The cast and crew of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the upcoming sequel to the video game movie hit, has made an appearance at IGN’s latest installment of Fan Fest, where they answered fans’ questions.
Participating in the panel were director Jeff Fowler, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, with special participations of Idris Elba and Jim Carrey at the end. Questions from fans regarding the sequel were asked to the cast and crew, with some tidbits being revealed.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 trivia
As we bring in these great new characters like Tails and Knuckles, we’re gonna work really hard to make sure that the audience cares about them, and then have a great time with them.
Jeff Fowler, director
- Jeff Fowler has hinted that the movie has the overall runtime of 2 hours.
- When making a movie, Fowler believes the most important thing it should strive for is to figure out the right proportions for the action, the humour and the heart. The director himself believes that there is not a problem with having too much of a heart with the movie, with small, intimate, character scenes such as the one with Tom and Sonic in the boat being extremely important for the narrative.
- Schwartz, when asked if Sonic was to a have a character arc in the sequel, said that “there is great character development.” The voice actor added that “Sonic has place to grow […] and new ambitions”.
- Fowler confirmed that iconic set pieces from the original Mega Drive games will appear in the movie, and said that “we all got excited about pulling that great sort of imagery that all the fans are going to get excited about when they see it on the big screen, and just creating a real cinematic version of stuff that fans have loved.”
- Regarding Sonic and Tom’s possible parental relationship over the movies, James Marsden said that “I think their relationship continued to evolve into the second movie. […] It started to evolve into a parental relationship, whether Tom is aware of it or not.”
I think Tom is just trying to be a good supprotive presence for [Sonic], and like any father would, guide him through life and reassure him that he is going to have his time, and there will be a reason for him to be using all of these powers.
James Marsden, actor
- When comparing the movie version of Tails to his game counterpart, O’Shaughnessey believes that her movie perfomance was a more grounded one, and also said that Tails in the movie goes through some experiences that his game counterpart has never been through before.
- Idris Elba, when asked on what personal touches he brought to Knuckles, answered that he tried to bring more a “sense of humour”. He added that Knuckles is not “much of a funny guy”, so he tried to bring some “oddities” to the echidna, and a more comedically serious angle, with the actor being specially proud of a gag involving ice cream.
- Jim Carrey, when asked about why Doctor Robotnik was such a good fit for him, Carrey said that he is a “master of playing people who are filled with self-loathing and who compensate for it with a veneer of total confidence,” and “even an air of superiority.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will be released in movie theatres on 8 April.
