We asked the director of a Winnie the Pooh horror movie, 'Are you making a Mickey Mouse movie?'
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Official website for the movie 'Winnie the Pooh 2: The Devil Bear and His Friends'
https://akumano-pooh2.com/
GIGAZINE (hereinafter, G):
So, let's start with the first question. This film, 'Winnie the Pooh 2: The Untouchable Bear and His Friends,' is the second in the series that began with 'Winnie the Pooh,' which was released in 2023, but I've heard that a third film is already in the works. In addition, I've heard that a plan called 'POONIVERSE' has been started to make films of characters whose copyrights have expired, such as Bambi and Pinocchio. Please tell us which characters you are particularly attached to.
Director Reese Flake-Waterfield (hereinafter RFW):
Yes, if I had to choose one character that I like the most, it would have to be Pinocchio. However, I've been working on a new movie called Pinocchio Unstrung for the last month or two, so I guess that's what's leaning me in that direction. Still, Pinocchio is a very unique and interesting character, and I think a lot of people will be excited about him.
If I had to pick second place, it would be Winnie the Pooh, because he is the character that has brought me the most success. Characters like Bambi and Peter Pan are not on the list.
Everything is leading to this.. POONIVERSE: MONSTERS ASSEMBLE hits theaters 2025 pic.twitter.com/osco2W8lfw
— Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (@poohbandh) March 18, 2024
G:
I see. By the way, the copyright for 'Steamboat Willie,' in which Mickey Mouse appears, will expire in 2024 and become public domain. Do you have any plans to make a movie featuring Mickey Mouse?
RFW:
As for Mickey Mouse, I'm not going to touch it for now. There was a case in the past where Mickey Mouse was about to become public domain, but Disney lobbied for the extension of the protection period. Also, there are still many issues with the rights of Mickey Mouse, so I think it's a high risk. Also, other people are planning to make horror movies about Mickey Mouse, and five or six plans have already been revealed. Once this little bit of unrest calms down, I'm thinking about using Mickey Mouse a little. Also, I'd like to make a movie featuring Popeye.
However, if we plan too many projects, the studio's capacity will be insufficient and the quality of each work will decline. Therefore, I will think about Mickey Mouse after various projects have settled down.
G:
So, please tell us how you came to make so many films that focus on characters that are no longer under copyright.
RFW:
Yes. There are two main reasons. The first reason is that I want to create something different from what I've done before. I felt that there were few iconic villains in recent horror movies. I felt that the characters were small and limited. So I wanted to create a new icon as a villain in slasher movies, and I came up with the method of 'redesigning a character that had become public domain' like in this work.
The second reason is that I want to make a movie that the audience will choose. There are a lot of preachy horror movies these days, and some of them make me feel like 'No one wants this, right?' In order to break through that situation, I decided to make a movie that would be chosen by the audience using characters that are now in the public domain.
G:
This film was released just one year after the previous one. When did production start for this film?
RFW:
The previous film received a great response immediately after its release, so we came up with the concept and started filming from March to June 2023, immediately after its release. There were many parts of this film that we wanted to change from the previous one, so we set it as 'a film released in the world of this film.' Thanks to this setting, we were able to change the character design and the actor playing Christopher Robin. We are already thinking about the story part of our next production, 'Pinocchio Unstrung,' and we plan to start filming within a few months.
G:
I heard that the previous film was shot in just 10 days, but how long did it take to shoot this one?
RFW:
Most of the filming for the previous movie was completed in seven days. After that, we had to do a few more days of reshooting, so it took about 10 days in total. This movie took a total of 23 days. The budget was significantly increased compared to the previous movie, so we were able to extend the filming period. However, the increased budget was spent on improving the quality of the blood and the design of the creatures.
G:
I have a question about the design. In the previous work, Pooh had a distinctive 'yellow and plump face', but in this work, his appearance has changed significantly to 'low saturation and a thinner face'. Please tell us the circumstances that led to such a change in the character design.
RFW:
In the previous film, we only had 600 to 700 pounds (about 118,000 to 138,000 yen) to spend on Pooh's appearance due to budgetary constraints. So, we had no choice but to make him look like he just wears a rubber mask. In this film, we had a large budget, so we were able to use special makeup. So, we made him look more horror and serious than the previous film, which was a 'horror with comedy elements.' The previous film had a so-called B-movie atmosphere, but I felt that 'if he came out of the forest and was bright yellow, it wouldn't be very scary,' so in this film, we aimed for a dark atmosphere. Also, in this film, the situation is that 'humans have burned down the forest, the animals have died, and Pooh and his friends have no food,' so we made his face narrow-eyed to express that Pooh and his friends are hungry.
G:
In this film, Pooh uses a variety of weapons, including a chainsaw and hunting traps. What criteria do you use to select the weapons Pooh uses?
RFW:
Iconic villains, such as Jason's axe and Freddy's claws, also had distinctive weapons. So I wanted Pooh to have a distinctive weapon as well. The background of this film is that humans are trying to hunt Pooh and his friends, and traps are set in the forest to hunt them. So I came up with the idea that Pooh and his friends retrieve the weapons set by humans and use them as weapons. Bear-hunting traps are very cruel, and they are weapons that have never appeared in existing horror movies, so I decided to use them. I think one of the reasons why hunting traps have not appeared in existing horror movies is that they are difficult and dangerous to handle on set.
G:
I see, so even shooting with hunting traps is dangerous. There are many scenes in the forest in this movie. Could you tell us about any difficulties you faced while shooting in the forest?
RFW:
First of all, I'll start by talking about why I included a forest scene. When we were making this film and discussing where to set the story, about half of the opinions were that they wanted to set the story in a town, and the other half were that they wanted to set the story in a forest. So I thought that a structure in which Pooh and his friends go from the forest to the town was just right for this film, and I made it so that about half of the story is set in the town and the other half in the forest.
The reshoots for this film were done in December, and we decided to shoot in a winter forest, where the temperature was about 0 degrees. It was really cold, and the ground was almost frozen. In the climax of this film, the characters are breathing out white breath, but that wasn't added by video processing; it was just the cold that made their breath white. Of course, there is no heating in the forest, so we all really had to film like ghosts.
The muddy, slushy ground also caused problems during filming, with equipment worth £10,000 becoming covered in the mud and being destroyed.
G:
I see, that seems like a lot of work. There's one thing I noticed about the overall atmosphere of the film. In the previous film, there were a lot of scenes that were reminiscent of the Winnie the Pooh cartoon, such as the honey pot and Pooh's house, but in this film, there seemed to be fewer scenes that were reminiscent of the Winnie the Pooh cartoon. Please tell us the reason for this change.
RFW:
Honey appears in key scenes, but it certainly appears less frequently than in the previous film. This is a change to make this film more serious than the previous one. If we included a scene in this film where Pooh is lured by honey, it would have made the film more comedic and ridiculous. To avoid this, we reduced the number of times honey and other ingredients appear. However, I have many ideas about honey, and I am mulling over an idea for the third film, such as mixing honey with poison to make it an effective weapon against Pooh.
G:
I see. I'm looking forward to the release of the third movie. Thank you very much for today.
RFW:
thank you very much.
'Winnie the Pooh 2: The Lonely Bear and His Friends' is scheduled to be released on Friday, August 9, 2024 at Shinjuku Piccadilly and other theaters nationwide.
Winnie the Pooh 2: The Devil Bear and His Friends
Opens August 9th (Friday) at Shinjuku Piccadilly and other locations nationwide
Director and screenwriter: Reese Flake-Waterfield (Winnie the Pooh)
Screenplay: Matt Leslie (Summer of 84)
Starring: Scott Chambers, Simon Callow (Shakespeare in Love)
2023 / USA / English / 93 min. / Cinemascope / 5.1ch / Original title: Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 / Japanese subtitles: Shino Nakazawa / Provided by: New Select / Distributed by: Albatross Films
R15+
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