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The season's big animated smash Happy Feet is to the Australian film industry what The Lord Of The Rings was to New Zealand, says its director George Miller. The feature was made in Sydney over the past four years, a co-production between Australian company Village Roadshow and Hollywood's Warner Bros.
Funnily, Mumble, the hero of Happy Feet, is voiced by Elijah "Frodo" Wood.
Miller conceived the project as a problematic blend of live-action and animation like his two Babe movies.
But when he saw New Zealand's Weta Digital work with motion-capture technology for the character of Gollum in the first The Lord of the Rings film, Miller visited Weta and realised his headaches were over. Though first he had to build an animation studio - Animal Logic - from scratch.
After its release in the United States last month Happy Feet, which cost A$100 million ($113 million) to make, has already taken more than A$160 million at the box office.
Many famous Australian voices are behind the supporting characters, including Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Anthony LaPaglia, Magda Szubanski and the late Steve Irwin.
The film was a decade-long dream for Queensland-born Miller, a former doctor whose long and successful directing, producing and screenwriting career includes the Mad Max trilogy, the two Babe films, Lorenzo's Oil, The Witches of Eastwick and the TV mini-series The Dismissal, Cowra Breakout and Bodyline.
The catalyst for the animated musical came 10 years ago when Miller was watching a BBC/National Geographic documentary titled Life in The Freezer. The documentary told how penguins sing "heartsongs" to attract a mate, a fact Miller based the Happy Feet story around.
After the project was given the green light by Warner Bros, Happy Feet took four years of painstaking work to complete. The first two years were largely spent building the infrastructure and mapping out how to make the film.
Miller signed Sydney-based Animal Logic to do the animation, which could have been viewed as a gamble. While the company is one of the world's most respected visual effects houses, it did not have an animation department so had never made a feature-length animated film.
The kings of the animation world, Disney and Pixar, had years of animation experience, Animal Logic began Happy Feet with none.
Miller sent expedition teams to Antarctica for two months to film landscapes and record the sound, which were used to give the film its authentic look and feel.
The director wanted to join the expedition, but his tight schedule and the unpredictability of Antarctica's weather that could hamper his return, made it unviable.
"But there was a moment where there was a plane flying down to the New Zealand base on Antarctica that had a one-hour turnaround," Miller says.
"They said, 'Do you want to go down for one hour?' I was so tempted, but I decided it was a bit fraudulent to be there for just one hour. Everyone who has been down there is addicted to the place. They have to go back."
One of the easiest parts of putting the film together was signing the all-star cast to voice the animals.
As well as Wood and the Aussie stars, the film features the voices of Brittany Murphy, Robin Williams and Chrissie Hynde.
Murphy voices Gloria, Mumble's penguin love interest, who is not short of suitors because of her fabulous singing voice.
"She is an extraordinary character to be able to play, so strong and sassy, feisty, loyal, and a diva in the best sense of the word," says Murphy.
On many animated features, the main actors don't meet. They record their voice parts in different sound booths, often in different cities and sometimes in different countries.
It was important to Miller to have as many of the actors in the studio at the same time as possible, so while the production was based out of Sydney, he spent a lot of time in Los Angeles working with the actors.
"Actors are like ships in the night," Murphy says. "By happenstance, Elijah and I happened to be scheduled our first day of recording in the studio at the same time. George [Miller] liked that, so we continued with that pattern and made sure that Elijah and I were in the studio together for every single scene."
Happy Feet holds some strong messages for Murphy. Through Mumble and his animal friends the movie explores issues relating to the environment, pollution and global warming.
"There is sometimes a lot of depth but then one could go to the theatre and also just enjoy the fact that it is a funny, singing, dancing, musical sensation," she says.
The film also highlights the importance of appreciating differences in others. "The message regarding embracing one's own individuality is something that is extraordinarily important to me. This film can show people a different side of life."
- AAP
