More family-friendly fare for the festive season in Ferdinand, the animated story of a giant bull who prefers flowers to fighting. Ferdinand’s story was first told in the 1936 book The Story of Ferdinand written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson.
Described as a warm and charming take on how appearances can be deceptive (or, why you should never judge a bull by its cover…) the book’s message of love and acceptance has resonated for decades and has now reached the big screen courtesy of 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios.
Ferdinand (voiced by John Cena) is a peace-loving bull who is adopted by a loving farmer and daughter. However, his idyllic life changes after he’s mistaken for a vicious beast and is taken away to the last place on earth he wants to be, a bull training camp. But Ferdinand is determined to get back home. Along the way, the kind-hearted bull makes many friends and changes the lives of those he meets. But there still one great obstacle he’ll have to overcome.
The plan to bring Ferdinand’s tale to the big screen began more than six years ago. Director Carlos Saldanha (creator and director of the Rio series and director of many of the Ice Age movies) recalls being very excited when he found out the book was in development to become a movie.
The plan to bring Ferdinand’s tale to the big screen began more than six years ago
“I had read the book and fallen in love with the story and its wonderful message of acceptance and diversity,” he says, adding: “I thought that this was the right moment to take this lovely little book and develop it into a family movie for today’s audiences.”
Given the story is set in Spain, Saldanha and a few of his colleagues visited the country to seek visual inspiration and authentic backdrops for their project. “We were inspired by the beauty of the landscapes and unique architecture of Spain,” says the director. “The colour palette of the movie has a lot of earth tones to it, and is very different from the tropical colours that we used in the Rio movies. We took in the magnificent architecture of some of the cities and travelled south to the lovely region of Andalusia.”
The mountain-top city of Ronda in Spain’s Malaga province inspired the location for the farm where Ferdinand finds happiness with the young girl Nina and her father. “We wanted the art to reflect the beauty of this world,” explains Saldanha. “We wanted the locations to express the possibilities of an animated movie, but also be truthful to the art, history and culture of Spain.”
The team retraced Ferdinand’s journey to Madrid, Seville and farmlands in the south of the country. “The old and the new co-exist beautifully here,” notes Saldanha. “There are old windmills and modern highways and these ancient white cities that offer a beautiful contrast to the modern elements of Spain. We visited the haciendas where they raise the cattle and took in every little detail, the vegetation, the colours, the small villages and the people. We also saw the windmills of La Mancha and the famous Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid. All these locations help us create an authentic world for our characters.”
Joining Cena in bringing the film’s characters to life are Kate McKinnon (Lupe), David Tennant (Angus), Gina Rodriguez (Una), Peyton Manning (Guapo), Bobby Cannavale (Valiente), Anthony Anderson (Bones), Jerrod Carmichael (Paco), Flula Borg (Hans), Daveed Diggs (Dos), Raúl Esparza (Moreno), Sally Phillips (Greta), Boris Kodjoe (Klaus) and Gabriel Iglesias (Cuatro). The screenplay is by Robert L. Baird, Tim Federle and Brad Copeland.