Interview with Erik Wiese, director of Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
we have these serious conversations and we’ll talk about a lot of metaphor and subtext that’s happening with those lyrics. [...] This is also part of the growth and you know we thought we were being maybe a little covert about it, but I think everybody got it and went along with it. When we saw [the] trailer [put out by Apple], we were like, they got it. They know what we’re saying. The camp is just a metaphor for everybody’s home, for our planet, and even those things in their homes and neighbourhoods. It means so much more.
The following is a transcript of an interview with Erik Wiese that took place on the Peanuts Discord server. Some surprise it was!
- Look Up, Charlie Brown
- Voice actors and singers
- Inspiration
- Voice actors and singers
- Ben Folds and Broadway
- Charlie Brown and God
- Missing scenes
- Tonal shift in the WildBrain specials
- Animating for the present state of the world
- Temporal setting
- Another musical?
- A more complex world
- WildBrain specials in relation to past ones
- The privilege of working on Peanuts
- Post punk rock
- Doing Snoopy subplots
- Being a film nerd
- Favourite character?
The interview
40 minute readLook Up, Charlie Brown
For [the scene for] “Look Up”, we actually had a problem. How do you put two songs that are melancholy back-to-back [following “When We Were Light”]? You would never do that in an album. [But] I was like, well we got to do it? We got to make sure that we go “lower” than that. Because [Charlie Brown] thought he was going to have a good time. I think the thing too for me, I [was able] to do something really abstract [and] kind of weird. At first people [in my team] were like, “what are you doing? What do you mean [you're drawing] no background?” I was like no backgrounds! nothing! He’s just floating in a dark place. You can only do that with Peanuts, I don’t think I could do that with SpongeBob or anything else.
Once [“Look Up”] came in, we had waited so long [until then] that I was so moved by it.
I spent all night storyboarding that myself. The sun was coming up and I did the animatic, and I delivered it… (laughs) It was just so moving! The emotional part of it just drove me to keep going. It turned out to my favourite song. As much as I loved [“When We Were Light”] where I put in young Charlie Brown, and that was really moving as a tribute to Charles Schulz, with [the inclusion] all the different versions of Charlie Brown, to see [Schulz’s] progression as an artist. [That] was fun, but for some reason “Look Up” became really moving, and I think having his dog reaching his paw out to him? That was cool. [I’m glad] I got to do this, and I’m so glad that so many people feel the same way [emotionally to this as I have].
Anjum: I was really intrigued by what you said about putting melancholy back-to-back. I think that might speak to some people’s… well, I don’t want to say criticisms? But a certain sense of incongruence in various comments about [the special’s] pacing. But, I [emotionally] felt it! I felt the “lower”, more melancholy impact, that was delivered in [“Look Up”].
I’m so glad. I think in a way it actually worked in our favour? You’re not expecting to have another dark piece, and then it hits you. I think everyone did want to have a happier, upbeat, [piece], but [melancholy is instead] what Charlie Brown felt, right?
Voice actors and singers
Nern: One of the things that we were speculating in how we were talking about the special for the past day, [is how] Charlie Brown and Sally’s voice actors [did] most of the singing. We were wonder if you guys maybe tested the different [voice actors] out and whether they had exceptional talent and were chosen to take on the bulk of that work, or whether it was a creative decision to have them sing, if [any of those kinds of decisions] played a role whatsoever in it.
It turned out that Sally [performed by Haggie Kragten] and a lot these kids [who are the] voice actors for The Snoopy Show, we were able to get the back. Some of them were starting to age up, and [Kragten] thankfully she could sing, and same thing for Lucy [performed by Isabella Leo]. However, Linus [performed by Wyatt White] couldn’t sing, and he was getting older so unfortunately you may have noticed I didn’t use Linus as much.
There was about ten minutes I had to cut for time, because I had to keep it at forty minutes, [where there] were more of the “B-list” characters in there, but back to the point, Charlie Brown could not sing so we had [to do] a big search, and we found Jayd [Deroché]. We would play [their vocals] back-to-back, we would listen to Etienne [Kellici], we would listen to Deroché, and we had five other singers [as candidates] who were all very close [to it]. We felt that Deroché just had that thing, even his speaking voice was very Charlie Brown! That was really cool. We also hired a few other young singers for some of the background vocals.
Nern: I’m super surprised that you guys brought on a whole new voice actor for Charlie Brown, because they sound so similar. I didn’t even know that!
At one point we need to change the dialogue a little bit, and we had Deroché do some [scratch voices] for us, and there was even some discussion of like, “maybe we’ll get away with [using him as a full voice actor?]” I was like, we can’t, we got to bring back Kellici to do it. The other thing too is, just like with any TV show or movie, [voice actors] have their schedule that you get for a certain time slot, and if you want them for more then it costs more. So that was one of those [options] but instead we had to bring him back.
Inspiration
555: Have you looked at the previous musical specials for stylistic cues you wanted to incorporate into the specials?
I didn’t, I really wanted to avoid that actually. I’m such a fan of a lot of the specials, but I wanted to avoid that. I’m already a fan of Sound of Music, Rocky Horror Picture Show, West Side Story. I like [film director] Danny Boyle, the way he cuts feels like a musical. I’ll say also The Blues Brothers! I consider it a musical and there’s a certain kind of rhythm and pacing to a lot of its cuts. I feel with a lot of those musical they’re not afraid to go into music video territory with abstract cutting from hey we're here—then we’re here!
That allowed me to do what I call “time travel” within “When We Were Light” and “Leave It Better”. I’m playing with time, in “Better” there’s a scene with Sally and Charlie Brown putting up those photos, and that forces you to think, when did they do that? And you think, oh they did that right after they found the box. It was during that first montage that they were preparing for everything. So you can cut that way. Same for “Light”, the wall of photos became a time travel device to match up how Sally was, finally paralleling a lot experiences that Charlie Brown was, where she was so reluctant to [participate] but she found her own way through it and starts to understand.
It also gets to show Charlie Brown’s experience, and also flash forwards as well. You’re kind of wondering [as a viewer] and you’re extending a few days within that music video. I always think of one of the first songs in Sound of Music when Julie Andrews is finally leaving the nunnery, and she’ll walk down a path and turn and she’s in a completely different time zone and completely different location. I felt, steal from the best, from Robert Wise. That’s what made me feel free do do some abstract cutting.
Not over-polishing
555: That’s why I feel like why that stylistic approach really serviced the special. In previous specials, don’t get me wrong the singing is great, but if you watch the very first Charlie Brown special the singing is very amateurish. Lee Mendelson admitted so, it’s very raw, though down to the point. With your approach, it serves a lot more than just it being a song. It does this special well.
Thank you. You know I am a fan of those old musicals, but I hadn’t seen them [recently] and I want to revisit them actually. But I remember as a kid I loved them.
Anjum: Are we talking about the animation or the stage versions, or both?
The animations, I’ve never seen the stage versions.
The whole thing of the kids being amateurs, I do love love that. We did want some of that in there, but sometimes with the story, story wants to be what it wants to be and same with the music. With the actual song making, I really wanted to avoid it going into Disney territory? Into Frozen? I sort of think, as much as what we love what we did in “It’s The Small Things, Charlie Brown”, Ben [Folds] didn’t arrange it, he didn’t record it. Though his version is so great, and I love what we ended up with “Small Things”, but it got to a place where it was so polished what when it got to doing this I really just wanted a small band, I don’t want to get into a lot of orchestral stuff? We can pepper in in here and there.
You have executives, they have their people who you start working with, and I was like this is sounding like a Disney I don’t want this! I told Ben [Folds] and he was like, alright let me just sit in on a record. He just took over, it was exactly what we needed. I was so grateful for him to do that because normally I don’t think he has the time. But he hit it off and he knew what we were going after. I think he was also like, you I think have something really special here. So yeah he came in and recorded all the voices and went above and beyond. He would send me his mixes at like 3 am on a text for me to hear it (laughs) and it was great!
Ben Folds and Broadway
Anjum: You know I’m just relishing the fact that you speak of Ben in first name terms…
(laughs)
Anjum: I’ve revered Ben Folds most of my life!
555: That’s his coworker!
He’s a great guy! It was such a wonderful collaboration.
Nern: With the the talk of Folds, we also saw that you brought some Broadway experts in to consult in some of the songs? I’m wondering, when you’re writing a musical [you have] the different kinds of moving pieces in terms of, oh Ben Folds' lyrics, and whoever else might have contributed to different songs, just general writing and your directing. Like, from the outside looking in that seems like a lot of moving pieces at once. Could you give us an insight on how all of this fits together?
None of us have done a musical before. We just thought, let’s just jump in and we will figure it out as we go along. The opening, those first two songs, feel more like a Broadway kind of song right? They sort of sound like Into the Woods or Wicked. It’s almost like your singing dialogue, and I needed that. I needed to get a lot of story and exposition to happen, and I didn’t want to stop a song to do it. Also I was aware of how much time we have, the forty minutes. I just wanted to get it going, so we just start with a song pretty much right away right after we do [a scene with] Snoopy.
So those are the only two parts I knew I needed for a musical. We also had Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner on there, they are from [a Broadway] kind of place. So we did have discussions about that, and I thought they knocked it out of the park. Those two songs are so catchy. But even then, they were already familiar with Ben Folds, and they were fans. [Otherwise] we just listened to all that [Broadway] stuff, Fiona Apple and Jack White.
555: Oh man, Fiona Apple!
Yeah! Some of Fiona’s songs and the sort of magical quality of having a few of the orchestral things back there I really liked. But that piano and how rough that piano is, that was the same conversation with Zach and Michael, we can be a little bit more raw.
We had the script, and [inserted in places] it was just like “musical number here”. It’s like, here’s what we want to have ideally, and then you storyboard and you come up with some visual ideas of what might happen in there and then show those visuals to the composer then we go back and forth. Some of the dialogue I had in the first song is what they just sort of used where they change the phrasing around and have it work. All that dialogue in the beginning was Sally and Charlie Brown going back and forth that becoming a song. That was the dialogue I wrote. Even stuff where they're on the bus they were able to take [and transform] that. Same thing with Ben, I would do a lot of drawings for him and some concept art, I would say this what I’m imagining.
Going back to “Look Up”, that wrestling with hey we got to do another melancholy song and scene. I was just thinking, [Charlie Brown] doesn’t want to get off that stage. It’s the one moment where you have to have that sort of magical realism. He doesn’t want to give up, but whatever he does he doens’t want to look up, and [Ben] went “that’s it” (laughs)
It was actually Lucy’s line, “look up, Charlie Brown”. Ben held onto that and he goes, “I’m going away now”. So there’s that part, and then he sends [a demo track] to you and what you had in mind [story-wise] changes.
Oh and one last thing I’ll say, sometimes you’ll get a song and then go, I’m going to change the sequence before it. So it’s this constant game in a way, like oh these lyrics conjure up this, but I need to set it up so I need to go back here, or it’s going to change something in the ending. [Working on] SpongeBob and Sonic, the filmmaking when you get in there it’s kind of a game where I’m not going to let you beat me and become something terrible… even though that’s happened no matter how you feel!
Blueberry Slush: I have to admit, your work on “Look Up” was pretty amazing to me. I also love your work on SpongeBob too, I’ve been a fan since I was a baby!
(laughs) That hurts what you just said at the end!
Blueberry Slush: I’m not even kidding! I had SpongeBob everything.
Charlie Brown and God
Quentin: Can I interject? I’m having a lot of thoughts just thinking over the special, “Look Up” admittedly almost got me choked up and I don’t even know why. I think it was the visuals? The hope? Seeing everyone there finally showing up. Just seeing Charlie Brown, his hope, rise.
Listen, there’s also some people with that difficulty of, “why am I choked up?” The song is abstract as well. Part of what happened to you, and what happened to me as well when I was listening to that song and couldn’t stop drawing all night, was Charlie Brown’s refusal not to give up hope. For his dog to say hey, we’re here for you [gestures handholding] I was just like, whoo.
We screened it a couple times during editorial and stuff, [it was amazing] to see people get choked up. Also, to get feedback from Apple where they said “um, we actually cried during the screening?” (laughs) That’s great! That’s what I want to hear! I think also [it was a] very special experience getting that song from Ben [Folds] and feeling it.
One other thing about that sequence, why does it feel that way? That magical realism? There is a connection between Charlie Brown and God. There’s a lot of shots where we’re looking down at him. The lighting through the trees is also God, however you want to believe what God is to you. I think that, while it’s magical realism in a way, his refusal to leave is the power that brings everybody back together. I think that’s why I might be moving? Also Snoopy, we love Snoopy to be there for his guy.
Missing scenes
Gimmoh: It was nice seeing Snoopy’s sibling show up again. I’m kind of biased!
You can only fit so much [into the screenplay] but there was one shot where [Snoopy] was writing to them. It was like hey, we’re going to do this thing [of introducing the siblings].
Gimmoh: Awesome! And that wasn’t included?
I always wanted to do that shot of him typing! To be able to do Lucy do a rant, and to have Snoopy kiss her on the nose, that’s also legacy [with respect to motifs seen in the strip and previous animations]. I was hoping I could get that shot in there being a Peanuts fan myself, but you have to make choices and I had to cut that one shot. It was during the montage where they were explaining the idea of behind putting this festival together.
What’s funny though is that I feel that a lot of people get so into the visuals that they’re not hearing what’s being said there. Of why they’re doing it, what the theory is, and how it’s going to work. Because that connects to everything when we finally see everyone show up.
Tonal shift in the WildBrain specials
Nern: You mentioned melancholy earlier? In this server, one thing we’ve been kind of wondering to ourselves—now we know you haven’t directed every single special, obviously—but we’ve seen the characterization and the melancholy get gradually better with each iteration of these new WildBrain specials. It would be really curious to know if that’s been a concerted effort on the part of the writing team, the directing team. As if, “alright! We’ve got make sure the melancholy is here, that the tone’s right” whether you have to go back and change something because it doesn’t feel quite right tonally?
I feel like… yes… we’re inspired by the original cartoons. But also, there’s moments of the strip where Charlie Brown is wresting with some existential stuff. He is one of the few cartoon characters that has had depression. He is a character that we relate to because not everything is a win.
I think we’re living in a time where kids in the audience have… experienced more. There’s more awareness of depression, that it was okay to take in there where other things couldn’t. Also, I think it connected more with the strips. With that, conversations with Craig, Bryan, and Neil, are all about that. We can now take Charlie Brown into this other territory. Part of it is, we’re living in a world now that’s much more complex. Friends of mine who have kids, their anxieties, and their worries, are so much more than when I was a kid.
Listen, I love a lot of animation. But there’s a lot of stuff out there I can’t watch anymore, because it’s just that there’s a formula, an algorithm, where everybody’s happy! Everybody’s bright! Everybody’s delivering the same line with a cadence that’s suppose to be a joke, even it’s not a joke. I think that’s why I really try to make an effort. I wanted to come back to this because you can’t do that in anything else. You can do that in Pixar movies obviously, and some Disney, but this is a 2D show and Charlie Brown has that three dimensional quality to it.
Chris Ware, a cartoonist, who did Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, [its protagonist] kind of looks like Charlie Brown. He said in an interview that Peanuts was the first alt comic. He’s so right. For me, Snoopy was the entry point, then around [my] Cal-Arts [days] I started collecting a lot of the books and rediscovering Peanuts.
I think that’s what drew me to it, because I was also getting into Love and Rockets and all of those alt comics, and then [got into Peanuts] and it never really occurred to me to call it an alt comic, but it was. You start to read it differently and understand what Linus and Charlie Brown is saying. Even Lucy, I mean Lucy to me always felt like “the system” (laughs) the football, it’s the system! If [Charlie Brown were to] kick that football then it’s taken away, the house [is meant to] always win.
Of course, Charles Schulz is doing this for the newspapers and it’s a lot of adults who are reading so [it] makes sense. So that’s [the reason for] the melancholy in there. I don’t know if we’re trying to progress it [the melancholy themes] but I think it’s just like, that’s the time we’re living so let’s tackle it. There’s no other animation where we’re able to do that.
Animating for the present state of the world
Anjum: Everything you said there is fascinating, especially when you said earlier on, as you were saying generally even, it’s really about the state of the world and whether animation can reflect that accurately? Reminds me of what Maxwell Atoms wrote, actually wrote a few times—creator of Billy and Mandy—he wrote rather cynically that the reason why, and I think you alluded to this, you can’t watch chirpy and formulaic cartoons any more is because… the world kind of sucks now? It just bears no relation to your lived experience.
We finished this in November 2023 and I think at least America was in a better place. Now the world just feels like it’s in chaos and there were times where I was telling my wife, ah I wish this was coming out and the world was better. But at the same time, we kind of need it? Then I saw the trailer that Apple made and it was like “band together”… “we can change the world” and I was like, that’s cool! [gestures thumbs-up]
You know, I think because of those conversations too with Ben [Folds], we have these serious conversations and we’ll talk about a lot of metaphor and subtext that’s happening with those lyrics. He said in a few interviews, “don’t talk down to these kids, they know!” This is also part of the growth and you know we thought we were being maybe a little covert about it, but I think everybody got it and went along with it. When we saw that trailer, we were like, they got it. They know what we’re saying. The camp is just a metaphor for everybody’s home, for our planet, and even those things in their homes and neighbourhoods. It means so much more.
Temporal setting
Nern: I’ve got another question for you, and it’s another thing we’ve been speculating here in the server with some of these new WildBrain specials, regarding the setting. Peanuts is a strip that’s been around from 1950 to 2000, so that’s five decades of different eras and styles and settings that Schulz used throughout his comic strip. In these new WildBrain specials, are they meant to take place during a specific time between 1950 and 2000? Is it a mix of all of the five different decades? Personally I’m very curious about that.
In my mind, it’s like… [wavers hand] 1968? To like 1974, maybe? That’s kind of where I’m at. When we have all the comics on our server and those are the ones I was looking at the most.
Nern: Awesome, cool. I’d imagine it’s different for each director in that sense?
You know, we’re all very close and we’ve known each other for a really long time. I think we all feel the same way. I think all of us had that space.
Another musical?
Gimmoh: I think Craig Schulz said there’s going to be another musical? Are you involved in that too or not?
Maybe. We’re talking about it.
Nern: Ooo…kay?
That’s probably all I can say! (laughs)
A more complex world
555: Going back to what you said about society at large is more complex and you want to make something that kind of reflects that complexity with the message you want to bring forward. I do think it’s really great that you’re doing this because in my perspective it feels a lot of entertainment, not children’s entertainment because I don’t really see Peanuts as children’s entertainment [rather] a family and all-ages thing, I see a lot of media that try to push forward these messages to be very saccharine. I think someone in the server said [the special] had too much positive toxicity or something?
I think from the very beginning that’s what Craig, Bryan, and Neil were really all about. They really are just such passionate filmmakers. They really want to make those things that are going to move you and that aren’t basic cartoons. They want it to be for the family. I think the other interesting thing about Peanuts is that I grew up with it.
There’s this nostalgia for it as an adult. Like I was saying, you sort of grow with it and you start to see more layers, and the kids are somewhere in this new place because they’re kids. Their entry point is also Snoopy, then they also have the stuff that’s going on with the other characters. That’s where we can get deeper. That’s why it has a wide range [of appeal], not just for kids, and we don’t talk down to kids. The Schulzes wanted it to be a deeper and more film-like… product? I hate to say that word. Series of films.
WildBrain specials in relation to past ones
[conversation halts in astonished silence for five seconds]
This is fun! It’s nice talking to really-real Peanuts fans!
Anjum: It must feel great after [the special] has been under wraps all this time. I mean I guess critics have seen it in the past weeks.
They had, they seen in it a month or two in advanced and like all the studios there’s an “embargo” [air quotes] and some had released it early and they were like no-no bring it back! Bring it back! Within hours.
Blueberry Slush: What’s your favourite Peanuts specials? Mine’s Snoopy the Musical.
Listen, it’s going have to be It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown—
Blueberry Slush: Oh man, that is absolutely classic, yeah.
—and the one that doesn’t get enough love is It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.
Nern: Honestly I totally agree, that’s our [prevailing] opinion here.
Blueberry Slush: If I had to choose one it would have to be… [turns to wayside stash of home media] Jesus, I have a lot DVDs, um…
They’re the top five for everybody, you know, the Christmas special…
Blueberry Slush: …I have to say Spring Training one was at least my third favourite
Nern: There’s so many! (laughs)
Blueberry Slush: I know there’s 45 when you exclude the newer ones cause, well, I don’t know if those count because they’re not [on linear] TV any more.
I don’t know? I don’t know if they consider it, because I don’t want to be one of those people who that’s like “it’s a different universe” but there is a sense of it?
Blueberry Slush: I kind of would consider it like a reboot almost
Yeah, yeah! Maybe it is and maybe that’s a good thing. Even though we’re all fans of it and we did reference and look at it, but I think that we were maybe… that we were looking at those comic strips more than the Melendez stuff.
Blueberry Slush: I’ve always been a Melendez for like a while. I always kind of admired his stuff, that makes you want to work for Peanuts some day.
That’s why I want to hang onto it. I love being in that world.
Blueberry Slush: I’m looking to save some work on my portfolio, if WildBrain [went] “hey, we saw your art, we want to hire you”
Nern: That’s the dream, right? (laughs)
That’s why I don’t want to leave it.
Blueberry Slush: I just want to be a storyboard artist or a concept artist, not [asking for] too much!
The privilege of working on Peanuts
Like you’re saying, being in the Peanuts world, to be able to draw those characters. What a pleasure, what an honour to do that. I hope to go back some day. When I locked pictured [in November 2023] and you’re saying goodbye to everybody, it’s emotional because you’ve been [so involved] in it.
I said this in an interview, where I said what I’m going to say is abstract and it may sound absolutely nuts. When you’re in it, you sometimes feel like your in it. Like you’re having conversations with Charlie Brown, with Lucy, and with Snoopy. You start to dream it. You have to as a film maker go beyond the frame and be in it. I feel like with so many projects I do, that’s what ends up happening.
Didn’t want to leave it, didn’t want it to end.
555: Having sort of a chat with [the gang] to understand where you want to go?
Yeah.
Post punk rock
555: So I did have a thought when you were talking about how you were composing the music and you mentioned Fiona Apple. It’s very interesting, she has a very raw approach to her instrumentation. Her first two albums alone showcases that, and she’s in the same era as Ben Folds, and Folds has a very unique take on his piano. It’s just really interesting and great actually that you mentioned her in the same realm and title as Ben [Folds].
I love the raw recording, there’s a punk rock quality to it. There’s a punk rock quality to Ben Folds. I think Ben Folds Five was like punk rock piano… post-punk piano? I have to say the same thing for Fiona Apple. It’s post-punk-goth piano raw… recordings. Dirty mics, dirty piano. That was another conversation with Ben [Folds], he was like I got this piano it’s beat up and maybe we’ll do it on that. I was like yeah! (laughs).
For “Look Up”, I forgot the organ, what it was he was using, we had conversations about that too. I’m a little bit of a music nerd? Like a gear nerd, also. That stuff is cool, to know he’s going to record something a certain way. Even though I don’t do music, [yet] I’m so into that stuff. That’s the only reason why I would reference to Craig and Bryan and everybody else things like Fiona. Even though I knew Ben [Folds] was going to do “Ben” and I love what he does, I just wanted to surround myself with all of that. Get ideas and and just sort of pitch things out to Ben.
Nern: I want to add that Peanuts is the first thing I think of when I hear punk rock (laughs)
Listen, I had to make a Joy Division Peanuts shirt [shows off shirt] (laughs).
555: I’m sure there’s an Unknown Pleasures-like Snoopy t-shirt somewhere around the internet.
(laughs) Right?! I know.
Doing Snoopy subplots
Nern: One thing with these newer specials, a consistent aspect to them is the Snoopy B-plot. To that end, I’m just kind of wondering if there’s any unique challenges. In terms of having to write half your special with voiced kids, and the storytelling comes through that way, and then then other half you have basically a silent film where you don’t have any words with Woodstock and Snoopy. In terms of combining those two together for one complete product, I’m wondering if you have any unique sort of takes on what’s that like to direct for Snoopy.
Two things I can tell you. I had an opportunity to work for Illumination for a while doing commercials and a bunch of 2D shorts, and part of what I was doing was Minions. They don’t speak, [they just speak] a lot of gibberish. It was really cool. So you go into that territory of Laurel and Hardy, where a lot of the stuff is pantomime. R2-D2, you kind of know what he’s saying. Also listen, like I said, I grew up with Snoopy also. It’s just kind of already there in my DNA.
So what was fun was going through the library of Snoopy [voice tracks] and what you have. You go like, okay we got to find something that sounds like he’s emoting this, and there’s like 400 plus little bits of Snoopy, and you collage them together.
My theory with Snoopy and the stuff with the Peanuts gang was Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the writer and creator Fleabag. She’s one of my favourite people. She had quote of, disarm them with comedy, and then hit them with emotion. That’s something that really resonated with me, and that’s how I treated Snoopy. Let’s make a fun Spielberg cartoon that sort of fits in there and make sure that story does collide with Charlie Brown.
I think that’s why it also pays off when he goes to hold his hand. While he’s the silly character, he still has that deep emotion for his guy. That was my theory, disarm them with comedy and realise he has a lot of heart for Charlie Brown.
555: Ah, okay!
Being a film nerd
[Silence]
This is fun, nobody asks me these questions.
Nern: Well, we take it pretty seriously here!
It’s fun film fan stuff, because I’m a big film nerd and so all these things… whenever I go to Comic Con I ask those questions too. It’s nice to have you guys who are deep into it and have this conversation.
555: This is the Peanuts server after all, so we’re all pretty invested!
Blueberry Slush: Something I think this server is semi official. Because there’s like, the Schulz Museum curator.
Nern: Yeah we have Benjamin Clark here in case you talk to him on the regular. He’s awesome at the Schulz Museum.
Blueberry Slush: He helped me find an obscure commercial, the "What I Like About Knotts" ad.
Cool! I’ve not met Benjamin before, I am going to go to the Schulz Museum on September 6. Craig has arranged for a screening and a talk and Q&A at the end. So if anybody is in Santa Rosa go check that out.
Anjum: Too late, too late! I was in Santa Rosa the other week…
Gimmoh: I’ll probably go next year. I think a trip from Rome, it’s going to be [my] first time.
Anjum: Benjamin is a wonderful person to meet.
I’m going to meet him for the first time actually in-person next week.
Nern: You should tell him how awesome this server is.
Okay, I’ll let him know!
Anjum: In truth, he might tell you how awesome this server is!
Favourite character?
Nern: This is isn’t as deep of a question as some of the others, but in some of the interviews they asked Craig and Bryan and the like about their favourite Peanuts characters. I think you mentioned Charlie Brown in yours? Do mind going into a bit more how you feel connected to Charlie Brown more than the rest of the cast? I know everybody here has their own favourite guy they connect with.
I couldn’t quite answer that question with just saying one [character]. But I’ll say it was Charlie Brown—
Nern: You can say multiple!
—I think the reason for it is that, I think a lot of things that Charlie Brown wrestles with, I wrestle with. There’s this part of me that’s this cartoonist of being silly. Without out that, I don’t think I could have done SpongeBob. With that child that’s still in me that can do silly stuff, can do silly stuff, and can do silly dumb jokes. That’s a place that I go to. I think a lot of cartoonist are like that too. A lot of my friends who I’m still in touch with, I also did SpongeBob right after Peanuts. It was kind of like, let’s try to get the old crew together, we came together and it’s just silliness. But there’s also the realities of life. Discovering that not everything is a win. Being an observer [of life] and being a cartoonist, and being an animator [you have to be] and observer and be empathetic to a lot of other people’s feelings. Maybe you take on too much of it, I see that with Charlie Brown and that’s why I love him. It’s relating to him on that level. So that’s what I see, that’s why I feel like that sometimes.
[Nern apologises for the sound of rain outdoors, and Blueberry Slush apologises for running an electric fan, but Wiese says he can’t hear those anyway.]
So everybody is all over the world? Where are some of you guys?
Nern: The owner of the server, Anjum, who is amazing and also created the Peanuts Search if you’ve used that before, is from the United Kingdom.
Anjum, hey man!
Anjum: As Nern mentioned, I setup this server, I also created peanuts-search.com. I don’t know if you’re familiar with that?
I am familiar and I’ve used it.
[laughter]
Anjum: I’m pleased to hear! Anyone else want to say where they’re from?
[Pluto joins the chat]
Anjum: Heya, Pluto!
Pleasure to meet you!
[Pluto holds up a Woodstock doll on camera, followed with excited talking over each other]
Anjum: Pluto is upstaging me!
Where about in the UK are you from [Anjum]?
Anjum: I’m from outside of London.
Gimmoh: Everyone in this server, they’re from all over the world and they’re like different ages. It’s great.
555: We’re a wide variety.
I lived in Paris for two years, I was there to produce a Disney show. We had to go up to London to record our voice actors. I love London, I went on a train and went all over the place and I think I remember where you’re at [Anjum].
Anjum: Was it any particular studio? London has some famous [recording] studios.
I don’t think it was famous… I know, not one of the awesome ones! (laughs).
Anjum: Anyone from any interesting locations?
555: I’m from the Capitol. I’m in Washington DC, right now I’m in the Fredericksburg area, but I go to Arlington and Stafford.
I’ve never been to DC. Have a lot of friends in DC, but never got around [to visiting]. My wife was from DC, so it’s like when are we going to go? And each time we want to go there’s a project that would sideswipe that plan. It’s got to be humid right now, right?
555: Well, the thing is about DC… I know you mentioned the timing of the special that was finished in 2023 and what’s been going on now. I think what’s going on in DC is… we’re in a very interesting space right now. I kind of tell people [who want to visit DC], uh, not right now.
Yeah. Yeah…
Anjum: Just about to say, I think Gimmoh is from Italy?
Gimmoh: Yeah, I live in Rome actually.
Oh beautiful! Wonderful. Hi, pleasure to meet you Gimmoh. How are you.
Gimmoh: I’m doing great, how about you? It’s almost 3 am here, but—
[Drops mouth] Wow, well, thank you for joining us!
Anjum: It’s 1 am here!
Is it? Right, of course it is. Well, listen, I’m actually kind of exhausted. It’s been an amazing 48 hours. I’m sure for you guys it’s super late. This was so enjoyable and so much fun to talk to real diehard fans who just watched [the special] and I’m glad that you guys really liked it. That means quite a lot to me.
Anjum: Look, hey Erik, thank you so much for joining us. It’s been overwhelming. We were blown away with that one post you shared joining the Discord server.
WildBrain was also very excited!
Anjum: I didn’t even ask how your day was!
My day was fantastic. It was like Christmas to me. I think, you work hard and you hope that people like it, and to see there’s some really good reviews from all over the world. That’s cool. Also something that I had no idea, no expectations of, is how [the soundtrack] reached number one in the top 10 in movies [category]. I didn’t think [expect] them to put it in the film category, [but] they did and that was another cool thing. So yeah I’m… [gestures hand in the air] shwooh, in the clouds.