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Nickelodeon Movies
is the feature film development and production division of
Nickelodeon which produces movies for kids and their families
in association with its sister Viacom company, Paramount Pictures.
Nickelodeon Movies was created in 1993 to develop and produce
several types of films, which include star-driven family event
movies, kids-first movies and animated features, all of which
bring extraordinary events, characters and situations into
everyday contemporary life. Nickelodeon feature film releases
include the Academy Awardâ-nominated “Jimmy Neutron:
Boy Genius,” “Rugrats,” “Snow Day”
and “Rugrats in Paris,” among others. Nickelodeon,
Nickelodeon Movies and all related titles, characters and
logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.
The film is rated “PG” by the MPAA for some thematic
elements.
ABOUT THE STORY
Scheck (Paul Sorvino), a powerful industrialist
who heads up Future Tech Industries, has decided to invade
the community where Arnold (Spencer Klein), Gerald (Jamil
Smith) and Helga (Francesca Marie Smith) have lived all their
lives. Together with a couple of unscrupulous businessmen
-- one of whom is Helga’s father -- Scheck plans to buy
up everything in sight, bulldoze it down and erect a mega-mall.
But as the clock ticks toward the approaching
demolition, Arnold finds out that the neighborhood is actually
a national landmark. If he can locate the document that declares
his block a historical site, the mayor will stop Scheck cold.
Following a series of leads from a mysterious
caller identified only as “Deep Voice,” and with
the help of the neighborhood “spy kid” Bridget (Jennifer
Jason Leigh), Arnold and his level-headed pal, Gerald, follow
a trail that leads them to the City Coroner (Christopher Lloyd)
and finally to the document. But just when it looks like the
neighborhood will be spared, Scheck torches the only copy
of the all-important document, sending Arnold’s hopes
of saving the neighborhood up in smoke.
Can Arnold figure out what to do before
the bulldozers knock down his world? Will his nemesis Helga
actually help Arnold…even if it means revealing that
she secretly loves him? Let’s just say that behind every
hero there’s a whole lot of heart!
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
“Hey Arnold! The Movie” is based
on the popular animated television series “Hey Arnold!”
Since its launch in October 1996, the beloved kids’ show
has consistently been one of Nickelodeon’s top-5-rated
animated series and is currently watched by over 46 million
viewers every month. (Source: Neilsen Media Research, February
2002)
“For five years, ‘Hey Arnold!’
has been a hit on Nick,” says producer Albie Hecht, President
of Film and TV Entertainment for Nickelodeon, TNN and TV Land.
“Arnold is a cool kid with an incredible sense of justice
and fair play. That’s why he’s one of the most beloved
animated characters on TV, and we hope movie audiences will
love him just as much.”
“In the series as well as in the feature
film, the show’s creator, Craig Bartlett, manages to
access not only the kid experience, but also the kind of universal
experience adults can relate to as well,” says executive
producer Julia Pistor, Senior Vice President of Nickelodeon
Movies. “The movie’s success, I think, will be due
to the fact that all generations can relate to Arnold, to
his friends and to their neighborhood.”
“Hey Arnold!” focuses on the daily life of Arnold,
a thoughtful kid with a creative mind, an admirable nonchalance
and a football-shaped head. While most shows for kids stay
in suburban environments, “Hey Arnold!” celebrates
the complex and colorful world of the city, replete with subways,
weird neighbors, rooftop hideaways and urban legends.
“Besides our goal of just being funny,
‘Hey Arnold!’ has always been about the characters,”
says creator Craig Bartlett. “The recognizable, urban
setting and real kid voices give our characters an emotional
realism with oversized loves, hopes and dreams, which I think
will play even bigger on the big screen.”
Bartlett, who came to Nickelodeon as a story editor for the
network’s popular animated series “Rugrats,”
and later as a director for “The Ren & Stimpy Show,”
first formed the Arnold character in clay to star in the clay-animation
films on “Sesame Street.” In fact, according to
Bartlett, the reason why Arnold’s head is shaped like
a football is because it was an easy shape to form in clay.
“I used to pour out the stuff like
cookie dough on a sheet, and I’d cut shapes out when
I was creating characters,” recalls Bartlett. “The
football shape was very funny to me, especially when I put
the eyes way out on the sides of his head, which gave the
character a cool sort of Buddha-like look, which I really
liked.”
That was Arnold in clay. He also appeared in a few comics
as well, including Simpsons Illustrated, except that back
then he always wore a little blue suit.
Reflecting upon the protagonist of the film and television
series, Bartlett admits that he definitely bases Arnold on
himself.
“I didn’t grow up in a boardinghouse
under an overpass with my grandparents, and I also don’t
have a head shaped like a football,” quips Bartlett,
“but Arnold does feel a lot of the same ways I felt as
a kid.”
Bartlett was raised in the state of Washington, and Arnold’s
neighborhood, he says, is meant to look like some of the neighborhoods
he knew in Seattle with a little bit of Brooklyn, New York,
mixed in.
“When I was growing up, I liked that everything was right
nearby,” remembers Bartlett, “but it didn’t
afford me a really great sense of a larger world outside of
the city. It’s the same with the kids in the ‘Hey
Arnold!’ series. Their whole world is just the few blocks
between their school and their homes. That’s why the
film is so exciting -- the neighborhood, which is their world,
is being threatened and Arnold has to save it. We were trying
to come up with the ultimate adventure, and that was it.”
The “we” that Bartlett refers
to includes the film’s director, Tuck Tucker, and co-writer,
Steve Viksten, both of whom have been with “Hey Arnold!”
since the series began.
Tucker, whose credits include work on “The
Simpsons” and “The Ren & Stimpy Show,”
has directed more than one hundred episodes of the television
series, and “Hey Arnold! The Movie” marks his feature
film directorial debut. He says that Craig Bartlett’s
philosophy is at the heart of “Hey Arnold!” and
that’s what makes it so wonderful.
“Craig’s philosophy is that bigger
is not better,” notes Tucker. “That’s why a
small, simple nice-guy like Arnold can do a lot.”
Tucker, whose job is to direct the animation
-- how the characters are drawn and how they move – emphasizes
that the film’s theme is especially reflective of Bartlett’s
bigger-isn’t- better philosophy. In fact, by coincidence,
both his and Bartlett’s own neighborhood, the Glendale
and Verdugo mountains community, was recently threatened by
a big developer who wanted to tear down the mountains in order
to build 500 new homes -- not unlike Scheck in the film, who
wants to bulldoze Arnold’s community to put up a mega-mall.
“The ecological undertones really struck
home with us,” remembers Tucker. “The grassroots
movement that rose up to fight this developer -- and win --
actually mirrors how Arnold rallies his neighborhood to fight
Scheck.”
Co-writer Steve Viksten, who also serves
as co-executive producer and voices Oskar, one of the colorful
characters living in the boardinghouse with Arnold, agrees
with Bartlett and Tucker that a sense of community is at the
heart of both the series and the film.
“I think Arnold is aware of the world
in general, but for him, the universe is really the small,
ethnically and socially diverse community in which he lives,”
says Viksten. “He loves his community, and that’s
why when it’s threatened by Scheck, Arnold doesn’t
care that he’s only nine years old. He’s going to
stand up and fight to save his neighborhood.”
Several notable celebrities contributed
their voice talents for “Hey Arnold! The Movie.”
Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Bridget, the fourteen-year-old
“spy girl” with very cool spy gadgets. Christopher
Lloyd portrays the eccentric city coroner and town history
buff that helps Arnold find the document that verifies the
neighborhood is an historical monument. Paul Sorvino plays
Scheck, the evil developer and president of Future Tech Industries,
who threatens to turn Arnold’s world into a giant shopping
center.
The film also features voice talent from
the television series including Dan Castellaneta (Grandpa/Nick),
Tress MacNeille (Grandma), Spencer Klein (Arnold), Francesca
Marie Smith (Helga), Jamil Smith (Gerald), Sam Gifaldi (Sid),
Olivia Hack (Rhonda), Anndi McAfee (Phoebe), Justin Shenkarow
(Harold) and Christopher P. Walberg (Stinky).
“Craig Bartlett has pulled together
a really tremendous cast,” says executive producer Julia
Pistor. “Christopher Lloyd is very funny as the quirky
man in the morgue, Jennifer Jason Leigh does a tremendous
job as the adorable spy girl and Paul Sorvino makes a great
villain. The performances by these guest stars and all the
voice talent are very distinct, and give the film a certain
degree of sophistication.”
Three-time Emmy winner Christopher Lloyd,
who describes his character as “a little bit bent”
and a “merry prankster hiding under a tough skin,”
adds, “The film sends a good message to everyone -- that
standing tall and firm for a good cause is important.”
The young actors who voice the three main
characters -- Spencer Klein (Arnold), Jamil Smith (Gerald)
and Francesca Marie Smith (Helga) -- agree wholeheartedly
that “Hey Arnold! The Movie,” isn’t merely
a fun feature-length cartoon. In fact, each actor grew up
with the series, learning lessons with every episode, as well
as taking the movie’s message -- fight for what you believe
in -- to heart.
Klein, now 15, took over the voice of Arnold
in 1998 from three previous young actors whose voices became
too deep for the nine-year-old character. He says that he
loves playing the all-around nice guy who gets to save the
day, but he is quick to point out that Arnold doesn’t
do it alone.
“The film really demonstrates the idea
of teamwork,” says Klein. “Arnold couldn’t
accomplish what he does by himself. He needs his best friend
Gerald, and he even needs Helga, who puts away her mock loathing
for Arnold and comes through to help him save the neighborhood.”
Jamil Smith, who is 19 now and started voicing Arnold’s
African-American friend Gerald when he was 12, says that he
believes that the film and the series put a positive spin
on life. “To me, the show’s message is that anything
you want to do you can do. No matter who you are or what your
background is, the human spirit is capable of doing anything
and everything.”
Finally, there’s Arnold’s
nemesis, the tough-as-nails Helga, who pretends to hate the
football-headed hero but is secretly in love with him. She
is voiced by 17-year-old Francesca Marie Smith, who started
portraying the 9-year-old Helga when she was the same age.
“I’ve not only grown up with Helga, I’ve matured
with her,” says Francesca Marie Smith, adding that she
loves playing the intensely passionate character who, in the
film, will reveal her “big secret” to Arnold. “They’ve
been building up to Helga’s big moment in the series,
and it turns out to be very sweet in the movie the way Arnold
handles it,” says Smith. “I’m really proud
of the whole film. It proves to kids everywhere that they
can make a difference.”
Release Date: 20th December 02
Distributor: UIP
Cert: U
Running Time: 1 Hour 16 minutes
www.uip.co.uk
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