Netflix has released the first trailer for Ray Gunn, Brad Bird’s animated sci-fi noir film, alongside an additional cast announcement.
According to the description, “In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova.”
Bird, the Academy Award-winning director of The Incredibles and Ratatouille, told Netflix’s Tudum that the concept dates back to the beginning of his career: “The elevator pitch I came up with is The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers. I like both of those genres, and blending them together seemed fun, and a chance to play with a lot of very cinematic elements and extreme characters.” He added that the film draws on noir classics he grew up loving, including Bogart detective movies and Out of the Past, saying, “Animation is too fun a medium, and too interesting, to limit what kind of stories can be told.”
Bird also described the balance between the film’s retrofuturistic setting and its darker undercurrents: “You’re being hopeful with the city, but you’re still showing there’s a dark underbelly — things that happen in the shadows.”
Who stars in ‘Ray Gunn’?
Sam Rockwell voices Raymond Gunn, a hardboiled detective, alongside Scarlett Johansson as Venus Nova, one of Metropia’s biggest and most controversial megastars, and Tom Waits as Ray’s alien partner, Eye-Ra. The voice cast also includes Alan Tudyk, Matt Berry, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Chernus, Kether Donohue, Michelle Rodriguez, Aasif Mandvi, Matt Jones, Kathryn Hunter, John Ratzenberger, Justin Peck and Patton Oswalt.
Who is behind ‘Ray Gunn’?
Bird directs from an original story he wrote, with a screenplay by Bird and Matthew Robbins. John Lasseter, Bird, Lisa Beroud, David Ellison and Dana Goldberg produce for Skydance Animation.
When does ‘Ray Gunn’ premiere?
Ray Gunn hits select theaters and limited 70mm screens Dec. 4, before premiering on Netflix Dec. 18.
Watch the trailer below:
Featured image photo credit: Netflix
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