The ongoing musical collaboration between Talking Heads icon David Byrne and Paramore singer Hayley Williams is set to venture into as-yet-uncharted territories: animated feature adaptations of beloved Roald Dahl books.
The two — who have already recorded with one another, with Williams set to appear on Byrne’s upcoming album “Who Is the Sky?,” and have previously covered each other’s songs — have come together again to write the newly announced track “Open the Door,” set to be the end credits song for Netflix’s upcoming film “The Twits.” The streamer has now given the film a release date of Oct. 17.
Byrne has also written and produced three original songs for the film — “We’re Not Like Ev’ryone Else,” “Lullaby” and “The Problem Is You” — which will be performed by the cast.
Speaking of the cast, Netflix has a number of additional names, including lead voice stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (“Never Have I Ever,” “Freakier Friday”) and Ryan Lopez (“Primos,” “Phineas and Ferb”), alongside Timothy Simons (“Nobody Wants This,” “Veep”), Nicole Byer (“Long Story Short,” “Why Won’t You Date Me?”), Jason Mantzoukas (“Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” “Big Mouth”), Alan Tudyk (“Andor,” “Superman”), Mark Proksch (“What We Do in the Shadows,” “Better Call Saul”), Rebecca Wisocky (“Ghosts,” “Devious Maids”) and Charlie Berens (“Green and Gold”).
From director Phil Johnston (“Ralph Breaks the Internet”) and based on Dahl’s children’s book first released in 1980, “The Twits” tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Twit, described as the “meanest, smelliest, nastiest people on the face of the earth,” and their “epic battle against a family of magical Muggle-Wumps and two brave children who refuse to let the Twits’ cruelty win.”
“This was a fun project. Like other Roald Dahl books, this one has its share of dreadful characters — this time two of them are front and center,” said Byrne. “Kids (and adults) love that they can vicariously imagine their own worst impulses played out, harmlessly, in a punky fun story. So when I was approached to write some songs for this movie I immediately said, ‘Let me give it a try and see if you like what I come up with.’”
Byrne added that he “reached out to Hayley Williams to collaborate on the end credits song,” adding that the singer was inspired by the story and came up with some lyric ideas.
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“Being a part of this movie is like one pinch-me moment after another,” Williams said. “My favorite Roald Dahl book growing up was ‘The Twits.’ I’m drawn to learning about twisted characters like Mr. and Mrs. Twit and The Wormwoods from ‘Matilda.’ The way Phil and Daisy adapted the original story was really exciting to me, as was the animation style. It feels like a cautionary tale — and also a really lovely depiction of chosen family and community, which is one of my favorite topics. I owe David Byrne for pulling me into the music for this. It was so fun and so surreal starting a song from scratch with him.”
The film’s previously announced voice cast includes Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale as the Twits, plus Emilia Clarke and Natalie Portman.
Alongside Johnston, who co-wrote the script with Meg Favreau, Katie Shanahan and Todd Demong co-directed, while Johnston produced with Maggie Malone and Daisy May West. The animation was made by Jellyfish Pictures (“The Boss Baby,” “The Bad Guys”).
“I still can’t quite believe that I spent the last few years collaborating with David Byrne, a musical hero of mine since I was 13,” Johnston added. “From the first demo he sent me, on which the featured instrument was a 100-year-old banjolele, I knew I was going to love the songs he wrote. Throughout the process, my collaboration with David has been incredibly fun and surprisingly easy, probably because I’ve been stealing from him for so long.”
He continued: “When David and I started talking about an end credit song, the first potential collaborator David brought up was Hayley Williams. The first word I said was ‘yes.’ Followed by ‘please.’ I still can’t quite believe that two of my favorite songwriters wrote a song together for ‘The Twits.’ The saying ‘never meet your heroes’ simply does not apply here. I met two of them, and boy howdy, it’s been a dream come true.”
“The Twits” marks Netflix latest adaptation of Dahl’s books after “Matilda the Musical,” based on the hit stage play, and “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” directed by Wes Anderson. In 2018, the streamer paid a reported nine-figure sum to acquire the animation rights to 16 of the author’s books, including “The Twits,” while in 2021 it acquired The Roald Dahl Story Company, believed to be the biggest IP acquisition deal ever for Netflix at the time.
From Variety US