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In a movie based on the identity crisis of a chameleon trying to be a hero rather than hide in camouflage, irony drenches more than just “the-fish-out-of-water” protagonist Rango—it rains down on the western genre with a cool animated glaze.
Although an animated feature, “Rango” sticks out because it identifies itself as a Western film, despite the colorful style the director uses to tell his story.
“I didn’t look at it as an animated film; animation is a technique for telling a story that uses many illustrations,” said Director Gore Verbinski in a conference call last month. “This is a movie about an identity crisis within the western genre. This film is a film within a film from its origins; it has a lot of different perspectives.”
Despite using a desolate, hidden creature as his protagonist, Verbinski pumped plenty of historical references into Rango, making him a dimensional character who is well versed in Shakespeare, and is based off the hero-to-be characters in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western protagonist, “the Man with No Name.”
For Verbinski, having an old friend breathe life into the character was something that made the project really special.
“Rango” is the fourth collaboration between Verbinski and actor Johnny Depp, who previously teamed up to create the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Depp voices, and inhabits, the animated lizard, who finds himself in a shaky Western town consumed in outlaw mischief.
Wanting to be a hero, Rango changes into the role of the town sheriff, a role that is different from his out-of-the-way lifestyle that includes hiding behind a green-blending shell.
The duo’s unique connection is one of the movie’s enticing elements, however, Verbinski says the entire production process was something different, yet rewarding for him and the rest of the artists involved.
In fact, a team of 40 animators and seven artists collaborated in a single house to create the movie, bonding over a shared vision.
“The major challenge was seeing the movie as a whole,” Verbinski said.
In addition to the production crew, the actors bonded together by working in the same room and practicing the same techniques used in live-action films.
“We thought, ‘Why abandon the technique we use with live action?’ so we got the actors in the same room, and it was great to see them bounce off one another,” said Verbinski. “There is a tremendous amount of live action to this animation.”
“Rango” stars several actors whom Verbinski has been trying to work with for a long time now, including Ned Beatty, Alfred Molina, Ray Winstone, Harry Dean Stanton and Timothy Olyphant, as well as strong female voices from Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin. Despite the movie’s well-rounded cast, Depp still grabs the attention as the headline name and as the lead role with Verbinski noting, “Rango was always going to be Johnny.”
The actor-director relationship is as strong as ever said Verbinski, who said Depp was in without reading a script, a display of strong trust within the actor that his long-time co-worker would steer him in the right direction.
“We are the same age and have shared similar experiences, and we have just kind of came up with our language when talking, like with nonsensical words, which we both somehow understand,” Verbinski said. “We wanted a character that can be anything, this slightly absurd aquatic animal that is in the desert, and that was great for Johnny, who I think put a little bit of all his characters of the past into ‘Rango.'”
While the film’s protagonist is forced into standing out in the wild West, where bandits and criminals run rampant, the genre remains ambiguously hidden in the sandy setting.
“Whenever I make a movie, I want to make a movie that I would see, and so I never want to target a specific audience, because genre splicing gives you different perspectives and is really enjoyable for me as a filmmaker to do,” said Verbinski. “Animation doesn’t define a narrative, there is plenty of slapstick humor and really emotional scenes in this movie. “
