Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken director Kirk DeMicco discusses the first female led DreamWorks film, and why it was so important to get it right.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Director Talks First Female Led DreamWorks Film
It might be hard to believe, but Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is the first DreamWorks feature film to have a solo female lead. During an interview with the director, Kirk DeMicco, he talks about the importance of doing it right. He claims that while going over the pitch from writers about the Gillmans being krakens that live on land, it was very clear that the energy was with Ruby, and then with her mother.
“I was very intrigued of telling a mother daughter story after working on Croods and writing, directing Croods, which is a father daughter story. We were very lucky when we got Lana Condor and Toni Collette to play these first two roles, and Jane Fonda to play Grandmama. What is wonderful is it’s the first female title lead of Dreamworks in 14 films and 25 years.”
DeMicco goes on to say that it is really exciting to him to be a part of the process and that it made the team step up their game. “We wanted to make sure she had an adventure, as difficult and as exciting and as tough, as any we ever gave any of the guys. Because she deserved it.”
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken doesn’t just feature one female lead, it features several. As Kirk explains, “We have four or five very strong females. And the nice thing about that is when there’s five actresses like that, you can allow them to have some faults, and they become more interesting, and the scenes become more interesting. They don’t have to be perfect.”
Really, the best thing about the movie is that these characters and their relationships aren’t perfect. In any mother-daughter, mother-grandmother relationship, there is friction and conflict and faults. So it was important for the team to bring that to the screen. “What was really fun is that we got a chance to explore that a little bit more and even though it’s Ruby Gilman, Teenage Kraken, it’s those scenes that act as a ballast that make us feel that we’re in a world that we should believe in.”
This movie takes what we think we know about krakens and mermaids, and flips it on its head. Kirk DeMicco says that is a long standing tradition with DreamWorks. “From Shrek to Kung Fu Panda, subverting the tropes and burrying the expectations. The fun thing with this is that as a kraken monster, your worst nightmare in high school would be waking up and knowing that you’re a giant Kraken.”
Kirk had fun with Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken because it really hits on the teenage experience. What could be worse than dealing with that — during prom week! “It was something that was inside of her that she could view as being monstrous, or she could learn to accept, and it’s a power. She can’t hide it.”
He details that they expressed their through the mother daughter story. No one calls parents to let them know now is the time to have the talk, and to explain changes that are going on with our kids. “I feel that’s what Toni Collette’s performance is. Feeling the weight of the burden on a parent who really just wants the best for her daughter, and didn’t know when to say it, but she’s become a young woman.”
Head to theaters to see the first female led DreamWorks film when Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken hits theaters on June 30th.
Full Kirk DeMicco Interview
Be sure to check out our full interview with Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Director Kirk DeMicco to learn about creating the final designs of the giant kraken and giant mermaid, the importance of showcasing real life conflicts on screen, and why he thinks everyone will fall in love with Ruby.
NEXT: Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Flips Myths On Their Head
About Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush (Jaboukie Young-White), who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom (Toni Collette), has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water.
But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother (Jane Fonda), the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas. The Kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids who have been battling with the Kraken for eons.
There’s one major, and immediate, problem with that: The school’s beautiful, popular new girl, Chelsea (Annie Murphy) just happens to be a mermaid. Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and go big to protect those she loves most.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken comes to theaters on June 30th.
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Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.