Furry Vengeance
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- Michael Carnes
- Josh Gilbert
- Robert Simonds
- Keith Goldberg
| Furry Vengeance | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Roger Kumble |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Peter Lyons Collister |
| Edited by | Lawrence Jordan |
| Music by | Edward Shearmur |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Summit Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million[1] |
| Box office | $36.2 million[2] |
Furry Vengeance is a 2010 American family comedy film directed by Roger Kumble from a script by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert, and starring Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Ken Jeong and Alice Drummond in her final feature film role.[3] Dee Bradley Baker performed the animal vocal effects.
The film tells the story of a real estate developer charged with changing a forest into a residential community, which evokes the wrath of local forest animals. The film was produced by Robert Simonds and Keith Goldberg, co-produced by Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi and Robert Simonds Productions and distributed by Summit Entertainment. Edward Shearmur wrote the music.
Furry Vengeance was Fraser's final film as part of the William Morris Endeavor agency, as he switched to the Creative Arts Agency in 2010.[4] It was theatrically released on April 30, 2010. The film was a box-office disappointment, earning $36.2 million on a $35 million budget, and received generally negative reviews from critics.
In the wilderness of Oregon, a prairie dog screams after Riggs, a worker, drives past and throws a cigar at it while talking to Lyman Enterprise CEO Neal Lyman on the phone while planning to check up on co-worker Dan Sanders. This causes a raccoon to signal a mink to release a boulder that pushes Riggs' car to the edge of a cliff, teetering back and forth. After that, the raccoon throws the cigar back to Riggs who yells "You're a bad raccoon!" The raccoon then blows the car down the cliff. Riggs is then heard calling up Lyman to tell him that he quits.
Dan Sanders is a real estate developer from Chicago and nature lover who meets with Lyman who gives Dan the task of turning the forest of Rocky Springs into a residential development after Riggs' instant resignation. This all transpires much to the objections of Dan's son Tyler and wife Tammy who are unhappy in Rocky Springs while missing their lives in Chicago.
Unfortunately for Dan, the animals who are led by the raccoon refuse to sit back and watch their forest being destroyed. They manage to turn the tables on him by disturbing his progress, interrupting his meetings, and humiliating him. Upon receiving some research from his love interest Amber, Tyler tells his father that Rocky Springs is a forest reserve where he warns his father that "many have tried to settle Rocky Springs but they all failed." Following an attack by a grizzly bear that traps him in a tipped over portable toilet, Dan signs orders to have a drill sergeant capture and cage all the animals.
Meanwhile, Tammy is forced to plan an "eco-friendly" fair with a senile teacher Mrs. Martin at the high school which is sponsored by Lyman Enterprises, unaware of Lyman's plans to cut down the forest to build houses and a shopping mall "with a forest theme". Figuring this out and the fact that Neal lied about planning to send the animals to a nature preserve, Dan decides to set the animals free. Once released, the raccoon and his friends immediately wreak havoc on the eco-fair, causing the guests and entertainers to flee while Mrs. Martin (who doesn't seem to give a care about what's going on around her) talks to an owl.
Lyman accidentally tranquilizes the sponsor for the construction named Mr. Gupta after he attempted to break their deal. He flees into a worm tunnel with the animals in close pursuit. The animals begin attacking him as the bear drives a golf cart, pulling the tunnel away into the forest. After some convincing from Amber and Tammy, Tyler finally tells his father that he loves him.
Three months later, the forest is reclaimed as a nature preserve with Dan working as a park ranger. The poster promoting the forest preservation also states that anyone who violates the rules will be fined $1 million.
During the credits, the humans and animals dance to the Transcenders version of "Insane in the Brain."
Cast
- Brendan Fraser as Dan Sanders, a real estate developer.
- Brooke Shields as Tammy Sanders, the wife of Dan who works as a teacher. Although initially skeptical due to Furry Vengeance being an animal film, Shields joined on the basis that she would work with Fraser.[5] For the meat rabbit scene, Shields asked to have a statue made of real meat hit her face instead of a fake cardboard one;[6] "I didn't have a hamburger for a while after that," Shields explained.[7] In order for the meat to not seep through the hands of a stunt person throwing the meat, they put a "cardboard thing" on the prop;[8] this resulted in Shields' breaking her nose.[9] Performing a scene where Sanders uses turkey babble to communicate with a turkey expanded Shields' depth as a method actor, describing it as "not easy."[10]
- Shields also appears uncredited as the wife of Tuka the Caveman in the credits.
- Matt Prokop as Tyler Sanders, the son of Dan and Tammy.
- Ken Jeong as Neal Lyman, the CEO of Lyman Enterprises who wants to develop on the lands of Rocky Springs while pretending to be eco-friendly.
- Angela Kinsey as Felder, Lyman's personal assistant.
- Toby Huss as Wilson, one of the officers.
- Skyler Samuels as Amber, the love interest of Tyler.
- Samantha Bee as Principal Baker, the principal of Tyler and Amber's school who is Tammy's boss.
- Alice Drummond as Mrs. Martin, an elderly senile school teacher and senior citizen.
- Ricky Garcia as Frank, a construction worker.
- Jim Norton as Hank, a construction worker.
- Patrice O'Neal as Gus, a construction worker. According to Norton, O'Neal was difficult to work with on Furry Vengeance: "I was like the co-dependent wife. He was just embarrassing to be associated with. We had to go in and do our first meet with the director, and we had sat around all day. And I'm trying to like, 'Hey, we're doing a movie!' And it's a Brooke Shields movie, and we're sitting down. And he's just sitting there like 'Aahhhhhh.' Everybody hated him on that shoot."[11]
- Eugene Cordero as Cheese
- Gerry Bednob as Mr. Gupta, the sponsor of Lyman's project in Rocky Springs.
- Billy Bush as a Drill Sergeant that leads the capture of the forest animals.
- Alexander Chance as a security guard.
- Rob Riggle[12] as Riggs (uncredited), a worker for Neal Lyman who quits following the raccoon's first attack.
- Wallace Shawn as Dr. Christian Burr (uncredited), a therapist that Tammy hooks Dan up with after various incidents with the raccoon.
The vocal effects of the raccoon and the other forest animals were performed by Dee Bradley Baker, an experience he described as "a lot of fun."[13]
Production
Development
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On June 8, 2004, New Line Cinema bought a spec script by Carnes and Gilbert, Furry Vengeance, at a price of $750,000. Its premise of forest animals attacking a real estate developer was announced by the company; Kent Alterman, Keith Goldberg and Michelle Weiss were also announced as supervisors.[14] Steve Carell, an actor Alterman previously worked with on The Daily Show,[15] went on board to play the real estate developer on July 12.[16] It would've been Carell's first studio film where he received top billing.[17] In November 2005, Jeremy Piven was announced to replace Carell.[18] A May 6, 2007 Variety article announced Samuel L. Jackson in the role.[19]
On January 26, 2009, Brendan Fraser was announced to play the lead character and Roger Kumble to direct.[20] Summit Entertainment and Participant Media were also revealed to co-finance and co-produce the film that same day, and Furry Vengeance would've be the two companies' first collaboration.[20] It was also the first project Imagenation invested in as part of a $250 million production agreement with Participant signed in September 2008, where they would fund fifteen to eighteen of Participant's films over the course of five years.[21]
One of Kumble's major ideas included the creatures not speaking.[5]
Matt Prokop was cast on June 10, 2009,[22] with Skyler Samuels joining four days later.[23] On July 8, Brooke Shields, Ken Jeong and Samantha Bee joined; the film was Shields' first role in a mainstream film since Black and White (1999).[24] Dick Van Dyke was also announced to appear in the film that same day,[24] although he doesn't make an appearance in the final cut.
Furry Vengeance was initially planned to be released in July 2010,[23] but it was changed to an April date.
Filming
Filming began on July 6, 2009.[25]
Music
Songs appearing in the film include:
- "Gavotte" – Jeff Cardoni and Katisse Buckingham
- "Frank & Beans" – Chad Fischer (version by Count Smokula)
- "Insane in the Brain" – Transcenders (original version by Cypress Hill)
- "We Got It All" – Right The Stars
- "A-Punk" – Vampire Weekend
- "Surrender" – Ben Lee
- "Don't Bring Me Down" – Electric Light Orchestra
- "Le Freak" – Chic
- "The Saddest Song" – Transcenders (version by Morphine)
- "Beautiful Morning" – Transcenders
- "Washington Post March" – John Philip Sousa
- "Cotton-Eyed Joe" – The Goodtime Stringband (version by Asleep at the Wheel)
Original music for Furry Vengeance was composed by Edward Shearmur.
Marketing
When Furry Vengeance was announced in early 2009, Film School Rejects had little hope, especially when it came to Kumble being director: "The premise has some comic potential, but barring an unforeseen injection of intelligent satire into the screenplay one should expect little more than a live action takeoff on Over the Hedge, with lots of CGI and mild slapstick."[26] Collider reported that "casting directors just keep giving Brendan Fraser more chances to bore audiences," also sarcastically suggesting Furry Vengeance "is sure to be a hilariously unpredictable comedy gem."[27]
The trailer for Furry Vengeance was released on December 23, 2009.[12] Using only the trailer as reference, a Cinema Blend writer suggested the film was a rip-off of Over the Hedge (2006): "Never have I seen anything so blatant. It's not only the premise that's been stolen, the trailer contains specific scenes taken right from DreamWorks movie. And that's just the trailer."[28] Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News called the trailer "offensively bad," criticizing Fraser's presence and the "endless variety of shit, piss and fart gags."[29] James White also had little hope in the film, thinking it would be nothing more than a "slapstick-laden wannabe laugh riot." However, he did look forward to seeing Riggle, Bee, and Jeong in the film.[12] As /Film covered the trailer, "it's got self-aware animals and airbag and 'sprinkler to the crotch' jokes. If you're six, have at it. Otherwise, the less said, the better."[30]
On January 13, 2010, the MPAA rated Furry Vengeance PG for "some rude humor, mild language and brief smoking."[31]
Participant also collaborated with DonorsChoose to fund classroom projects about protecting wildlife and the planet.[32] TakePart, another participating non-profit, offered a Furry Vengeance Activity Guide that included activities such as quizzes and games to help kids learn about environmental protection.[33][34] Seattle Weekly noted the film's overly-simple message to extend to its marketing, joking that "They all but print the lesson plan on biodegradable popcorn boxes."[35]
