No matter what films Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg put together at this point, they'll draw comparisons to their super successful feature debut The is the End. Their directorial follow-up The Interview (also with James Franco) is in post-production now, but their upcoming Sony/Annapurna animated movie that they co-wrote, Sausage Party, has now signed a hugely talented voicecast that makes it impossible not to think of their directorial debut, as it retains five of that film’s actors. Rogen will of course lend his brilly tones to the pic, as will Franco, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and David Krumholz. And if that wasn’t enough, Nick Kroll, Kristen Wiig and Edward Norton fill out this rather testosterone-laden bunch. I guess the title doesn’t lie.
This comedy will probably aim for the harder-than-medicated-erections spectrum of the R-rating, and it's surprising that the production has signed a pair of child-friendly filmmakers to dish it all out. Shrek 2 and Monsters vs. Aliens helmer Conrad Vernon is teaming up with the somewhat prolific Thomas the Train Engine director Greg Tiernan to make this one, using a script that was co-written by Rogen and Goldberg as well as first time feature writers Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir, . TheWrap says that the studio Nitrogen Studios Canada will be putting together all of the CG animation and design elements, as they have for video games like God of War and Thomas and Friends. I can hear them saying, "No, make it look more like a penis," around the offices now.
The story of Sausage Party follows a forgotten sausage who accidentally falls out of someone’s grocery cart. He must then team up with a bunch of other store items as he works towards getting back on the shelf before the 4th of July sale. It seems like a pretty depressing venture, fighting so hard just to get bought, cooked and eaten, but maybe the subtext of the film revolves around one achieving their main purpose in life. Or it could just be a bunch of sexual innuendo and F-bombs. It’s most certainly a tragedy that the character list wasn’t also revealed, as I’d love to know what kind of items all of the actors are going to be. If a kumquat doesn’t appear for at least one joke, I’ll have to rethink everything about my life.
Everybody in this cast is coasting along at career-high crests, with the possible exception of Norton - but that’s only because he hasn’t been taking on that many projects. Still, there are some who would probably rather see this for him alone, as everyone else but Krumholz has completely saturated pop culture in more than one way in the last few years. Regardless, it’s a terrific line-up that will hopeully bring in waves of adult audiences, including some that would never spend a weekend watching something animated.
Because of how long it takes for animated movies to get made, one can assume that the mouse wheels are already spinning on the project, and we’ll all be a little older when Sony crashes Sausage Party in theaters at some point in 2015. No matter how old I get, though, the following scene will still draw a laugh out of me.
