It’s Raining………Food?

Submitted by: Kyle Nin (SoSF Staff Reporter)

Screenwriters Philip Lord and Chris Miller are creating and will co-direct a new computer-animated film based on Judi Barnett’s classic children’s picture book “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.” The duo plan on making the feature as a funny homage to such disaster movies as “Airport,” “Twister” and “Armageddon.” Sony Pictures Animation will produce Meatballs as part of its slate of family-friendly CG films.

Barnett’s book is a fairytale of sorts about a town where food falls from the sky. “We loved the book,” Lord said in an interview. “We both grew up with the book. It’s my favorite kid’s book. Chris’ too.” He added that they thought it was a natural to become “a great disaster movie for kids. And, (that it) was always our instinctual take from the get-go. I think it’s because those disaster movies are kind of silly, and they take themselves really seriously. And we felt like, it’s sort of a silly idea for a movie in the first place. And giving it a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek comedy treatment felt like the way to go.”

Some of the scenes in the animated flick will have the White House in Washington D.C. being smashed by a falling giant pancakes. The camera pans up to the sky, which is filled with giant flying-saucer-like pancakes, doing a parody of Devlin’s “Independence Day.” Other scenes will show a giant cob of corn rolling down the Great Wall of China and a huge tornado of linquini with flinging meatballs twists its way through a major metropolitian city…a tribute to “The Day After Tomorrow”

“There’s a lot of (references to disasters in this one),” Miller said. “Pretty much every disaster movie you’ve ever seen, I think, will be referenced.”

Lord added: ….”We cite Michael Bay as a huge influence.” Miller interjected: “We’re the only people in the world that cite Michael Bay as a huge influence.” “Cool,” Lord said. “We just made an enemy. That’s awesome. It’s a good thing he’s not powerful.”