Wayne Thornley Adventures in Zambezia Interview

Wayne Thornley Adventures in Zambezia Interview

Voice Cast: Abigail Breslin, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeff Goldblum, Richard E. Grant, Leonard Nimoy
Director: Wayne Thornley
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Running Time: 82 minutes

Synopsis: Kai (Jeremy Suarez), a high-spirited falcon on the cusp of adulthood is bored and lonely living in a remote outpost with only his strict father, Tendai (Samuel L.Jackson), for company. Forbidden from venturing beyond the Katungu Boundary, his suspicions that there must be more to life are confirmed when Gogo, a kooky Stork and her co-pilot, a cute weaver called Tini, crash into his world. From them, Kai learns that downriver is a bustling bird city with exciting opportunities for a talented flier such as himself. In an angry exchange with his father, Kai discovers that Tendai has known all along about Zambezia and has been there himself! Hurt and angry at his father's betrayal, Kai leaves Katungu and journeys downriver.

Arriving at the famed bird city - a majestic Baobab perched on the edge of Victoria Falls - Kai s amazed by the throngs of birds from all over Africa who are busy preparing for the Spring Celebrations. He soon befriends a fast-talking Nightjar called Ezee who knows how to enjoy the perks of community life and guides him through the city. Kai is bowled over when he meets Zoe (Abigail Breslin), a beautiful and feisty Black-Shouldered Kite who is the adopted daughter of Sekhuru (Leonard Nimoy), Zambezia's founder. Unfortunately for him, Kai doesn't make a good first impression when he accidently ruins her Spring Celebration decorations. But he is thrilled when his skilful flying earns him a place on the Hurricanes, the elite defense patrol made up of the best fliers on Zambezia.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him and the rest of the Zambezians, Marabou Storks, tired of scavenging off the scraps of Zambezia have joined forces with Budzo, a vicious egg-eating Leguaan, and hatched a plan to take control of the island city. To make matters worse, Budzo captures Kai's father and all of the weavers, including Tini. In order to save Zambezia and Tendai, Kai has to face his past and learn that no matter how fast and talented a flier he is, no bird is an island.

Adventures of Zambezia

Release Date: March 28th (VIC/QLD), April 11th (NSW,SA,ACT) and April 20th (WA)

The World of Zambezia

Set in southern Africa, on the edge of a majestic waterfall, nestled in the shell of an enormous Baobab tree is a bustling city of birds called Zambezia. Famous for being the safest city in all of Africa, Zambezia has become the breeding sanctuary throughout the river valley where birds of every feather can flock together in harmony and peace.

Kai (a young Falcon) leaves his remote outpost against his Father's wishes to join the prestigious Hurricane defense flyers that patrol the skies keeping Zambezia safe. Kai's father goes after him but is captured by the notorious Budzo, a giant lizard who has conspired with the scavenging Marabous to take over Zambezia. Kai learns of his father's capture and finds himself at the centre of that deadly plot. If Kai is to save Zambezia, he will have to learn that not all battles are won with fast and fancy flying.

Set in the spectacular Zambezi River Valley, the film draws on this unique natural environment as its inspiration – an inspiration which can be seen in the beautiful, quintessentially African elements of the film.


Director's Statement

Triggerfish Animation is a little studio at the southern tip of Africa, with a big passion for telling memorable, universally appealing stories. So it is that grand ideas, epic landscapes and heroic characters facing overwhelming odds burst forth from the world of Zambezia.

Kai, the falcon, brought up in isolation and taught to value self-sufficiency over everything embarks on an action-packed journey that ends in him realising the value of community and teamwork. In so doing he saves the bird city from destruction in its greatest hour of need.

This tale of a plucky little falcon pursuing his passion in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles has been an epic journey for me too. From a green, naïve director who had only done a few short projects, I have grown alongside the movie and the studio. With foolhardy ambition and meager means we proudly brought to the screen a wonderful world influenced by the sights and sounds of Africa and shaped by the vibrant bird characters that inhabit the great city of Zambezia.

We've opened a window into a world many children have not seen: the mighty Zambezi River, the awesome Victoria Falls and the eclectic and colourful tapestry of art, craft and pop culture to be found across the African continent.

I believe this film will have adults and children alike emerging, from the cinema feeling like they've just visited a delightful world they've never experienced before, chuckling at memories of quirky characters, exciting action and a story with heart.
- Wayne Thornley

 

 

Interview with Wayne Thornley

Question: Adventures in Zambezia is a coming of age story about a young falcon who spreads his wings and ventures out towards the unknown and alluring world of ZAMBEZIA, only to learn a whole lot about himself and his family's history as well as -earn his wings'. What initially spoke to you in the script as a filmmaker?

Wayne Thornley: I loved that this little guy was struggling to figure out who he was AND trying to honour his father at the same time, which for a time seems impossible to do. I loved that finally, through his courage and sheer determination he actually manages it. He saves the day, figures out he's a hero and AND manages to "resurrect" his father. In some ways the story is really about how a father is saved by his son.


Question: The film features an eclectic cast of well-known actors. What was it like working with them?

Wayne Thornley: I'm not sure how he does it, but when Samuel L. Jackson swears at you, you feel sort of honoured. They were all a pleasure to work with and it soon became clear why they are the names that they are. They were all class acts. A real honour to work with them. I must also mention the voice talents of some people who's names might not be instantly recognisable. We had an amazing cast of top voice talent. You might not know their names, but you HAVE heard their voices. Most prominent among them is probably Jim Cummings, the voice of our villain, Budzo. Insane. The man is ridiculously good at what he does.


Question: Every independent film has it's own challenges – what were the greatest challenges facing you, as director of Adventures in Zambezia?

Wayne Thornley: I had never done this before and neither had anybody on the team. The studio was literally being built around us as we were in pre-production. We made SO many rookie mistakes and I think we also struggled to find out what the movie was really about, mainly because I think the studio was still trying to figure out what they were really about, as a company. The schedule was so tight, in some cases we sort of skipped steps and just bullheadedly ploughed on and that caused real headaches later on, but we got it done and it's a huge milestone in South African animation.


Question: What's the funniest moment for you in Adventures in Zambezia? How did you come up with the funnies?

Wayne Thornley: I crack up every time I see Ezee say, groggily, "Tell my mama I love her." That line came during the actual recording session. I was just throwing out lines for Jamal Mixon to say and that one made us all laugh, so it stayed.

The humour was a tough one. A bunch of Africans trying to make a movie that will make American families laugh turned out to be more of a challenge than we thought. We had some fantastic comic input from Cory and Todd Edwards, but melding together several quite different comic sensibilities from two different countries was sometimes not so funny. We also had some comic workshops with local comedians and, as always, some of the best stuff is off the cuff, in the sound studio, as we're recording. Always make room for improvisation.


Question: Can you talk a bit about the music in Adventures in Zambezia?

Wayne Thornley: Bruce Retief did a wonderful job of composing a score that is fun, funny, dramatic and haunting in all the right places. It draws on things American audiences might perceive as classically African, but also references a lot of things that are current in the South African music scene, all wrapped up in a classic Hollywood orchestral "bow".


Question: What do you hope for audiences to take away from Adventures in Zambezia?

Wayne Thornley: A full box of popcorn, because they were so engaged in the film they forgot to eat!

Question: Are you currently working on any upcoming projects?

Wayne Thornley: I have two scripts in development at the moment. They're offshoots of the very first personal project I started working on way back before Zambezia. Back then I made the rookie mistake of throwing too many ideas into one movie, so after learning that lesson on Zambezia, it became two movies! So now it's sort of full circle and it'll be thrilling finally to get to them to the screen.