“Dog Man” director explains the “high-end handmade” image style of the “Captain Underpants” spinoff

Ready to meet “Dog Man”?

DreamWorks’ new animated film based on Dav Pilkey’s character from the Captain Underpants books is coming soon. Below you can watch the trailer for the film, starring Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher and Ricky Gervais, followed by our interview with the film’s director, Peter Hastings.

The trailer highlights the film’s unique visual style, which Hastings describes as “high-quality craftsmanship,” before explaining his team’s method for bringing Dog Man to life.

Hastings is familiar with the subject matter; he worked on a television series called “Captain Underpants” and developed a rapport with Pilkey. Hastings told TheWrap the film is “actually about a cop and a dog who have an accident, and they solve this problem by sewing the dog’s head to the man’s body, which sounds crazy and absurd.” What Hastings enjoyed was that the “Dog Man” graphic novels are presented under the premise that they were written by two 10-year-olds. “That brings a certain amount of charm and style and silliness and weirdness, and then Dave also brings a tremendous amount of good-natured subversion and a lot of emotion as well,” Hastings explained.

What’s also funny about the trailer is that Dog Man, after the switch, exhibits a lot of canine behavior. He’s not just a human man with a dog’s head. “His brain is that of a dog, but he has the physical abilities of a human – he can use a phone and he can move around wherever he needs to go, but he likes to lick your face and chase a ball,” said Hastings. The filmmaker grew up with dogs and observed their behavior while filming.

Like many of DreamWorks’ animated films, such as the upcoming “The Wild Robot,” “Dog Man” is recognizable for its unique visual style, reminiscent of the film “Captain Underpants” but also going well beyond it. That’s thanks to production designer Nate Wragg, who worked on the first film as well as the adventure film “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” Reynolds credits Wragg with the uniqueness of the world, which was animated by partner studio Jellyfish in London.

“We brought a lot of people who have really worked at the highest level in animation onto this film, and that was fantastic,” Hastings said. He describes the look of the film as “high-quality hand-crafted.” “It comes from the books. A big part of those books is the style of the book and its charm, its innocence and silliness. The design is really driven by the tone of the books. We mix things up – you’ll see a scene where the desk looks like it has brush strokes on it, but we put a reflection on it, like wood would reflect. Or a doorknob looks hand-painted but has a reflection like brass. I just feel like in the film you can reach out and grab things.”

Hastings, who is making his film debut, is also thrilled with the casting. Davidson, he said, “is great because he has a boisterous, wild energy, but he’s actually a very nice guy, and that suits his role perfectly.” And as for Gervais, who plays a character who appears later in the film, “He did an incredible amount of reading that we never got to put into the film, but it made the sessions really entertaining.”

And if you’re wondering why the character played by Fisher is actually Australian, well, there’s a reason for that. “The character of Sarah, the greatest reporter in the world, is Australian in the books, but she doesn’t have a specifically Australian dialect or anything in the books,” Hastings said. “And we thought, So she doesn’t have to be Australian. And then Dave said, ‘Oh no, no, I have so many fans in Australia. She must be Australian.’ And Isla came in, and she knew the books, and she was very enthusiastic about them, and she did such a great job.”

When asked what Hastings most offers audiences in “Dog Man,” he explained, “I’m really proud of the range of this film, that it’s really clever and funny, and that we were able to put some really emotional moments in it. At the end of the film, you not only feel like ‘that was fun,’ but you feel like it was meaningful. It’s going to be a great family experience.”

And that’s an experience you can have with your family when Dog Man hits theaters on January 31, 2025.

The post ‘Dog Man’ Director Explains the ‘High-End Handmade’ Visual Style of the ‘Captain Underpants’ Spinoff | Exclusive appeared first on TheWrap.