look 
like he was smashing two eras 
together.”  

Reflecting on the animation, Mothersbaugh focused on the image of siblings “disconnected 

from the outside world” and “locked in time” inside a 200-year-old house. “There's 
skyscrapers on each side, you're in a busy downtown area somewhere in Megalopolis, Planet 
Earth,” he said. “I suggested that inside, it would sound a little bit jazzy,” with a small band led 
by a harpsichord, an upright bass and trap drums. “It was kind of musty-feeling. Of the things 
I've done before, the closest to it would be ​Rushmore​ or T
​ he Royal​ T ​ enenbaums​.”   

Pearn knew he wanted to utilize a full, 120-piece orchestra whenever Tim, Jane and the 
Barnabys ventured past their yard. “Mark immediately got excited about the idea of colliding 
these two worlds,” he said. Orchestral numbers were recorded at London’s Air Studios.  

Rather than incorporate a 

vinyl track to underscore the 
amorous parents, 
Mothersbaugh took the liberty 
of writing that music as well. 
“He created this whole Guy 
Lombardo/Benny Goodman, 
back from the war feeling for 
the mom and dad story,” 
Pearn continued. “It’s 
amazing when you work with 
people so creative that they 
find the things that you want, 
even though you don’t know you wanted them. I didn’t know I wanted a ukulele until I heard 
one in a scene. And he kept putting yodels in.” 

13 
Plot points set at Melanoff’s factory were infused with electronics, since the conveyor belts 
and flatscreen televisions reminded Motherbaugh of sci-fi.  

Most importantly, 
Mothersbaugh crafted the 
melody and chord 
progression for “I Choose,” 
the song Jane pieces 
together over the course of 
the film — first tentatively, 
with kid logic. “My job was to 
find a piece of music that I 
could weave into the film so 
that you'd hear it in different 
setups involving our little 
girl,” he said. “I had the easy 
part, just come up with a pretty melody. Alessia Cara and her team took off with 
instrumentation and lyrics and vocal styling.”  

Although Pearn is among the credited writers on the song, the director deadpanned, “I kind of 
hummed and muttered things, and then had really smart people make it into something.” 
Cara, her producer Jon Levine, and collaborators Colton Fisher, Brayden Deskins, Jordyn 
Kane, Jason Rabinowitz and Diana Studenberg picked up where Mothersbaugh left off.  

“When you’re producing a song that you want to feel big, we often think that you’ve got to put 
everything into it,” said Cara. “But a lot of times, pulling things out and simplifying does the 
trick.” 

Cara recorded two versions: 

one is a soft ballad, while the 
other is a radio-ready pop 
song that accompanies the 
end credits. “It’s a perfect 
thread throughout the entire 
movie,” Cara said. “The movie 
is about the family that you 
choose, and that’s what the 
song is about – through 
everything I’m gonna choose 
to be with you. It’s a 
challenging idea, but if you love somebody in any capacity, it’s a really brave and beautiful 
thing to say, and such a great message to put out into the world. When going through turmoil 
and hard times with somebody, you’re saying, ‘I’m choosing to be there for you no matter 
what.’” 

14 
When Jane sings her complete song, she feels “free enough to speak her mind and let her 
brothers know how much she loves them,” Cara added. This track’s lyrics weave together 
visuals from the film like Melanoff’s rainbow, mother’s yarn, Ruth’s box and The Cat.   

During the partnership that resulted in “I Choose,” Cara sent the group a phone recording that 
she made with a simple set-up, while sick. “I wrote in the email, ‘I’m sorry, I have a really bad 
sinus infection. This is super rough, just so you guys get an idea,’” she remembered. “They 
were like, ‘This is perfect, we’re using this for the film,’” and they did.  

“It was so sweet and so 

vulnerable,” said Pearn. “The 
fact that she had a stuffed-up 
nose just sounded right for 
where Jane is at the end of 
the film. So that was a real 
happy accident to happen 
along our way.” 

For the fully-produced 

rendition, Cara wanted the 
lyrics to integrate more of her 
personality and musicianship. 
“Jon Levine made this really beautiful instrumental that felt like something that I would use for 
my own song, which I love,” she said. 

Mothersbaugh is pleased with how both turned out. “She's got a beautiful voice and she's a 
great singer,” he said. When it comes to Jane and her brothers, he emphasized, “These kids 
aren't bad kids. They've been ignored. They've certainly done everything they could do to try 
to engage with their parents, and their parents are pretty patently irritating. The song is 
coming from a little girl that's optimistic about what things could be, and she seems to have a 
pretty good priority on who she cares for and it's family.” 

Conclusion 
​

 
This movie does not end with a 
wedding march. No one takes 
possession of a castle. There’s 
no buried treasure. The 
conclusion is unpredictable 
yet joyful, building on every 
prior scene.  

“​You feel that these kids have 

really been through the ringer 
but survived and come 
through it stronger,” said 

15 
Carroll. “They get the happy ending, but not the one you expected. The movie’s very funny 
and very heartfelt, and it's rare that you're able to capture both in the same story.” 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish Lowry’s T ​ he Willoughbys Return​ this September. The 
sequel is set three decades later, amid the throes of global warming. Yet when audiences 
watch the film, “​ I just hope they come away laughing and feeling as though they've had a 
good time for a couple of hours,” she said.  

On the eve of its release, the crew continues to bask in fond memories from production. “​This 
was just a really fun project to work on,” said Ahlberg. “In my spare time, I do everything from 
baking to sculpting things at home. When I got the opportunity to work on this project — 
where the whole world is basically honoring artists and their craftsmanship — I was really 
excited.” 

McQueen shared similar 

sentiments: “So much love 
and care went into this film, 
and I really hope that 
audiences find it and love it as 
much as we do. It's such a 
weird, funny, emotional film, 
and I think it's very unique in 
the animation space.” 

Like the best animated films, 

The Willoughbys​ will have 
added resonance for adult 
audiences. At a recent party, a member of the film’s lighting team shared her personal 
insights from the film the Carroll. “She was really touched,” he said. “She had a very 
unattached relationship with her parents. I think that's going to be very true to a lot of people 
who see the movie, they'll be able to relate. Either relate from the point of view of having been 
neglected by parental figures, 
or relate from point of view of 
being siblings that band 
together in the face of 
adversity.” 

To Cara, the film couldn’t 

arrive at a better time. “It hits 
a nerve that I don’t think is 
always talked about, 
especially in children’s 
movies: A lot of people don’t 
grow up in traditional families 
with traditional family dynamics,” she said. “I think it’s really great to be inclusive and to say — 
especially in this day and age — family is about choice, it’s about the people that you feel 
safest with.”

16 
 Key Credits 
​

 
The Willoughbys 
 
Directed by 
Kris Pearn 
 
Produced by 
Brenda Gilbert 
Luke Carroll 
 
Screenplay by  
Kris Pearn  
and 
Mark Stanleigh 
 
Story by 
Kris Pearn 
 
Based on the Book 
“The Willoughbys” 
by 
Lois Lowry 
 
Executive Producers 
Aaron L. Gilbert 
Ricky Gervais 
Kris Pearn 
Steven Thibault 
 
Executive Producers 
Adam Davids 
Teunis de Raat 
Larry Bodnar 
Justin Ottley 
 
Executive Producers 
Jason Cloth 
Richard McConnell 
 
Starring 
Will Forte as Tim 
Maya Rudolph as Nanny 
Alessia Cara as Jane 
Terry Crews as Commander Melanoff  
Martin Short as Father 

17 
 Jane Krakowski as Mother 
Seán Cullen as Barnaby A&B  
and Ricky Gervais as The Cat 
 
Music by 
Mark Mothersbaugh 
 
VFX Supervisor 
Russell L. Smith 
 
Co-Directed by 
Rob Lodermeier 
 
Production Designer 
Kyle McQueen 
 
Edited by 
Fiona Toth 
Ken Schretzmann, ACE 
 
Associate Producer 
Carla Connor 
 
Line Producer 
George Allen 
 
Production Manager 
Ambre Pasero 
 
Character Designer 
Craig Kellman 
 
Director of Photography 
Sebastian Brodin 
 
Lighting Supervisors 
Daniel L. Bolaños 
Kévin Monnier 
 
Head of FX 
Helén Ahlberg 
 
Animation Supervisor 
Wesley Mandell 
 
Modeling Supervisor 
James E. Stapp 
 

18 
 Rigging CG Supervisor 
Gaspard Roche 
 
Music Supervisors 
Dave Jordan  
and 
Justine von Winterfeldt   
 
 
   

19 
 Character Descriptions 
 
Jane (Alessia Cara) 
Jane Willoughby, the family artist, is a joyful and curious 12-year-old. 
Though outnumbered by her three brothers, she is full of ideas, opinions and 
daydreams, and is eager for her voice to be heard. She says what she feels 
and feels what she says —
​ unless she chooses to sing. 
 
Tim (Will Forte)  
As the eldest Willoughby child, Tim fancies himself their leader. He has 
firm beliefs about how his family should act to maintain its legacy, which 
causes some arguing with Jane. A brave, energetic and scholarly 
14-year-old, Tim has endless potential — ​ ​if he can give up being in 
charge, listen to his siblings and have a little fun. 
 
Barnaby A & B (Seán Cullen) 
Whether finishing each others' sentences, solving complex math 
problems or building gadgets from scratch, the young twins always act as 
one Willoughby. Clever go-getters, Barnaby A & B love learning and 
following instructions word for word. They admire their older siblings very 
much, often acting as their referees.   
 
Nanny (Maya Rudolph) 
A huge-hearted optimist, Nanny is hired to take care of the Willoughby 
children while their parents travel. Once she realizes that they’ve had a 
sheltered upbringing, Nanny introduces them to new food, music and 
views, becoming their tour guide to modern life. Always bursting into 
melodies and giving out hugs, Nanny emerges as the comedic 
backbone of the story.  
 
Mother (Jane Krakowski) & Father (Martin Short) 
The selfish Willoughby parents pay little attention to anyone except each 
other. Hidden away in a mansion full of antiques, Mother and Father 
entertain themselves with old-fashioned crafts like knitting and building 
ships in bottles ​— until their kids trick them into booking a vacation. On 
that trip, they learn about the Internet and decide to sell their home from 
afar.   
 
Commander Melanoff (Terry Crews) 
A world famous candy maker whose face beams from bus and TV 
ads, Commander Melanoff is actually quite lonely. New 
acquaintances tend to be intimidated by his size, uniform and 

20 
baritone bellow, but not Nanny or Ruth ​—​ the infant he discovers on his doorstep. Once the 
siblings start tinkering in his high-tech factory, Colonel Melanoff has softened into a generous 
spirit and doting dad.   
 
The Cat (Ricky Gervais) 
Since the adventure unfolds from this four-legged narrator’s 
viewpoint, the filmmakers designed the elements onscreen to 
resemble a collection of colorful, handmade toys. At first, The Cat 
is a jaded onlooker prowling through the Willoughby home, 
pausing to lick himself and grumble about the latest human 
happenings. Yet he roots for the kids and increasingly feels like 
part of their family, so much so that he creates a diversion to 
reunite them with Nanny. 
 
Ruth​ (Brian Drummond) 
Pink-cheeked baby Ruth will scale any surface and gobble every snack. 
After Mother and Father refuse to take her in, the giggly youngster brings 
the Willoughby siblings and Nanny into Commander Melanoff’s life. She 
also sends the kids on their first trek into the city, foreshadowing their 
eventual globe-trotting journey.   
 
 
 
   

21 
 Trivia 
 
 
● At one point in 
Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film 
Interstellar​, Matthew 
McConaughey is seen reading 
The Willoughbys​. So in this 
movie, the Barnabys are 
caught reading a fictional 
book called I​ nterstellar​. 
● The cat in Disney’s 
original M
​ ary Poppins​ was 
called Willoughby. In The Willoughbys, Nanny always carries an unexplained umbrella 
as an ode to her onscreen predecessor. She even floats down the stars with it. 
● Instead of the real American bus carrier Greyhound, people in the film are seen riding 
“Cathound” buses.  
● Many scenes in the movie feature hidden cats. One’s title is visible in the ocean during 
the final scene, while another rides an alligator’s back during the parent’ tour of the 
Amazon.  
● There’s a running gag involving car and bus pile-ups. When The Cat causes Nanny’s 
bus to suddenly stop, the audience can see that the driver is wearing a neckbrace — 
he’s had the unfortunate luck of being involved in all the crashes.  
● The buses feature advertisements for Melanoff’s best-selling candy, Lickety Twist, 
and a stage musical about nuns.  
● Tim and Jane fall 
asleep while steering 
the dirigible, but awake 
to find The Cat has 
taken the wheel. That’s 
a callback to the 
Saturday Night Live 
sketch Toonces the 
Driving Cat, co-starring 
Steve Martin. He and 
Martin Short currently 
tour together and have 
co-starred often onscreen, most recently in S ​ teve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening 
You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life​, a Netflix variety special that received four 
Emmy nominations.  
● In the same scene, Tim drinks from a takeout coffee cup, but the barista has spelled 
his name T-O-M. 

22 
● In portraits at the Willoughby home, all the men (and some women) have formidable 
mustaches. Father is clean-shaven, however, because Mother has clipped his yarn 
facial hair for her knitting.  
● When Tim says, “With great responsibility comes great mustache,” he’s riffing off one 
of Peter Parker’s most famous lines in the Spider-Man comics (“With great power 
comes great responsibility”).  
● Tim is an immediate fan of Commander Melanoff because of his mustache. His logo on 
his candy bars also features said mustache.  
● Commander Melanoff 
fits exactly inside the 
negative space created by his 
factory (which has a 
peppermint for a doorbell).  
● Nanny once jokingly 
calls Commander Melanoff, 
“Sugar Daddy.” 
● When Ruth devours 
candy at Melanoff’s factory, 
she is meant to resemble a 
Pac-Man arcade game.  
● Baby Ruth is the name of a real candy bar that turns 100 next year.  
● On the screens in Commander Melanoff’s factory, a cartoon is always playing about 
how he first discovered candy. The filmmakers had ​Citizen Kane​ in mind, with a 
candybar being Melanoff’s Rosebud.  
● At the Barnabys’ foster home, there's a lot of posters for made-up movies. A notable 
one is for A
​ ccidentally Married 2.   
● Barnaby twins never blink. Character designer Craig Kellman had the idea to base 
them off Danny Torrance in ​The Shining​.  
● When Nanny meets 
the siblings, her 
shadow is literally 
shaped like a heart, 
enveloping the kids.  
● A banjo player in a 
garbage truck plays 
“Dueling Banjos” from 
the film D
​ eliverance​. 
● This American Life 
host Ira Glass is heard 
introducing a podcast episode from one car’s radio.   
● Ricky Gervais’ dad was from Ontario, like Pearn.  
● Lois Lowry drew all the illustrations in her book T
​ he Willoughbys​.   

23 
● Pearn originally wanted to call “I Choose” — the song Alessia Cara sings in the film — 
“Box in a Box.”  
● The handmade travel brochure the children send is from The Reprehensible Travel 
Agency.  
● The name Melanoff 
came from an actual incident 
in Lowry’s life: “I had a friend 
who decreed one time that he 
was the expert at choosing a 
melon when he went to the 
supermarket. He said he 
always chose the best melon, 
just by his intuition. I had 
another friend who said, ‘No, 
no. I can do that better than 
you. I have my own method.’ 
So, they actually bought a whole bunch of melons and they had an event at their 
house, which they called the Melanoff.”   

24 
 Cast Bios 
 
Will Forte (Tim) 
Will Forte has established himself as one of the most versatile actors in film and television. 
Known for his starring role in the feature film adaptation of ​MacGruber​, for which he co-wrote 
the script with Jorma Taccone and John Solomon, Forte’s other film credits include the 
comedy ​Keanu​; Peter Bogdanovich’s S ​ he’s Funny That Way​, opposite Jennifer Aniston and 
Owen Wilson; L ​ ife of Crime​,​ ​opposite Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, Tim Robbins and Isla 
Fisher; ​Run and Jump​, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the Best Irish 
Feature Award at the Galway Film Festival; the Adam Sandler Netflix comedy ​The Ridiculous 
6​, as well as T
​ hat’s My Boy​, opposite Sandler and Andy Samberg; and ​The Watch​, opposite 
Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn. Additionally, he wrote and starred in the feature ​The 
Brothers Solomon​, opposite Will Arnett and Kristen Wiig. Forte has also lent his voice to the 
hit animated films T ​ he Lego Movie​, C ​ loudy with a Chance of Meatballs​, and its sequel, C ​ loudy 
with a Chance of Meatballs 2​. He starred as “David Grant” in Alexander Payne’s Academy 
Award- and Golden Globe Award-nominated film, ​Nebraska​. For this role, Forte was 
nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best Supporting Male category and won the 
National Board of Review’s Best Supporting Actor Award. Most recently, Forte starred in 
Extra Ordinary​, the debut feature from writer/directors Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, also 
starring Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, and Claudia O’Doherty, as well as the David 
Wain-directed feature film A ​ Futile and Stupid Gesture​, in which he plays the lead role of 
Doug Kenney, one of National Lampoon’s co-founders.  
  
For his work on L ​ ast Man On Earth​, Forte was nominated for a 2016 Emmy Award in the 
category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and was nominated for two Emmy 
Awards in 2015: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a 
Comedy Series. He was also nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award in the category of Best 
Actor in a Comedy Series in 2015 and 2016 and received two 2016 WGA nominations for his 
work on the show. In addition to an eight-season run making audiences laugh on ​Saturday 
Night Live​, Forte has had many memorable guest-starring roles on hit television comedies. 
His work on ​30 Rock​ earned him a 2013 Emmy Award nomination in the category of 
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Forte also had roles on H ​ ow I Met Your Mother​, 
Parks and Recreation​, U ​ p All Night​, T​ im and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!​ and F ​ light of the 
Conchords​. Forte has also lent his voice to a handful of Fox animated series, including A ​ llen 
Gregory​; T​ he Cleveland Show​, from creator Seth MacFarlane; and ​Sit Down, Shut Up​, from 
creator Mitch Hurwitz.   
  
Up next, Forte can be heard as the voice of characters in Warner Bros.’ ​SCOOB!​, Netflix’s ​The 
Willoughbys​, and Fox’s ​The Great North​. He can be seen in the Quibi series, F ​ lipped​. 
 
Maya Rudolph (Nanny) 
Maya Rudolph is an Emmy-Nominated actress, who has established herself as a captivating, 
versatile performer across comedy, drama and music.   
 
Rudolph is most widely known for her turn on NBC's ​Saturday Night Live​, where she was one 
of the show's regular players for over seven years, as well as her various television projects 
and film appearances. Since her debut on SNL in 2000, Rudolph's memorable portrayals 

25 
included Oprah Winfrey, Whitney Houston, Donatella Versace and Beyoncé as well as such 
recurring sketches as "Wake Up Wakefield" and "Bronx Beat."   
 
Maya can next be seen voicing the character, Nanny, in T​ he Willoughbys,​ alongside Terry 
Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski and Sean Cullen. The animated film is based on Lois 
Lowry’s popular book of the same name and will be released by Netflix on April 22, 2020. 
Maya recently wrapped production on the film, H ​ ubie Halloween,​ a Halloween comedy from 
director, Steve Brill. She stars alongside Adam Sander and Netflix will release the film in Fall 
2020. 
 
Rudolph is currently in production on season 2 of the Fox animated series, “Bless the Harts.” 
Created by Emily Spivey, the show debuted in September 2019 and was very quickly 
renewed for its second season. Additionally, Maya continues to recur on multiple series. She 
was recently seen on NBC’s ​The Good Place​ as “Judge” and her performance earned her 
2018 and 2019 Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. 
Rudolph continues to voice the fan favorite, “Hormone Mistress,” on Netflix’s animated 
comedy series ​Big Mouth​ alongside Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jordan Peele, Fred Armisen 
and Jenny Slate.  
 
In 2019, Maya was seen in Amy Poehler’s directorial film debut for Netflix, W
​ ine Country, 
alongside Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell, Emily Spivey and Tina Fey. 
Wine Country ​was released in May 2019. Rudolph also lent her voice to a character in T ​ he 
Lego Movie: 2. ​Warner Brothers released the movie in February 2019.  
 
In late 2018 Rudolph announced the formation of her production company, Animal Pictures, 
alongside her longtime friend, Natasha Lyonne. The duo have signed a first-look deal with 
Amazon Studios to create and develop series projects for the Prime Video service. 
 
In 2018, Rudolph was seen in the Amazon series, F ​ orever, ​which she also produced​.​ Amazon 
released the series on September 14, 2018. She also starred in Ben Falcone’s L ​ ife of the 
Party​ alongside Melissa McCarthy. Warner Bros. released the film on May 11, 2018. 
Additionally, Rudolph starred in STXfilms’ ​The Happytime Murders​, opposite Melissa 
McCarthy and Elizabeth Banks and directed by Brian Henson. STXfilms released the 
animated feature on August 24, 2018. 
  
In 2017, Rudolph lent her voice to two animated films, ​The Emoji Movie a ​ nd T
​ he Nut Job 2: 
Nutty by Nature​. She voiced the emoji “Smiler” in the former, which was released by Sony 
Pictures July 28, 2017. Rudolph returned to voice “Precious” in the latter, which was released 
by Open Road on August 11, 2017.   
 
In Summer 2016, Maya starred in her variety show ​Maya and Marty​ alongside Martin Short. 
Executive producer, Lorne Michaels and NBC produced alongside Maya and Martin. She also 
lent her voice to Sony Pictures’ animated film, T
​ he Angry Birds Movie​, released on May 20, 
2016. Additionally, she appeared as “Deborah” in Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone’s 
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping​. Universal released the film June 3, 2016.  
 

26 
Also in 2016, Rudolph starred alongside Danny Glover in Diego Luna’s ​Mr. Pig​. The film tells 
the story of an elderly pig farmer and his estranged daughter who go on a road trip from 
Southern California to the Jalisco region of West-Central Mexico. The film premiered at the 
2016 Sundance Film Festival. For her role in the film, Rudolph was nominated for a 2017 Ariel 
Award for “Best Actress.”  
  
In 2015, Maya appeared in the hit comedy movie S ​ isters​ opposite Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. 
Released on December 18, 2015 by Universal Pictures and written by Paula Pell, Maya played 
“Brinda” the ​frenemy​ of Tina’s character.  
  
Maya created and starred in her well received comic-variety show special T ​ he Maya Rudolph 
Show​ which aired on NBC on May 19, 2014. The special was executive produced by Lorne 
Michaels and debuted with 7.23 million viewers.  

Additional film credits include: ​The Spoils Before Dying​ opposite Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell; 
Disney’s animated feature B ​ ig Hero 6​ alongside Jamie Chung and T.J Miller; Paul Thomas 
Anderson’s crime-drama I​ nherent Vice​ alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Josh 
Brolin and Owen Wilson; Jim Rash and Nat Faxon’s directorial debut ​The Way, Way Back​; 
family comedy G ​ rown Ups 2 ​alongside Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James and David 
Spade; animated comedies ​The Nut Job a ​ nd her Black Reel Award® nominated vocal 
performance as “Burn” in DreamWorks’ film, T ​ urbo​. 
  
As a master in the art of comedy, Rudolph starred in Paul Feig's comedy B ​ ridesmaids 
alongside Kristen Wiig, which has grossed nearly $300 million worldwide and garnered 
numerous accolades since it opened May 13, 2011. In addition to being nominated for two 
Academy Awards®, ​Bridesmaids​ was nominated for a Golden Globe® for Best Motion Picture 
Musical or Comedy and won the following awards: the 2011 AFI Film Award for AFI Movie of 
the Year, the 2012 Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Comedy Movie, the 2012 People's 
Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Movie, and Comedy Central's 2012 Comedy Award for 
Best Film.     
 
Rudolph has recently teamed up with musician Gretchen Liberum to form the female-fronted 
Prince cover band, "Princess." In tribute to His Purple Majesty, the duo became an immediate 
Internet success last year when they performed "Darling Nikki" on ​Late Night with Jimmy 
Fallon​.  Since then, the band has continued performing hit-after-hit as Prince fans 
everywhere have tuned in praising their pristine mimicry of the artist.  
 
Alessia Cara (Jane) 
2018’s “Best New Artist” Grammy Award Winning Canadian singer/songwriter and Def Jam 
Recordings artist Alessia Cara emerged onto the music scene in 2015 with her global anthem 
“Here.” Cara’s first release “Here” grabbed the world’s attention when it garnered over 
500,000 streams on SoundCloud in its first week, going on to become Spotify’s Most Viral 
Song of 2015 selling over 3 million copies. A five-track EP, “Four Pink Walls,” soon followed 
before the release of the full-length certified platinum “Know-It-All.” Alessia lent her voice to 
“How Far I’ll Go,” the official song for Disney’s animated film ​Moana​, penned by Lin-Manuel 
Miranda. Her multi-platinum #1 hit single, “Scars to Your Beautiful,” is Cara’s gut-wrenching 
take on female identity, on body image and on deleterious behaviors in the name of beauty. 
“Stay,” her #1 hit with Zedd, has sold over 2 million copies and has been called the “Song of 

27 
the Summer.”“1-800-273-8255,” her most recent #1 smash with Logic went platinum 5x, 
contributing to her six global smash hits and 8.5 billion streams worldwide. She was one of the 
most streamed new female artists of 2017.  
  
On top of her 2018 Grammy win, she was also awarded with an MTV EMA for Best World 
Stage Performance following the release of her highly anticipated sophomore album “The 
Pains of Growing.” 
  
Alessia spent much of 2019 touring the world alongside fellow Canadian, Shawn Mendes. 
Between playing sold out stadium shows, Cara flew her producer out on tour to write and 
record six new songs inspired by her experiences travelling the world with friends. This 
Summer EP was released on the final date of the tour, September 6th. 
 
Terry Crews (Commander Melanoff) 
Action-movie hero, sitcom star, advertising pitchman, playable video game character, 
high-end furniture designer, and human rights activist all describe the man that is Terry 
Crews. If it feels as if Crews is everywhere, that’s because he is: as the host of the #1 
competition show A ​ merica’s Got Talent ​on NBC, star of the Golden Globe-winning NBC 
series B
​ rooklyn Nine-Nine​, and the upcoming animated Paramount feature, R ​ umble​. Crews is 
also the face (and muscles) of Old Spice, a playable character in Microsoft’s Xbox One game 
Crackdown 3​, and a force in the design and art world where his high-end furniture collection​, 
in partnership with iconic Bernhardt Designs, has been picking up awards across the country. 
Crews was also named one of T ​ IME Magazine’s ​“Person of the Year”​ ​as one of the “Silence 
Breakers,” speaking out against sexual harassment following the #MeToo movement. Crews’ 
no-holds-barred approach to working has made him a force to be reckoned with as his career 
continues to evolve.  
 
Martin Short (Father) 
Martin Short, a celebrated comedian and actor, has won fans and accolades in television, film 
and theater since his breakout season on S ​ aturday Night Live​ over 30 years ago. 
 
Short won his first Emmy in 1982 while working on Canada’s SCTV Comedy Network, which 
brought him to the attention of the producers of ​SNL​. He became an S ​ NL​ fan-favorite for his 
portrayal of characters such as Ed Grimley, lawyer Nathan Thurm and “legendary songwriter” 
Irving Cohen. 
 
His popularity and exposure on S ​ NL​ led Short to cross over quickly into feature films. He 
made his debut in T ​ hree Amigos​ and followed with ​Innerspace​, T ​ hree Fugitives​, ​Clifford​, P
​ ure 
Luck​ and T​ im Burton’s Mars Attacks​. One of Short’s most memorable roles was in the remake 
of F
​ ather of the Bride​ as Franck the wedding planner, a role he reprised a few years later in 
Father of the Bride Part II​. Short lent his voice to the animated film ​Madagascar 3​ and Tim 
Burton’s Oscar-nominated ​Frankenweenie​. 
 
An accomplished stage actor, Short won a Tony, Theatre World Award and an Outer Critics 
Circle Award for his role in the revival of L ​ ittle Me​. He was also nominated for a Tony and took 
home an Outer Critics Circle Award for the musical version of Neil Simon’s ​The Goodbye Girl​. 
Short co-wrote and starred in F ​ ame Becomes Me​, prompting The New York Times to 
describe Short as “a natural for live musicals, a limber singer and dancer who exudes a fiery 

28 
energy that makes you want to reach for your sunglasses.” Short most recently appeared on 
Broadway in Terrence McNally’s I​ t’s Only a Play​. 
 
A two-time primetime Emmy winner and multi-nominated for both primetime and daytime 
Emmys, Short returned to television in 1998 for the miniseries ​Merlin​ and host of T ​ he Martin 
Short Show​. In 2001, he launched the popular comedy P ​ rimetime Glick​ and in 2010 received 
critical acclaim for his role in FX’s drama series D ​ amages​. 
 
Short has also returned to S ​ NL​ as host three times, and performed in the series’ landmark 40​th 
anniversary special in February 2015. Other recent television credits include H ​ airspray Live!​, 
Maya & Marty​, ​Mulaney​, ​How I Met Your Mother​ and the critically acclaimed PBS series ​Cat in 
the Hat Knows a Lot About That​. Short’s New York Times bestselling memoir, ​I Must Say: My 
Life as a Humble Comedy Legend​, was published in 2014. 
 
In 1994, Short was awarded the Order of Canada — the Canadian equivalent to British 
knighthood. He was also inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame in June 2000. This past 
year he received a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award from the Governor-General of 
Canada.  
 
Currently, Short is on a national tour with his good friend Steve Martin in their comedy show 
titled T
​ he Funniest Show in Town at the Moment​. 
 
Jane Krakowski (Mother) 
Jane Krakowski is most commonly known for her role as Jenna Maroney on NBC’s Emmy 
Award-winning 3 ​ 0 Rock​. Krakowski was honored with four Emmy nominations for her work on 
the show, as well as a collective 2009 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding 
Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, along with additional nominations in that 
category in 2013 and 2014. She was first introduced to the TV mainstream with her Golden 
Globe-nominated portrayal of Elaine Vassal on the Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG 
Award-winning A ​ lly McBeal​. Jane reteamed with her ​30 Rock​ collaborators Tina Fey and 
Robert Carlock for the Emmy nominated ​The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt​ for Netflix. Most 
Recently, Jane can be seen cast opposite of Hailee Steinfeld in Apple’s new 
straight-to-series project, ​Dickinson​. Her role as “Jacqueline Vorhees-White” earned her an 
Emmy nomination and a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy 
Series. Season Four is currently streaming on Netflix. Her other television guest starring 
appearances have included iconic shows like ​Modern Family​, T ​ he Simpsons​, ​American Dad​, 
Drunk History​, Y
​ ounger​ and even S ​ esame Street​. 
 
This past holiday season, Jane brought her triple threat Broadway talent to TV, in her critically 
acclaimed turn as Miss Shields in Fox’s A ​ Christmas Story: Live!​ She also recently played Mrs. 
Potts in the famed Hollywood Bowl’s production of B ​ eauty and the Beast​. In 2016, Jane 
starred on Broadway in the Roundabout Theater Company’s production of ​She Loves Me 
(Outer Critics Circle Award, Astaire Award, Drama Desk Award and Tony nomination). Jane 
received the 2003 Tony Award for her portrayal of Carla in the Broadway musical N ​ ine 
opposite Antonio Banderas. Her performance in ​Nine​ also earned her a Drama Desk Award 

29 
and an Outer Critics Circle Award. She earned her first Tony nomination for her work in the 
original Broadway production of ​Grand Hotel​. Other Broadway credits include ​Company​, 
Once Upon a Mattress​, T ​ artuffe​, and ​Starlight Express​. Krakowski won an Olivier Award while 
starring in ​Guys and Dolls​ with Ewan McGregor in London's West End. She also starred in the 
Encores! revival of D ​ amn Yankees​ opposite Sean Hayes. In 2012 Krakowski released her solo 
debut album, “The Laziest Gal in Town,” a CD recording captured during her cabaret 
nightclub debut at the Park Avenue hotspot, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency. Also in 2012, she 
performed a one woman cabaret act to a sold out crowd at NYC’s legendary Town Hall 
Theater. Making her film debut as Cousin Vickie in ​National Lampoon’s Vacation​, Krakowski 
has also starred in the films ​Alfie​, ​The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas​, ​Pretty Persuasion​, ​Kit 
Kittredge: An American Girl​, C ​ irque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant​, ​Adult Beginners​, ​Big 
Stone Gap​, and P ​ ixels​. 
 
Seán Cullen (Barnaby A & B) 
Nimble master of improvisation and accomplished impressionist who delights in the absurd 
and for three decades, Seán Cullen has dominated the Canadian comedy scene as an 
award-winning comedian, actor, recording artist, author and screenwriter.  
 
As a Stand-up comedian, Cullen was a finalist on NBC's L ​ ast Comic Standing​, and appeared 
on T​ he Tonight Show​, ​The Late Late Show​, countless Winnipeg Comedy Festival CBC TV 
specials, ​Just For Laughs Galas​, ​The Debaters​ and as a panelist on ​Match Game​.  
 
As an actor, he has appeared in T ​ he Ellen Show​, W​ orkin’ Moms​, C
​ arter​, and ​Dark Matter​. 
Most recently, he starred as Lord Muto in the award winning Canadian film, ​The Twentieth 
Century​, a historical re-envisioning of the life of William Lyon Mackenzie King, which 
premiered at TIFF this past year.  
 
Sean appears in the upcoming animated Netflix film T ​ he Willoughbys​ with Ricky Gervais, 
Martin Short, and Maya Rudolph to name a few. This adds to an impressive voice acting 
resume including the soon to be released S ​ noopy​ on Apple TV+, ​Cloudy with a Chance of 
Meatballs​, and R​ ocket Monkeys​ among many others.  
 
Cullen has performed at national and international comedy festivals such as Montreal's Just 
For Laughs, Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Halifax Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Fringe and the 
Melbourne Comedy Festival.  
 
To add to his list of accomplishments, Sean is an award winning prolific writer of two series 
totaling five popular young adult novels, entitled ​Hamish X​ ​and​ ​the Cheese Pirates a ​ nd​ The 
Prince of Neither Here Nor There​. He has also written many television comedies and 
animated series, select credits include T ​ he Seán Cullen Show​ (CBC), ​Seán Cullen’s Home for 
Christmas​ (CBC), R ​ ocket Monkeys​, C ​ loudy with a Chance of Meatballs​, ​Seven Little Monsters 
and many more. 
 
Lastly, Cullen has earned multiple Gemini Awards, Canadian Comedy Awards, an ACTRA 
Award, a Rocky Mountain Book Award, an Arthur Ellis Book Award and was twice nominated 
for the Edinburgh Comedy Award. 

30 
 
Ricky Gervais (The Cat)  
Creator and star of T​ he Office​ and ​Extras​, Ricky Gervais has won three Golden Globes®, two 
Primetime Emmys® and seven BAFTAS. T ​ he Office​ is the most successful British comedy of 
all time, shown in more than 90 countries with seven remakes. The NBC version is the most 
successful US remake of a British show in more than 30 years.  
  
Considered the most influential British comedian since Charlie Chaplin, Gervais is an 
award-winning stand-up comedian, with six international tours to date. His live stand up show 
Fame​ became the fastest selling UK stand-up show in history. 
  
Gervais can most recently be seen in the dark comedy ​After Life​, which he created, directs, 
stars in and executive produces. The series premiered to rave reviews and fan response in 
2019, and will return for a second season in April 2020. 
  
Gervais was first asked to host the Golden Globes® awards ceremony in 2010, making him the 
first host of the Golden Globes® since 1995. The broadcast was seen by an estimated 250 
million viewers. Gervais has since hosted the Golden Globes® in 2011, 2012, and 2016 prior 
to his most recent appearance as host for the 5​th​ time in 2020.  
  
In October 2018, Gervais returned for the second season of ABC’s C ​ hild Support​. The 
one-hour studio-based game show series featured adult contestants and priceless 
interactions between Gervais and a group of five kids who say the most unpredictable things. 
  
In 2017, Gervais toured worldwide with his first stand up special in seven years. H ​ umanity​, 
which was also recorded as a Netflix special, takes aim at human behavior with his trademark 
wit. In 2019, Gervais returned with an additional stand up tour titled ​SuperNature​, which will 
air as a Netflix special at a later date.  
  
Additionally in 2017, Gervais teamed with SiriusXM for a new podcast called R ​ icky Gervais is 
Deadly Sirius​ where he discusses big issues such as: what is the meaning of life, science, 
philosophical theories, and pop culture with guests and experts. Season two premiered in 
January 2019. 
  
Gervais is also featured in The Guinness Book of World Records for having the most 
downloaded internet show of all time. He has written, directed, produced and starred in 
Cemetery Junction​, T ​ he Invention of Lying​, and starred in G ​ host Town​. In 2010, Gervais was 
named in TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and awarded the Sir 
Peter Ustinov Comedy Award from the Banff World Television Festival. 
  
In 2012, HBO aired ​Life’s Too Short​ and the third season of ​The Ricky Gervais Show​, and 
Gervais wrote, directed and starred in D ​ erek​ for Channel 4 and Netflix. 
  
2013 was just as busy, with an international release of A ​ n Idiot Abroad 3: The Short Way 
Round​, taking the lead role in M ​ uppets Most Wanted​ and production on series two of the 
award-winning ​Derek​, both of which were released in 2014. On April 3, 2015 Gervais reprised 
his Golden Globe nominated role as “Derek,” in a one-hour finale special on Netflix.  
  

31 
Gervais starred in S
​ pecial Correspondents,​ an original comedy film, which debuted worldwide 
on Netflix in 2016. The film is written and directed by Gervais, and also starred Eric Bana, 
America Ferrera and Vera Farmiga.  
  
In 2017, Gervais reprised his iconic role of David Brent in D
​ avid Brent: Life on the Road​. The 
film was written, directed, and produced by Gervais, and acquired by Netflix. 
 
 
   

32 
 Crew Bios 
 
Director, Writer and Producer Kris Pearn
Kris Pearn was born and raised in Canada. After graduating from Sheridan College, Kris has 
spent most of his life making cartoons for both film and television. His credits include: ​Open 
Season​, S​ urf’s Up​, A
​ rthur Christmas​, ​Shaun the Sheep​, P​ irates: Band of Misfits​, and H
​ ome​ to 
name a few. He was Head of Story on C ​ loudy With A Chance of Meatballs​, and co-directed 
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2​. He has most recently written and directed the Netflix 
animated feature T ​ he Willoughbys​, based on the novel by Lois Lowry. Kris has been 
nominated for several Annie Awards, teaches when possible, and has given a Ted Talk called 
“The Optimistic Opportunity of Failure.” He still loves to draw.   
 
Producer Brenda Gilbert 
Brenda Gilbert is the Co-Founder & President of BRON Media Corp. Brenda previously also 
served as President of BRON Animation, where she produced and recently delivered the 
original animated film T ​ he Willoughbys​ to Netflix. Currently, her focus is on BRON Life, the 
company’s non-scripted division, where she’s passionate about giving a voice to those who 
need one. Much of Brenda’s time is also on BRON’s charitable initiatives and on being a 
BRON’s ambassador to the world. She sits on the board of Film Independent, is the track chair 
for mentoring initiatives with Woman in Animation, and an Advisor to the Vancouver Film 
School, and La Salle College. Over the course of her 20 years in the media and entertainment 
space, Gilbert has produced, or executive produced a number of animated and live action 
films including the award winning T ​ he Birth of a Nation​, M
​ onster​, ​Assassination Nation​, and 
The Nightingale​. Her background includes many years at the British Columbia Securities 
Commission where she worked in the Finance, Enforcement, Legal & Communications 
Divisions. 
 
Producer Luke Carroll 
Luke is a veteran producer of animated feature films and is currently delivering ​The 
Willoughbys​ to Netflix. Featuring the voices of Ricky Gervais, Maya Rudolf, Terry Crews, Will 
Forte and Alessia Cara, the film is due to launch in the Spring of 2020. Previous feature films 
include ​Henchmen​ starring James Marsden, Thomas Middleditch, Rosario Dawson and Jane 
Krakowski, as well as E ​ scape from Planet Earth​ for The Weinstein Company, starring Brendan 
Fraser, Rob Corddry, Jessica Alba and Sarah Jessica Parker. Luke joined BRON in 2013 and 
is currently the VP Production & Development, focused on animation. Equipped with an MFA 
in Film Production and Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, Luke is 
instrumental in development for the animation group’s film and television initiatives. 
 
Co-Director Rob Lodermeier 
After conquering high school, Rob set out to complete a Neuroscience degree. A 
disagreement surrounding the co​medic value of rat brains going splat on the ground 
prompted Rob to re-evaluate his career interests. Luckily, Vancouver Film School welcomed 
Rob into the 3D Animation and Visual Effects program. Rob has now been in the industry for 
over 17 years, working at several studios including Nerdcorps, Bardel, Rainmaker, Lucasfilm 
Singapore, and BRON. Since joining BRON, Rob has helped build the studio from within, 

33 
going from low budget motion capture TV specials to high quality feature length productions. 
First completing ​Henchmen​ as the Animation Supervisor, Rob then transitioned onto Netflix's 
upcoming animated film T ​ he Willoughbys​ to help develop and launch the animation. With 
heavy production hitting, Rob has since stepped up to take on a Co-Director role with Kris 
Pearn. Other notable film and TV projects that Rob has worked on include ​Escape from Planet 
Earth​, ​Space Chimps​, ​Star Wars: The Clone Wars​, and V ​ iva Piñata​.  
 
Composer Mark Mothersbaugh 
Mark Mothersbaugh is a composer, producer, designer and visual artist whose work has 
become part of the pop culture consciousness. Mark first gained visibility as the co-creator 
and front man for the seminal New Wave band DEVO. Their Brian Eno/David 
Bowie-produced debut album “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo” went Gold and 
“Freedom of Choice” went Platinum. 
 
In recent years, he has transformed into an award-winning composer for films, television, 
commercials and digital media such as ​Pee-Wee’s Playhouse​, ​The Royal Tenenbaums​, 
Rushmore​, ​The Lego Movie​ and ​Thor: Ragnarok​ as well as working with such iconic brands as 
Apple, Google and Nike. His work has earned him Grammy and Emmy nominations and has 
won numerous BMI awards. Mark is also an Academy member. 
 
As a fine artist, Mark celebrated his first 25-city art exhibition, MYOPIA, curated by the 
Denver Museum of Modern Art in 2016. The exhibit, which sold out and extended due to 
demand, featured Mark’s drawings, sculpture and musical creations. In 2019 DEVO was 
nominated for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mark is currently working with Tony Hawk to 
develop the Nick Hornby novel Slam into a musical. 
 
Production Designer Kyle McQueen
Kyle is an award winning Production Designer and Art Director with 15 years experience in the 
animation and game industries. He began his career in television animation where he held 
positions as an animator, layout artist, concept artist and lead character designer before 
spending six years in the gaming industry art directing a number of titles, including the award 
winning iOS game D ​ ragon Up​. In 2013, Kyle made his debut in feature animation as 
Production Designer on the critically acclaimed animated feature S ​ ausage Party​. Kyle is 
currently the Production Designer on Netflix original animated film T ​ he Willoughbys​. 

Head of Effects Helén Ahlberg

Hel​én
​ Ahlberg i​ s an effects artist who emerged from the ruins of Gotland. She specializes in 
both 2D and 3D effects. Her journey started back home working as an artist for indie game 
studios ​Ludosity a ​ nd Z
​ oink​. She then traveled across to Vancouver where she ended up at 
Bron Animation for their first animated feature ​Henchmen. S ​ he then got promoted to Head 
of Effects at BRON Animation to work on Netflix's upcoming animated feature ​The 
Willoughbys​.

At the moment she is making hand-drawn effects on multiple projects both in-studio at 
ICON Creative and freelance for Titmouse.  

34 
If not holding a pen in her hand or calculating simulations you will most likely find her playing 
games and/or with her rabbit Goomba.  

Editor Fiona Toth 

After shooting and editing a very low budget fan girl homage to her favourite show ​Late Night 
with Conan O’Brien​ for a high school film class in small town Ontario, Canada - Fiona decided 
she wanted to learn the craft of film and television for real. She moved to Vancouver, BC 
where she went to school and worked for several years in television and documentaries 
before landing her first animated gig with BRON Animation as editor of their feature film T ​ he 
Willoughbys​. 
 
Editor ​Ken Schretzmann, ACE 
Ken Schretzmann, ACE is a veteran film editor spanning over two decades. His animation 
credits include ​Monsters, Inc.​,​ Cars​, and T
​ oy Story 3​ for Pixar Animation Studios and ​The 
Secret Life of Pets​ for Illumination Entertainment. At Netflix, he was an editor on T​he 
Willoughbys​ and is currently lead editor on Guillermo del Toro’s P ​ inocchio​. In 2011 he won an 
ACE Eddie award for best animated feature editing on ​Toy Story 3​. An active member of 
American Cinema Editors, he currently resides in the Bay Area in California. 
 
Character Designer ​Aniket Natekar 
Aniket was born and raised in India and since a very young age, he was that kid in the class 
who loves to draw. His love for animation was a natural progression from there once he 
figured out that it was made up of a series of sequential drawings. 
  
Like most Indian youngsters, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in engineering and then 
came to Vancouver to pursue his actual dream of becoming an animator.  
 
He graduated from the Vancouver Film School's Classical Animation program in 2008 and his 
first job out of school took him to France, where he worked for about 4 years at Ankama 
Entertainment. It was one of the best growing experience he could've asked for as an 
animator and as an artist!  
 
Wanting to make the transition into feature animation, he moved back to Canada in 2012 and 
graduated from CG Spectrum College of Digital Art and Animation with a diploma in 3D 
animation. During this time, he was an animation supervisor on a few TV shows for Hasbro 
and Teletoon and also animated on a pilot for Amazon's N ​ iko and the Sword of Light​. 
 
He got his break into CG Feature Animation in 2014 with BRON Animation. As one of the lead 
animators on Netflix's T ​ he Willoughbys​, he is very proud of the unique animation style that 
the team developed for the movie. 
 

35 
Aniket is currently working on Netflix's ​Over the Moon​ and is looking forward to keep learning 
and work on more great shows in the future. 

36