EXCLUSIVE:Ruby Gillman, Teenage Krakenhas a lot going for her.
And shes our superhero, really.
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Poor krakens.
From left: ‘Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’ co-producer Faryn Pearl, composer-conductor Stephanie Economou, producer Kelly Cooney and director Kirk DeMicco; (inset) The Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas and Ruby GillmanBaz Bamigboye/Deadline/DreamWorks Animation
You know, the kind of place where pupils take a boat to school.
Rubys an ordinary girl living under extraordinary circumstances.
That secret becomes too big to hide anymore.
‘Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’ composer Stephanie Economou at Abbey Road Studios (DreamWorks Animation)
Ruby struggles with that identity: When she comes into contact with salt water, she becomes a kraken.
I think thats a huge journey and kind of goal for her.
Ruby cant tell her friends who she really is.
But like any parent, shes concerned that people wont accept her daughter for who she really is.
Were always afraid of that unknown, arent we?
That kid with dark blue spots when all the other kids have light blue spots.
Yeah, and something that maybe society doesnt deem normal, Cooney observes.
I think its just universal, that struggle.
The Warrior Queen wants to impart some of her wisdom to Ruby.
The point of it all was to be able to show that were all flawed.
For instance, the town loves mermaids.
But Chelsea aint as lovable as she looks.
Literature tells us that mermaids have a dark side.
Spoiler: Watch that Chelsea, carefully.
But if looks are superficial and its whats inside that counts, you know that score, right?
It was, nonetheless, important to make Rubys transformation from teenager to monster as alluring as possible.
Kelly thinks a lot of Rubys appeal is down to Condors performance.
Thats some good tuba, Pearl roars in appreciation.
Faryn, Kelly and Kirk, she tells me, urged her to do my thing with the music.
We can have men, we can have it all.
But how do we create the depth there?
Its that sensibility that gives the film, or what Ive seen of it, its stamp of originality.
And its part of a plan, says Margie Cohn, president of DreamWorks Animation.
Of course they are.
Her mother has four, and grandma has five, though Pearl says its six.
Apparently kraken grow more tentacles as they grow older.
Who even knows how old grandmama is?
You know, shes maybe hundreds of years old.
We havent talked about that, DeMicco laughs.
Cooney nods that theres some art imitating life there, yeah.
