For generation after generation, the name Sinbad has evoked images of swashbuckling
adventures on the high seas. Born more than a thousand years ago in the ancient
tales of The Arabian Nights, Sinbad has come to the big screen before, most notably
in Ray Harryhausen’s cult classic stop-motion animated films. However, the
state-of-the-art tools of today’s traditional animation have allowed Sinbad
to be brought to the screen as never before in "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven
Seas."
Producer Jeffrey Katzenberg offers, "Sinbad is one of those epic hero characters
we all grew up with, but his story has never been told in animation, and the opportunity
to do something fresh, with a contemporary sensibility, was very exciting. Telling
the Sinbad tale also allowed us to create an incredibly breathtaking world full
of fantastic monsters. That’s the fun of animation—to take an audience
to places unlike anything they’ve ever seen before."
To craft the script, the filmmakers turned to a writer who was no stranger
to bringing epic heroes of the past to the screen: John Logan, the writer of the
Oscar®-winning Best Picture "Gladiator."
"After the phenomenal success of ‘Gladiator,’ we thought, who
better to adapt the legend of Sinbad?," says Katzenberg. "John set out
to take this rich mythology and reinvent it in a way that would make it a compelling
story for a 21st-century audience, and I think he really accomplished that for
us."
Having never worked on an animated film before, John Logan recalls that he was
intrigued by the story possibilities, but at the same time admits, "I had
no idea what to expect. Jeffrey Katzenberg—who, by the way, is quite the
con man—asked me i
f I would like to write an animated movie. I said, ‘Well,
I really don’t know much about it.’ He assured me, ‘It’s
really fun; you’ll have a great time doing this,’ knowing full well
the ‘fun’ would take four years of my life," Logan laughs.
"But I must say, it was incredible fun," the writer continues. "I
grew up on those classic Sinbad movies with Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion
animation monsters, and I have always loved pirate movies with all that swashbuckling
action. What guy doesn’t? So to get to play in that realm for a while was
really exciting. Animation is also incredibly liberating because it gives a writer
absolute freedom to explore the most fantastical worlds. In live action, there’s
always a nagging thought in the back of my mind that if I write that 10,000 soldiers
come over the hill, somebody has to cast them, somebody has to wardrobe them,
somebody has to shoot them, and there has to be a hill. But in animation, if I
write that a 100-foot sea monster rises from the waves and jumps over the ship,
I know it can happen."
Logan also appreciated the level of teamwork that comes with working on an animated
film, saying, "I was the beneficiary of some incredible talents because the
act of writing ‘Sinbad’ was actually one of collaboration
with the
producers, directors, animators, story editors, artists, the voice talent…
It was like electricity in that room; wonderful things emerged as we all tried
different takes on the material."
Producer Mireille Soria notes, "We started with the Sinbad legend and then
brought in different elements of mythology that we felt worked with the story.
There is action and romance, but at its core is a tale of friendship based on
the Greek fable of Damon and Pythius, about one friend who is willing to sacrifice
his life for the other."
Director Patrick Gilmore expounds, "We cast a really wide net out to different
mythologies to find what we thought were the greatest adventures and the coolest
monsters to test our hero, but the thread that runs through the story is a test
of friendship. In our story, Sinbad is reunited with his friend Proteus after
having been estranged for about 10 years. Yet, when Sinbad gets into trouble,
Proteus steps forward and puts his own life on the line for his old friend. What
will Sinbad—this thief who is used to having the freedom to do anything
he wants in life—do? Will he run for the horizon, or will he risk his life
for his friend?"
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