Passion Pictures Directors againstallodds 'Gladly' Animate Popeye

Few animated characters are as iconic as spinach-chugging, balloon-muscled, romantic-sailor-man Popeye. Indeed, the nautical chap’s distinctive look and band of misfit companions are so recognisable that it would take a brave soul indeed to attempt to reproduce the idiosyncratic animation… or, in the case of the recent 'Gladly Tuesday' spot for Bank of America, a pair of brave souls.

Marking their first commercial through Passion Pictures (exclusively representing them in the UK and US via the London and New York offices), Stockholm-based directors againstallodds, aka Niklas Rissler and Derek Picken, have taken on the challenge of putting Popeye and pals back on screen in the style of the 30’s-era cartoons. The 30-second spot, voiced by Will Arnett, sees notorious debt-accumulator J. Wellington Wimpy demonstrate the functionality of Bank of America’s mobile banking app by ‘gladly’ paying his debts via his mobile phone and hence ‘finally making good on his word’.

We were enamoured by the authenticity of the animation and the audacity of its inception, so chatted to AAO’s Niklas Rissler about the project.



Important question first: Are you named after Phil Collins’ 1984 opus?

The answer is no, it's a complete coincidence! The simple truth lies closer to the fact that we were looking for a nice-sounding name starting with a lot of a’s so we would come up early in a search for animation studios; a kind of budget marketing stunt if you will. As it turned out there was a somewhat famous song we had to share our name with. Small price to pay for success though.

OK, on to the ad. How did you get involved in the project?

We were approached by the agency we think mainly because of our film about Smutley, the happy go lucky cat with his stylistic roots in 20s-style animation. We were quite excited as we love that kind of animation. We got a bit carried away with the pitch and made two fully rendered animation tests that ended up being slightly longer than the finished film.



Did you find the challenge of taking on an iconic figure like Popeye a daunting prospect? Did you have knowledge of him from childhood? Is Popeye big in Sweden?!

To be honest no, we were mainly thrilled. We were maybe a little apprehensive of the feedback from King Features syndicate who owns the rights to Popeye. Given the age of the characters and wide range of possible stylistic approaches over the years there was some room to go wrong but it turned out that they were quite happy with how we treated the characters.

We have an international team here, Swedish, English and Australian and we all grew up with Popeye in one way or another. Cartoons were generally quite sparse growing up in Sweden but Popeye was pretty standard knowledge even this far up north. We even have a domestic hamburger chain named after Wimpy, even if it's by his Swedish name Frasse. I have to say though that the catch phrase, "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday" was new to us. It might have been lost in translation somewhere.

What’s the trick in recreating the 30’s/40’s style of the cartoons? Did you have to do a lot of research?

There was very little trickery, it was as you suggest; a lot of research involved. Very enjoyable research I might add! After picking the right era with the right look, it was a matter of deciphering all the little telltale signs of that style. Movement patterns, line weights, frame rates and such.



Was the animation hand-drawn? It certainly looks so. Did you digitally enhance the image at all?

I guess it could be a matter of debate. It was all drawn by hand albeit on a digital tablet. As far as I see it, it was all hand-animated in the traditional way, drawing and painting one frame at a time, the difference being that there was no paper, cells or traditional tools involved but all made by the same principle. The same goes for the backgrounds, painted digitally by hand. It was all comped together and taken through a digital aging process to give it the right look of the time.

How did you fit the anachronistic mobile phone into the action without it appearing too incongruous? Did it take a while to figure out?

This was one of the trickiest things actually. It did take a while to get it right and find the balance between correct info, fonts and logos and still make it feel hand-drawn. I think the key was to simplify the form and make the characters' interaction with the device be the telltale signs of a smartphone rather than the look of the device itself. Animating it in a way that feels at home in a 30s cartoon helped a lot as well.



How long did the whole process take? What was the most challenging aspect?

I don't remember exactly but I think it was around five weeks. The biggest challenge I think was fitting all we wanted to do within the 30 seconds. We had lots of ideas and little side gags that there just wasn't room for. From an animation and technical POV it was mostly just fun!

The spot’s VO is by ‘Arrested Development’s Will Arnett. Were you involved in the recording? Tempted to throw in an errant ‘Michael’ or ‘I’ve made a huge mistake’ for the blooper reel?

I'm sorry to say that we weren't involved in the VO recording at all. We only had some minor input on the reads to make sure it fit with the imagery in terms of timing.



Are you pleased with the results? Any plans to make more commercials in this style?

Yes we are very pleased indeed. We really love this style of animation. It is fun to do and fun to watch. There is something very appealing in the visual innocence juxtaposing the often quite morbid content of animation from the twenties and thirties. We are not planning to do anything in this style at the moment but if the opportunity arose, we would love to do it!

You’ve just signed to Passion Pictures. What is it about the company that seemed like a good fit?

Good animation and storytelling is what we love to do and in that field Passion Pictures is one of the strongest players! We also have a history together and the time felt right to work together again.

What’s up next for you?

That is a good question! We have a few other projects waiting to happen and we are currently working on a short film that we would love to finish at the end of the year. Apart from that we are always looking for a project that will allow us to push ourselves further creatively.