![]() ![]() “You might not get this from my name, but I’m Chinese American,” he says. It was, however, a personal matter to Callaham. The decision to not only pull Thomas Edison out of his century but make him a Chinese woman might only seem counterintuitive if you have a hard time accepting that George Washington wore retractable chain saws on his wrists. The voice cast also includes Simon Pegg (King James), Bobby Moynahan (Paul Revere), Jason Mantzoukas (Sam Adams), Raoul Max Trujillo (Geronimo), rapper/actor Killer Mike (Blacksmith) and Olivia Munn (Thomas Edison). AMERICA THE MOTION PICTURE FREEIn addition to his exec producer status (along with Free Association partners Peter Kiernan and Reid Carolin), Tatum also voices the sincere, committed but sometimes dopey Washington who, along with the character of Martha Dandridge (Judy Greer), helps earn the film’s R-rating with a hot bedroom scene (spoiler alert: George Washington doesn’t get much sleep here). The rest, as they say, is alternative history. Thompson loved the script and the decision to produce it in animation was finalized. “Channing’s team said, ‘Why are we even talking about this other project? We should make this!'” Lord and Miller - Toon Town moguls who have their fingers in more pies than Marie Callender - subsequently introduced Callaham to Thompson, who is partnered with Adam Reed in the Atlanta-based toon house Floyd County Productions. “They asked for a writing sample and Lord and Miller gave them America: The Motion Picture,” Callaham explains. ![]() ![]() The project was greenlit while Callaham and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller were in talks with Channing Tatum’s production company Free Association about an entirely different idea. Perhaps those benighted beta readers were reacting to Paul Bunyan’s combat with an ambulatory Big Ben tower, or the tavern called Vietnam that our heroes wish they’d gotten out of sooner … or maybe simply that the evil king facing the rebellion is named James, not George III. “When I first sent it out amongst friends and colleagues in the entertainment industry, there were a few who came back with totally straight-faced notes like, ‘Hey, there are a couple historical inaccuracies in this thing,'” he states. It’s crazy, wild-ass American History 101.2 created by the filmmakers under the credo “No Research Allowed” and promoted with the tagline “Facts, schmacts.” Even so, screenwriter Dave Callaham ( Wonder Woman 1984), who originally tailored the script as a live-action comedy, says some people still missed the joke. ![]()
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