Having bedbugs in your apartment really bites – but have you ever speculated about what these lousy parasites might gossip about when they are not sinking their teeth into us while we sleep?
What about our pet dogs and cats, or the pesky pigeons and mice? What might they be gabbing about when the humans are out of earshot?
Thanks to the miracle of television – and a talented pair of creators – now we know.
Tune into the premiere of Animals – a much-anticipated animated series that begins on Saturday, February 6, on the new OSN First HBO channel, a day after its premiere on HBO in the United States – and soon you'll be simpatico with the downtrodden creatures living in one of the least-habitable environments on Earth: New York City.
Whether it’s lovelorn rats, confused pigeons or ageing bedbugs in the midst of a midlife crisis, the awkward small talk, moral ambiguity and existential woes of these non-human urbanites prove startlingly similar to our own and throw new light on the human condition.
For example, horses, like humans, are given to whining about uncomfortable footwear. Here’s one snappy exchange between a sarcastic pair of nags who toil all day hauling tourists around Central park in a buggy:
“My feet are killing me.”
“Metal on concrete. Oh yeah, that’s a comfortable combo. Nailed it.”
“Literally into our hooves!”
What began as an indie project for creators Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano, Animals caught the eye of networks at last year's Sundance Film Festival, where it became the first TV series ever to seek a distribution deal. It hit the jackpot, scoring positive critical response as well as an unprecedented two-season order from HBO.
On board as executive producers are the Duplass Brothers, Mark and Jay, who also created the acclaimed HBO comedy-drama Togetherness, and produced movies including 2014's The Skeleton Twins, starring Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, and the 2012 time-travel comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, which was directed by Jurassic World and Star Wars: Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow.
“Jay and I have been excited about bringing the principles of indie film to the TV space, and to have our first real experiment land at a place like HBO for two seasons is beyond what we could have imagined,” says Mark Duplass.
To wrap your head around the concept of the show, try to imagine South Park but with all the characters as animals – and a surreal twist. It also wades into the deeper, darker side of life, as well as the silly shallows, all in a flat, semi-crude animated style.
As for the roster of stars providing the voice talent, it is distinctly top-drawer, including Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, The Martian), Wanda Sykes (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Horatio Sanz (Saturday Night Live), Rob Corddry (The Daily Show, Hot Tub Time Machine), Molly Shannon (SNL), Matt Walsh (Veep), Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) and Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, The Avengers) – to name but a few.
As Entertainment Weekly says: "Name a famous comedian. That famous comedian is likely voicing one of the many animated creatures."
This series is proof positive, too, that genius can spring from the mundane. As co-workers in a New York advertising production company, Matarese and Luciano stumbled on the idea for Animals by watching a pair of pigeons across from their office. For fun, they imagined they were the pigeons – and began riffing the dialogue.
Soon after, armed with a handful of animated shorts, they hit the road to screen their passion project at South by Southwest and the Palm Springs International ShortFest. A 15-minute version won Best Comedy at the 2013 New York Television Festival.
“The way this show’s evolved now, you get the sense that for us the most important thing is making it funny, and that’s what we’re really going after,” says Luciano. “But we find that in everything we write, there’s this undercurrent of an emotional story – real characters with realistic feelings.
“Sometimes they’re sad, sometimes they’re morbid, sometimes they’re depressing – and that just emerges naturally.”
"Going from having made Animals in the supply closet at our day job to making Animals in a supply closet at HBO headquarters is an unfathomable dream come true," adds Matarese.
“HBO has so many supplies, you have no idea. Great for drawing stuff.”
• Animals begins at 11pm on Saturday, February 6, on OSN First HBO
artslife@thenational.ae
