RON'S GONE WRONG is an animated comedy in which advanced technology powers a line of robotic best friends for kids. But one boy (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer) gets a version that doesn't exactly work as advertised. Their friendship becomes something a lot more complex than anyone expects.
To learn about the creation of RON'S GONE WRONG, we spoke with co-directors Jean-Philippe Vine, Sarah Smith, and Octavio E. Rodriguez — and to writer Peter Baynham, and voice actor Jack Dylan Grazer as well.
Announced several years ago, RON'S GONE WRONG has taken a long journey to the screen, as Jack Dylan Grazer recalls. "This whole project has been through so many stages… I've watched it grow and I've definitely grown up with it," said Grazer. "That's also been a challenge — having to match my 13-year old voice from when I started this."
Sarah Smith describes the origin of the movie's concept. "I was watching the film HER by Spike Jonze, and I thought 'I need to make a version of this movie for my 3-year old, who is getting lost in the iPad and believes literally everything on there is true.' You hear all the time about your kids going through friendship issues and you realize there's this new playground they're going into and you can't go with them and hold their hand and advise them."
"So I thought we kinda needed to make a movie where an iPad could become an animated character," Smith continues. "And I had this slightly romantic idea about a kid with this broken thing, this device/bot thing, that he was teaching by imitation and they learned to love each other. And then I went to Pete and pitched and he said 'yeah, but what if it's an idiot?'
To learn how that led directly to the story of RON'S GONE WRONG, check out our full video interview below:
RON'S GONE WRONG is in theatres on October 15!
All images courtesy of 20th Century Studios.