Who's Voice Is That?

Dwayne Johnson Jessica Biel Justin Long Gary Oldman Seann William Scott John Cleese Freddie Benedict Alan Marriott Mathew Horne James Corden

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Captain Charles T Baker Neera Lem General Grawl Skiff Professor Kipple Eckle Glar Soldier Vesklin Soldier Vernkot

The Inside Story Ilion Animation Studios was launched in 2002 with the aim of becoming a leading animation studio creating computer generated full length animation feature films with global appeal. Such an ambitious project brought along with it huge challenges from a creative, technological and human standpoint. "We needed a great storyline, leading edge, in-house technology and a talented team of professionals to push the project forward. This was no mean feat. From the start we began looking for a fresh and original storyline that was highly differentiated from other movies," says debut producer Perez Dolset. "It was at this point that we decided to embark on a journey through our own hopes, dreams and fantasies. Just like many others before us, we searched hard and fast through all the common themes, as well as some of the more unusual ones. We looked at universal themes with less original ideas which we felt were never really told well, or big storylines with universal appeal that we felt maybe deserved to be told again. And, as usually happens in these circumstances, just as we were coming to the conclusion that it had all been done before, we found Planet 51, or was it that Planet 51 found us, appearing from that place where great ideas lie in wait for their creators? At that moment we knew that this was Our Story." After the first phase of development Ilion went in search of a world class scriptwriter to tell 'their' story and found one of the best writers in the business: 2002 BAFTA Film Award winner Joe Stillman ("Shrek"). Stillman maintains it was love at first sight! Straight afterthat first meeting, at which Ilion had presented the project to him, Stillman packed his suitcases and went off to live on Planet 51. "I believe he took up residence at a place opposite where Lem lives, or was it actually in Lem’s attic? Wherever he ended up staying, what was true was that he had created an extraordinary storyline packed with fantastic characters, bundles of humour, surprises, emotion and excitement," Dolset says. "When I saw a three minute scene that showed an astronaut landing in the backyard of an alien suburban family, it completely knocked me out" says Stillman. "The scene of the astronaut landing was really inspiring. It showed so much: the world of Planet 51, the sense of people in it, an understated acting style, a sense of visual motif, color palate, a really terrific sense of place and an advanced technical ability. And then there's the stuff you can't really quantify, which probably is best described as sensibility." Jorge Blanco, "Planet 51" Director points out that their "aim was always to tell a great story within an original context, to move away from the repetitive themes seen in many recent animated features." Ilion knew it wasn’t going to be easy and after exploring a long list of different ideascame up with "Planet 51". On this planet, the inhabitants alien beings (little green men with antennae on top of their heads) live in fear of a human invasion. This is the classic tale of an alien invasion but seen from a completely different angle! This original idea opened up a whole world of possibilities and straight away they began to place the alien planet in its equivalent of 1950's America. That fitted perfectly; in the 1950’s science fiction was king of the drive-in movies and on-screen heroes fought invaders from outer-space. These movies also provided the perfect melting pot for comedy and caricature; aliens wearing a toupee driving a Cadillac shaped like a flying saucer or invading 'spaceships' dangling from strings! Ilion knew that all of these icons could work perfectly in their film. It also gave them the opportunity to tap into the social paranoia which was increasing around that time. The 1950's were times when people's mistrust lead them to believe that their neighbor could easily be an undercover agent trying to blow up the local bakery! In a similar way the inhabitants of Planet 51, fuelled by fear and ignorance, regard an innocent astronaut with terror and mistrust. These themes of conflict between different cultures fear of the unknown or anything that’s different, run throughout the film. "Conscious of the huge challenge facing us with Planet 51’s character animation, we decided we would design our own computer animation tools and software," says co-director Javier Abad. "Over the last six years, the team behind the characters and background sets have continuously developed these tools and placed Ilion Studios amongst the top ranked character animation studios in the world." Most of us have seen movies featuring beings from other worlds; green, brown, with scales, without scales, monsters with huge heads or simply giants. Designing the inhabitants of "Planet 51" involved taking these different references and blending them together. "We wanted them to be fun, appealing and realistic without appearing too similar to us, but at the same time not looking like a monster either. We also had to imagine an entire world," says co-director Marcos Martinez. "The clothing, the doorways, the cars, the streets, the city, the mountains, the animals. Planet 51 is a world of happiness, and a world of innocence, where people don’t even consider pwhat might be out there beyond the heavens, because in their world everyone is as happy as they’ll ever be. However this idyll is disrupted when something strange arrives on the planet. Something that will change their lives forever. Something from beyond the stars: A being from another planet." "Planet 51" is much more than a planet inhabited by green colored beings with antennas. It raised a number of questions for the filmmakers. Such as: Do they eat hotdogs? Do they go ten-pin bowling? What music do they listen to? Planet 51 is full of funny twists, both for the young, the old and for the nostalgic. The movie shows a planets going through its own 1950's, with a sci-fi invasion movies and a healthy dose of paranoia atmosphere. "The main difference between their world and ours is that by the end of our 1950's, we were looking towards the stars, to the great unknown and the beginning of our age of space exploration," says Stillman. "But the people of "Planet 51" are missing that thirst for knowledge. They're afraid of the unknown. And so their innocent 1950's period is one that just goes on and on." What changes all that is the arrival of astronaut Captain Charle T 'Chuck' Baker, who makes a grand entrance on the planet by landing in the backyard of the home owned by Lem's parents. "Lem embodies everything about Planet 51 and the theme of the movie. He's afraid of the unknown. As it happens, I am too," Stillman says. "When a character gets to grow in a way that's resonant for me, as Lem does, he becomes kind of special." A High school junior by day and Junior Assistant Planetarium Curator by night,Lem is sixteen years old and is a model kid. He never misses a class, is never late, and has certainly never been called to the principal’s office. Kind of cute for someone with green skin but also a bit geeky, he always does the right thing. However, little by little, and with the help of Chuck, Lem learns that there is more to life than following the rules, especially if you’re going to have to save the planet! Lem has one burning ambition: to date his childhood sweetheart, Neera. The girl of his dreams is sixteen, pretty and has a strong personality. She doesn’t like to be told what to do, especially when it comes to who she should hang around with. She is a bit lost between her desire to be a rebel and her feelings for Lem, but will learn that virtue and bravery, as always, are tucked away in the heart, just waiting to be discovered. Lem is voiced by 2006 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Film Discovery Jury Award winner Justin Long, who has established himself as a natural talent in film and TV. His film credits include: "Drag Me To Hell", "He’s Just Not that Into You" and "Galaxy Quest". Neera is voiced by 2005 ShoWest Convention Female Star of Tomorrow, Jessica Biel, who has become one of Hollywood’s most coveted leading women. Her film credits include: "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry", "Next" and "The Illusionist". Dwayne Johnson, who voices 'Chuck", was last seen in "Race to Witch Mountain" and "Get Smart". His next film will be the highly anticipated "Tooth Fairy", which co-stars Oscar ® winner Julie Andrews ("Mary Poppins"), 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award winner Ashley Judd ("Double Jeopardy") and five time American Comedy Award winner Billy Crystal. 2001 Alan J. Pakula Award winner Gary Oldman ("The Contender"), known to millions as Sirius Black (Harry Potter’s Godfather) voiced General Grawl. Ilion Animation Studios knew that making a movie such as "Planet 51" was going to be a huge challenge in and of itself, so from the start they planned to avoid the common technical pitfalls of computer graphics: global illumination, hair, cloth simulation and subsurface scattering. As production progressed, it was clear that the elements they had been avoiding would be necessary in order to deliver a film of the quality they desired. "It was our need to excel, that drove us to take on the challenges and add those special details that make "Planet 51" the film it is today." says Ilion Director of Technology Gonzalo Rueda. For example: they production team originally envisaged Astronaut 'Chuck' Baker keeping his helmet on for the entire movie. "I remember the day that someone said that it was essential for us to see the astronaut's face and facial expressions in order to better connect with the character," Rueda recalls. "We all knew it was going to be a huge technological hurdle to insert hair into our aesthetic, especially considering global illumination, subsurface scattering and all the other details that now define the "Planet 51" look. But we started on the problem immediately, eventually overcoming the challenges and finally achieving the amazing look we have today." Ilion has had to overcome many barriers on the way to making it's first feature film. "Our insatiable desire as a studio to make the best movie we could possibly make, has meant that new ideas on how to improve the film were implemented regardless of the plethora of technological challenges they may present. It has been through the talent, motivation and joint efforts of our artistic and technical teams that we have managed to make all the things we dreamed a reality, by getting them into our pipeline and ultimately on-screen," a proud Rueda explained. Creating this film, required not only creativity and commitment but also innovation. Even if you only consider the technological aspects of making a movie such as this, the amount of innovation is astounding. Ilion Animation Studio's Tools department created over two hundred developments for the production of "Planet 51". These developments include the 'four pillars' of Ilion technology: GLT, Asset Tracker, Asset Manager and Asset Loader. The Verdict "Ilion Animation Studios debut animated feature deserves to be a winner on so many levels. For a start the animation is crisp and colorful. Then there's the voice cast who are perfectly matched to the characters we see on screen. The storyline like the characters is engaging, very funny in parts and highly entertaining. "Planet 51" is a film that has wide audience appeal, so please don't be fooled into thinking it's only aimed at the kids. Good value for your cinema bucks! 3 1/2 STARS." Synopsis

Sixteen year old Lem lives on Planet 51, a white picket-fenced world reminiscent of a cheerfully innocent 1950’s America. He is happy in his safe, predictable world and spends his time daydreaming about running the local planetarium and dating the girl next door, Neera. Then, millions of miles from his own planet, astronaut Captain Charles 'Chuck' Baker lands his spaceship in Neera’s backyard, right in the middle of a family barbecue! Unaware of his surroundings, Baker disembarks the ship reveling in his 'big moment'. He plants his flag triumphantly and turns: only to find Planet 51’s green-skinned inhabitants staring back at him bemused! He panics and flees, finding refuge quite by chance in the planetarium where Lem works. The two gradually overcome their mutual fear and strike up a friendship. Lem agrees to hide Chuck from the paranoid Planet 51 Army who are determined to capture him.

What Do The Critics Say

"From E.T. to V (and waaay before), science fiction has been obsessed with aliens coming to Earth. How fun then, and thought-provoking for kids, to turn the tables in Planet 51. The initial twist is terrific, and sci-fi fans should get a chuckle out of the title itself: It's a riff on Area 51, the nickname for a mysterious military base that UFO believers have long suspected holds secret information about aliens. Definitely a planet worth a visit." DALLAS MORNING NEWS "In Planet 51 convention is turned on its head as the little green men are the peace-loving urbanites and humankind is the conquering creature from a distant galaxy. It’s a clever premise for an animated feature poking gentle fun at the Cold War scaremongering of countless B-movies. Amiable, lightweight fare that adults might appreciate more than children." Allan Hunter UK EXPRESS MOVIE REVIEW "Taking the concept of little green aliens and turning it on its head, this animated adventure comedy is cute and clever, but keeps it simple enough to entertain the whole family. The adventure unfolds through the eyes of 16 year old Lem, who until now, has been an observer, not a participant in the hustle bustle of every day life. The trials and tribulations of how Lem saves Chuck are pretty predictable, but all's well that ends well, and even if the film doesn't set the world on fire, it has a sweet heart and audiences will respond accordingly." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"It’s a kid-oriented science fiction spoof with lots of in-jokes and references for the grown-ups. The film opens with a couple necking in a car when an alien spaceship appears. It’s a scene right out of the catalog of 1950s SF movies and sure enough it turns into "“War Of The Worlds". The twist is that this is another planet which is replicating the 1950s by way of "Back To The Future". It's fun for the kids, and adults should have a good time too." Daniel M. Kimmel NEW ENGLAND MOVIES WEEKLY "Just how much of this will be appreciated by children is questionable, but the film is clearly intended to keep them happy with lashings of colour, movement and cheesy jokes while older, diehard geeks can enjoy all the reference spotting." Jim Schembri THE AGE "Well and truly aimed at kids, Planet 51 is a film they will thoroughly enjoy yet which any accompanying adult will have lots of laughs in too." Giles Hardie SYDNEY MORNING HERALD "The laughs come thick and fast in a sprightly kid pleaser full of slapstick set-pieces and memorable characters, while more grown-up viewers will find themselves grinning at pastiches of the Cold War paranoia of bygone sci-fi movies." Terry Staunton RADIO TIMES "Delivers a few pleasant surprises, including a smart story: a reverse-E.T. riff that plops an American astronaut down in a world of just like us only green creatures and clever characters." Adam Markovitz ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

The Production Team

Director Co-director Written by n Producers Original Music Film Editor Casting Production Designer Art Direction

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Jorge Blanco Javier Abad & Marcos Martinez Joe Stillman Guy Collins & Ignacio Pérez Dolset James Seymour Brett Alex Rodríguez Ruth Lambert/Karen Lindsay-Stewart/Robert McGee Julian Muñoz Romero Fernando Juárez

Run Time 91 minutes Rated PG [AUST] ©2009 - Hoyts Distribution - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2009 All Rights Reserved The Movie Pages - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark laws applied.