Pressbook PDF

Animated Family Comedy
Directed by Thomas Borch Nielsen
World Premiere:
Toronto International Film Festival 2008
World Sales:
SOLA MEDIA GMBH
FILDERHAUPTSTRASSE 49
70599 STUTTGART GERMANY
Phone: +49 711 479 3666
Fax: +49 711 479 2658
www.sola-media.net
post@sola-media.net
Produced by Crone Film A/S, Radar Film ApS, SF Film A/S og Sola Media GmbH
In cooperation with DR
Supported by The Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film and TV-Fund, MFG & MEDIA
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Technical Information:
Genre: Animated Feature
Running Time: 78 minutes
Danish/German Co-production
Production year: 2008
Format: 35mm Cinemascope
Sound: Dolby SR
Completion: September 2008
Logline:
It‘s not easy to be Barry. An earthworm gets no respect. He lives at the bottom of
the food chain. But one day an old disco record turns his life upside down: He shall
make the world‘s greatest disco band. Okay, he‘s got no arms, no rhythm and no
band. But as Barry says: “We’ll do it anyway!”
Short Synopsis:
It‘s not easy to be Barry. An earthworm gets no respect. He lives at the bottom of
the food chain. He has the most boring job at the composting plant. He‘s all set for
a dull life in the dark. But one day an old disco-record turns his life upside down.
Suddenly he realizes his destiny: To be star of the world‘s greatest disco band:
„Sunshine Barry & The Disco Worms“! Okay, he‘s got no arms, no rhythm and no
band. But as Barry says: “We’ll do it anyway!”
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Long Synopsis:
Barry is a young earthworm, who is fed up with being at the bottom of the food
chain. All the other insects in the backyard consider earthworms to be major
losers. No arms – no backbone – no brain!
Barry’s only future prospect is a boring “career” as a mid-level manager in the
compost-making industry! If Barry could have just one wish come true, it would be
that he’d never been born a worm! But then one day Barry stumbles on an old
disco-record. And The Boogie enters his bloodstream. His body starts moving. He’s
out of control. He‘s gotta dance!
Suddenly: a brilliant idea: He will form the world’s greatest disco band: “Sunshine
Barry And The Disco Worms”! They’ll play the funkiest disco music and dance: “the
Bus Stop”, “the Hustle”, “the Funky Chicken!” All the other insects will dance
along, and they‘ll forget that he’s a worm! This is his ticket out of the miserable
worm life! He enters a Song Contest, which will be broadcast live to the whole
backyard. But Barry has forgotten one minor detail: “Worms can‘t boogie!” “But”,
as Barry puts it, “we‘ll do it anyway!”
If you think that creating a worm band is difficult...you‘re right! And when they
finally get it together, the TV-station won’t allow worms on the stage. Barry is
desperate. ”We just have to make the band less “wormy”. And change the name to
“Sunshine Barry and the Disco Dudes”! He even gets costumes which completely
hide their „worminess“. Just as Barry is admiring his handiwork, the whole band is
dug up by a man with a spade, and thrown into a bucket, where fishermen can buy
them as bait!
This is too much. Barry gives up all hope of a becoming a disco-star. If the
alternative is to go back to his boring worm-life, he‘d rather be impaled on a rusty
hook! But at this, his darkest hour, Barry learns that real disco is a dream about
good times and fun – and if anybody knows to dream - it is worms. What else is
there to do when you live in a dark, clammy tunnel?
Barry won’t hide that he’s a worm: he‘ll stand up and be proud! Barry and his band
gate-crash the Song Contest, and hustle their way to the stage. Ladies and
Gentlemen: “Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms!” But now that he’s finally there,
Barry is hit by a serious case of stage fright!
The insect-audience screams with laughter at the sight of the worms. ”Oh no!
Maybe a worm is better off in a dark, clammy tunnel after all”, Barry sighs. But as
soon as the band launches “Play That Funky Music” the rhythm grabs the audience!
All the backyard insects start to move. Tall and small, ant and earwig, spider and
fly, dance happily together. Barry’s dream has come true. They have proved that
not only can worms boogie - there‘s no way to stop them!!!
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Character Description
Barry, our protagonist, is a young earthworm, full of ambition and big
ideas. He doesn’t want to be just your average everyday worm. No, he
was meant for something BIG. He is the enthusiastic type and he will stop
at nothing to reach his goals. Barry sings two songs: “Play that Funky
Music” and “Blame it on the Boogie”.
GLORIA, the band’s female singer is a Paris Hilton wannabee. Barry has a
crush on her, but she’s only into the rich and famous. She has the look,
she has the style but she definitely doesn’t have the voice. Gloria sings a
fantastic unplugged version of “I Will Survive”.
TITO, the pudgy bass player, loves food and so is always on a diet. Tito,
Barry’s best friend, is a worry-wort – especially about Barry’s crazy discoescapades.
DONNA is Barry’s tough foreman at the compost plant. But as luck would
have it she grew up in the backyard of a disco so she’s able to help the
band find its groove.
JIMMY, the guitar player, is so into heavy metal that he messes up the
band’s disco sound.
TONY DEAN, a bug with a velvet voice and an evil nature. The last thing
he wants is to be beaten by a worm band during the song contest. He pulls
every dirty trick to beat THE DISCO WORMS in the song contest.
PETTISON, the head of the compost plant. His know-how is derived from
”Management for Dummies.”
Barry’s mom is a world-class worrier with a touch of hypochondria. But
make no mistake: she guides her son‘s career with an iron fi st, or iron tail
as it were. Barry‘s dad is a milquetoast but it’s his well-kept secret that
saves Barry at the 11th hour.
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Notes from
Thomas Borch Nielsen – Director of “Sunshine Barry & The Disco Worms"
Some people have a soft spot for little kittens. Others have it for puppies. I have it for
earthworms. Don’t ask why! My wife thinks that a romantic evening stroll with me in the
fresh air after the rain has fallen is a nightmare. I fell pity for the earthworms that lies
helpless on the asphalt on the road. I just have to stop and pick up every one of them, and
help them back into the save soil. It can easily take me an hour to walk 50 meters.
So I often walk alone! Listening to music on my Ipod while picking up worms. One evening
the tune was “Play That Funky Music, White Boy”. The worm in my hand started to
wriggle. And the words just came out of my mouth: „Wow! A Disco Worm“ - and BANG!
There was the idea: A young earthworm is sick and tired of being at the bottom of the food
chain. He decides to get away from the miserable worm life by forming the world’s
greatest disco band. Of course that idea was too silly to be taken seriously. After all, I
consider myself an intellectual fi lmmaker known for my sophisticated taste. But every
time I told somebody about the idea they laughed. To prove them wrong the scriptwriter
and I sat down and wrote a script so serious that it made an Ingmar Bergman movie look
like a sit-com.
But people who read the script were still laughing. And before I knew it, I was doing an
animated comedy about Sunshine Barry & The Disco Worms. I hate people who brag – but
I’m a genius. To get an idea for a movie where the characters have no arms and no legs is
a sure-fi re way to keep the animation costs down.
The producer loved me – until we found out that it’s ten times as difficult to animate a
worm. How do you make a worm dance like John Travolta? All the cool dance moves like
“The Hustle”, “The Bus stop” not to mention “The Funky Chicken” requires both arms and
legs! In times of trouble everybody turns to the director. I knew I couldn’t let them down.
And finally I came up with a brilliant solution: “The animators just have to work really,
really hard!” Well, they did. And till this day I still can’t tell you how they made it work.
But we have singing and dancing worms all way through the movie. Even one playing a
guitar solo – without arms...
I’ve been listing to Disco day in and day out for almost two years now. A sane person would
have gone mad a long time ago. But miraculously I still enjoy disco music. It just makes me
happy. Especially the fact, that we have 10 of the greatest disco hits in the movie. I love
them all. If I have a slight favorite song, I guess it’s still the tune that started it all, and
states the theme in the movie so well: “Play That Funky Music, White Worm”.
Making this movie has changed my life. I have learned a lot from The Disco Worms. For
example, I have invested in a pair of speakers to my Ipod. So now I play disco music out
load, which makes the worms dance away from the road - and I can enjoy my evening
strolls alone with my wife...
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Thomas Borch Nielsen – Director
Born 9th October 1963 in Copenhagen, Denmark
EDUCATION:
Film and Media Studies at Copenhagen University
DIRECTOR OF FOLLOWING FEATURE FILMS:
2008 “Sunshine Barry & The Disco Worms” – Animation 78 min
2001 “Ørkenens Juvel” aka “Jewel of the Desert” Live Action 95 min
1998 “Skyggen” aka “Webmaster” Live Action 97 min
SKYGGEN/WEBMASTER AWARDS:
1998 Danish Film Academy Award for Best Production Design
1998 Jury‘s Special Mentioning, Brussels Film festival
1998 Best Male Actor, Lars Bom, Fanta Festival Rome
1998 Best Visual Effects, Fanta Festival, Rome
Thomas has also directed several animation and live-action commercials for
e.g.: Pepsi, Carlsberg, IKEA and Suzuki.
Thomas has worked as Visual Effects Supervisor and Visuel Effects Producer on 30 feature
films including: Gone with the Fish (1999), Beyond (2001), I am Dina (2002), Tintin et moi
(2003), Strings (2004), The Fakir (2004), Svein and the Rat (2005), The Substitute (2006)
OTHER AWARDS:
2005 “The Fakir” (VFX-producer), Danish Film Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
2000 “Beyond” (VFX-supervisor), Danish Film Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
1986 “De Sidste Skud”, Novel (Writer), Winner of Tellerups novel contest
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Daniel Silwerfeldt - Co-Director
2006
2005
2005
2004
2003
2002
2002
2001
2001
2000
2000
„Vikaren“, 2:nd Unit Director / Visual effects Supervisor
„Olsenbanden Jr 2 Norway“, Visual effects supervisor
„Svein og Rotta“, 2:nd Unit Director / Visual effects Supervisor
„Fakiren fra Bilbao“, Visual effects supervisor
„Strings“, Visual effects supervisor
„Olsenbanden Jr Norway“, Visual effects supervisor
„Ulvesommer“, Visual effects supervisor
„En Kort en Lang“, Visual effects Supervisor
„I am Dina“, CGI Supervisor
„Dykkerne“, Compositing Artist
„Ørkenens Juvel“, CGI supervisor
Tonni Zinck - Co-Director
2006
2005
2005
2004
2004
2004
2003
2002
2002
2001
2001
2000
2000
„Vikaren“
„Olsenbanden Jr. 2“
„Svend & Rotta“
„Tin Tin & Moi“
„Fakiren“
„Venner for Livet“
„Strings“
„Olsenbanden Jr Norway“
„Summer of the wolf“
„I am Dina“
„En Kort en lang“
„Dykkerne“
„Ørkenens Juvel“
3D supervisor
3D supervisor
3D supervisor
3D Supervisor
3D supervisor
Compositer/2D Animator
3D supervisor
3D supervisor
3D supervisor
3D supervisor
3D supervisor
3D Artist
3D Supervisor/Animator
Morten Dragsted - Script
Features:
2006
2005
2003
“Råzone”, youth fi lm, directed by Christian E. Christiansen
“Af banen”, football-family movie, directed by Martin Hagbjer
“Regel nr. 1”, romantic comedy, directed by Oliver Kanafani
TV:
2004
2003
2001-2002
1998
1997
“Timm & Gordon”, comedy-TV-series in 6 episodes
“Timm & Gordon”, pilot for TV-series
“Skjulte spor”, TV-series, TV3, episode 9,13,17, 22 and 23
“Vladimir & Kennedy”, comedy-show, DR
TV-work at “Hvide løgne”, TV3 and “Finn’sk fjernsyn”, TV2
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Kirsten Skytte - Animatic Editor
2004 - 1998: Co-writer on Rumbo.
Animation Supervisor “Tintin et Moi”
Visual Effects Supervisor on e.g. Bornholms Stemme, Dykkerne,
Ø r k e n e n s J u v e l , p l u s T V s eries, commercial spots and
documentaries.
1997 – 1998: Visual Effects Supervisor on “Skyggen”. Nominated for a Robert for
Best Special Effects, and won the Special Effects award at the Fanta
Festival in Rome in 1998.
1994 -1997:
Owner of the company Colour Company, that e.g. coloured “Jungledyret
Hugo” and ”Help, I’m a Fish”.
Nina Crone – Producer
Nina Crone has produced 27 feature films for her own production company, Crone Film A/S
and a number of television fiction films for Danish TV.
Selected Feature films:
2003 “MØGUNGER” (NASTY BRATS) Director: Giacomo Federico Campeotto
2001 “SEND MERE SLIK” (SEND MORE CANDY) Director: Cæcilia Holbek Trier
2000 “SUSANNE SILLEMANN” (SUSANNE SILLEMANN) Director: Cæcilia Holbek Trier
1999 “FALKEHJERTE”, (KATJA’S ADVENTURE) Director: Lars Hesselholdt
1997 “NONNEBØRN” (AGNUS DEI), Director: Cæcilia Holbek Trier
1994 “THE SUNSET BOYS”, Director: Leidulv Risan
1992 “DET SKALDEDE SPØGELSE” (JASPER’S GHOST), Director: Brita Wielopolska
1991 “FREUD FLYTTER HJEMMEFRA” (FREUD IS LEAVING HOME), Director: Susanne Bier
1990 “SPRINGFLOD” (SPRING TIDE), Director: Eddie Thomas Pedersen
1988 “BABY DOLL”, Director: Jon Bang Carlsen
1986 „PETER VON SCHOLTEN“, Director: Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt
1985 “TAKE IT EASY”, Director: Jesper Høm
1984 “BUSTERS VERDEN” (BUSTER’S WORLD), Director: Bille August
1983 “TUKUMA”, Director: Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt
1982 “DEN UBETÆNKSOMME ELSKER” (THE THOUGHTLESS LOVER), Director:Claus Ploug
1978 “LILLE SPEJL” (MIRROR,MIRROR), Director: Edward Fleming
1977 “HJERTER ER TRUMF” (HEARTS ARE TRUMP), Director: Lars Brydesen
1976 “STRØMER” (COP), Director: Anders Refn
1976 „BLIND MAKKER“ (DUMMY PARTNER), Director: Hans Kristensen
1975 “KUN SANDHEDEN” (ONLY THE TRUTH), Director: Henning Ørnbak
1975 “PER”, (PER), Director: Hans Kristensen
1974 “NITTEN RØDE ROSER”, (NINETEEN RED ROSES), Director: Esben Højlund Carlsen
1973 “FLUGTEN”, (THE ESCAPE), Director: Hans Kristensen
Solveig Langeland - Co Producer
2008
2003
2003
“The Turtle’s Song”, Director: Nick Stringer
“One last ride (2003)”, Director: Tony Vitale
“One Love (2003)”; Director: Don Letts/ Rick Elgood
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