EXCLUSIVE: ComicBookMovie Sits Down With The Directors Of SAUSAGE PARTY

Conrad Vernon: I thought it was hilarious.
Greg Tiernan: Awesome. You know that happened twice?

Greg: Yeah, I heard they did it again with Finding Dory down in Orange County somewhere. *Laughs*

Greg: Oh yeah, that was the first time it happened, we just found it really funny. I doubt any kids were traumatized for life, so it’s all good.
Conrad: I think most of them reacted by saying "I wanna see that!" *Laughs*

Greg: That’s what pissed the parents off. 
Conrad: Yeah, yeah. That’s what’s going to make the parents angry.

Conrad: I mean it wasn’t that difficult, basically we just treated this film like we’d treat any other Dreamworks film that I directed or anything that Greg has ever worked on. We treat it the same, the process was the same. We tried to establish the quality the exact same way, but I think with the content being more R-rated obviously, I think that was a more freeing thing, for me at least. I wasn’t having to watch my language, I was having to watch the dialogue, the jokes we put in just had to be funny, they didn’t have to be kid-friendly. So, the learning curve was pretty much the same as any other movie, but it was really, really fun to really be able to do something adult for the first-time.

Greg: For me, real quick, I have actually worked - Thomas & Friends just happened to be the latest major project that myself and the studio were working on before Sausage Party - But, I have had the pleasure of working on more adult animated properties in Europe in the past, so I was well used to that and you just sort of switch-and-go with the flow. It’s whatever the content of the project is. And it’s something that both Conrad and I had wanted to do for a long, long time, especially in the North American market, is introduce animation as a perfectly viable medium for telling more adult stories and content.

Conrad: *Laughs* Well, the tone was kind of set by Seth & Evan (Goldberg) and Kyle (Hunter) & Ariel (Shaffir), who wrote the script. And we knew this was going to be a Seth & Evan-type movie, so the tone was pretty laid out in the script. It was just the way we visualized it, obviously in all of these movies we have extra gags that Greg & I, the board artists, and everyone have thrown in and added to. It was mainly our task to set a visual tone and give the film a distinctive style and I think that’s what we were mostly responsible for, but the comedic tone was definitely set by Seth & Evan. We just followed that.

Greg: Oh no, no, the whole thing was a big improv party, which really helped. Obviously, we already had an incredibly solid script and then each and every one of those guys just brought more and more to the table. It was amazing. And for me and Conrad, the way these recording sessions went down, if we were working with you know any of the guys - Bill Hader or Salma Hayek, Edward Norton, any of them, Seth, Evan, Kyle, & Ariel, we were all in the room together and it really was just a very freeing way of doing things, so you’re not stuck rigidly to the script, and you don't have to just "read this line and make it funny." And with a majority of these people, that’s their craft and what they’re known for, as highly talented comedic actors. They all just kind of ran with it and for us, personally, it was the most fun I’ve ever had recording actors was on this movie for sure. They were fantastic.

Greg: Most of them were separate, with all of these actors being in such high demand and all. It's such an A-list cast that we were very fortunate to have and they’re all in demand for all sorts of different projects as you know, but it all worked out fine. Jonah Hill would be down in New Orleans shooting something, Bill Hader would be in L.A., Michael Cera’s in Chicago, and Salma lives in Paris, so she’s over there, and a lot, most of the time, we had to do it separately, but with every single one of the actors, myself, Conrad, and Seth would all be available at their sessions.

Conrad: I think we pretty much listed everybody that’s in the movie. *Laughs* - But, yeah, absolutely.
Greg: There’s a few of them.
Conrad: There’s dozens of them, actually, I think there’s a helluva lot of them.

Both: Yes. 

(Tiernan is voicing Potato and Noodle Soup; Vernon is voicing Toilet Paper, Sauerkraut, Catcall Sausage, Grape #1, Beer Can, and Pop Bottle) 

Greg: Superhero wise, the only one I would really want to, the one I was absolutely in love with in my younger days, and because I grew up as an Irish guy in the UK, I absolutely loved Judge Dredd, 2000 AD. That’s already been done a couple of times of course, but in my humble opinion, I think it could be done again. *Laughs* I loved anything to do with traditional superheroes, but Judge Dredd, to me, is something I’d really love to tackle.

Conrad: I think Deadpool really opened up a door for maybe if we do another R-rated animated movie, we find a superhero and kind of do it in animation and let it be R-rated. I think that’d be really cool.

Greg: I think this movie (Sausage Party) for sure will open a lot of doors and people will sit up and take notice and say: "You know what, from an investing point-of-view and a studio point-of-view, backing movies like this to the general public where they are actually going to see them can work" - R-rated animation and comic book properties are definitely going to continue to grow, it’s a huge area that is still largely untapped. So, if we played a little role in helping to open that door along with properties like Deadpool, which was awesome, we’re really happy with that.

Conrad: I think we definitely want to do a sequel, it just depends on how this one does (at the box office). We’ve definitely been talking about it, and if we decide to make it, we have to have a plan. So, there is a plan to do one and we’ll see if that comes about.

We also have a number of clips for you to check out ahead of the movie:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sausage Party, the first R-rated CG animated movie, is about one sausage leading a group of supermarket products on a quest to discover the truth about their existence and what really happens when they become chosen to leave the grocery store. The film features the vocal talents of a who's who of today's comedy stars — Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, and Salma Hayek.