Netflix has revealed new details about its upcoming animated adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, which will premiere on the streamer on Oct. 17. Written and directed by Oscar nominee Phil Johnston (co-writer and co-director on Ralph Breaks the Internet, co-writer on Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph), the quirky feature will include three original songs penned by Talking Heads’ frontman David Byrne titled “We’re Not Like Ev’ryone Else,” “Lullabye” and “The Problem Is You.” Paramore singer Hayley Williams joins Byrne in the end-title song “Open the Door,” which is co-written by both artists.
The production also announced the full voice cast list: Joining the previously announced Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale, who voice Mr. & Mrs. Twits, as well as Emilia Clarke (Pippa) and Natalie Portman (Mary Muggle Wump) are Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Beesha), Ryan Lopez (Bubsy), Timothy Simons (Marty Muggle-Wump), Nicole Byer (Beverly Onion), Jason Mantzoukas (Mayor Wayne John John-John), Alan Tudyk (Sweet Toed Toad), Mark Proksch (Horvis Dingle), Rebecca Wisocky (Dee Dumdie-Dungle) and Charlie Berens (Gorb Klurb).
Co-directed by Katie Shanhan and Todd Demong, the film’s animation was produced by London and Mumbai-based Jellyfish Pictures (The Boss Baby, The Bad Guys), which had to shut its doors in March due to financial struggles. The Twits is produced by Phil Johnston, Maggie Malone and Daisy May West.
The official synopsis for the movie reads: “The Twits tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Twit, the meanest, smelliest, nastiest people in the world who also happen to own and operate the most disgusting, most dangerous, most idiotic amusement park in the world, Twitlandia. But when the Twits rise to power in their town, two brave children and a family of magical Muggle-Wumps, are forced to become as tricky as the Twits in order to save the city. A hysterically funny, wild ride of a film (chock-full of the Twits’ beloved tricks – from the Wormy Spaghetti to the Dreaded Shrinks), The Twits is also a story for our times, about the never-ending battle between cruelty and empathy.”“
“I still can’t quite believe that I spent the last few years collaborating with David Byrne, a musical hero of mine since I was 13,” says Johnston. “From the first demo he sent me, on which the featured instrument was a 100-year-old banjolele, I knew I was going to love the songs he wrote. Throughout the process, my collaboration with David has been incredibly fun and surprisingly easy, probably because I’ve been stealing from him for so long. When David and I started talking about an end credit song, the first potential collaborator David brought up was Hayley Williams. The first word I said was ‘yes.’ Followed by ‘please.’ I still can’t quite believe that two of my favorite songwriters wrote a song together for The Twits. The saying, ‘never meet your heroes’ simply does not apply here. I met two of them, and boy howdy, it’s been a dream come true.”
“This was a fun project,” says Byrne. “Like other Roald Dahl books, this one has its share of dreadful characters – this time two of them are front and center. Kids (and adults) love that they can vicariously imagine their own worst impulses played out, harmlessly, in a punky fun story. So when I was approached to write some songs for this movie I immediately said ‘let me give it a try and see if you like what I come up with’. Phil was wonderfully clear what each song needed to express and what the character was feeling at that moment. I reached out to Hayley Williams to collaborate on the end credits song and we both agreed that it should serve to remind us that there is heart and connection in the story after all the unpleasantness depicted by Mr. and Mrs. Twit. Hayley was inspired by Beesha’s story and came up with some lyric ideas, and I set them to tune and boom.”
The Twits is the first of Netflix’s animated adaptations of the works of author Roald Dahl (1916-1990), who’s best known for beloved books such as Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, The Witches and The BFG.
