THE BLAIR THUMB
© 2002 Image Entertainment

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Thumbs Away!

The funnyman recently took the time to answer some questions for CINESCAPE about his THUMB shorts, as well as what other non-digit projects we can expect to see from the filmmaker in the near future.

Question: How did the whole "Thumb" idea come about?

Steve Oedekerk: Okay, this will sound insane, but I was sitting around with Paul Marshal, a producer at O Entertainment, [and] then looked down at my thumb and said something like: "Hey look, that's really great. We should do something with thumbs." The first step was figuring out a way to make them come to life, so they were real living creatures. The first time we accomplished the Thumbation effect, I wasn't sure if it was amazingly entertaining or simply the most disturbing thing I'd ever seen.

Q: Can you

The THUMB WARS DVD menu

© 2001 Image Entertainment

SO: Well, the Thumbation process is a highly guarded secret, so if I told you, we'd have to lock you up in an O Entertainment closet. I can say we work in miniature "thumb sized" sets and props. We literally create a thumb world.

Q: Thumb Wars sure smells like the work of a Star Wars fan. Does that describe you, and if so, can you discuss your feelings on the Lucas films?

SO: I really love STAR WARS and am a big Lucas fan. I must say, though, that as great as these movies are, they have been very negligent in including a proper amount of thumbs. Being a person who likes to set out to right the wrongs in life, THUMB WARS was created as a necessity. Thumbs are all fun and love. They make life better. Thumbs love STAR WARS! Thumbs love George Lucas!

Q: Did you sit down and re-watch the Star Wars films when preparing Thumb Wars or did you just go by memory?

SO: I figured if I worked from memory, I'd hit most of the areas that everyone else remembered as well. The most fun, of course, was raising certain logical questions from the original. Why did the members of the Dark Side speak in British accents when there was no Britain? Why would the architects of the Death Star include a button at the end of a long corridor that could blow the whole thing up?

Q: I never realized a thumb could provide such expressive performances. How do you direct your actors, knowing that their faces are going to be so manipulated in postproduction (no noses, eyes oddly spaced, etc.)?

SO: It's a really interesting process. Both extremes seem to work. It's fascinating seeing a thumb act "normal." But thumb acting can also be way over the top. The actors can often go much bigger that they ever could if playing a human.

Q: I'm assuming [IMG3L]that you're not as big a Blair Witch or Titanic fan. How did you wind up choosing those films to parody?

SO: Well, our response was so huge to our THUMBTANIC short and our THUMB WARS episode that we have now committed ourselves to recreating the biggest films from past and present that have had a dramatic impact on American pop culture. It is a great honor to be selected to be "thumbed." Only the best of the best qualify. THUMBY POTTER anyone?

Q: What future "Thumb" projects can we expect?

SO: Our first six titles are: THUMB WARS, THE BLAIR THUMB, BAT THUMB, THUMBTANIC, FRANKENTHUMB and THE GODTHUMB. As a bit of inside trivia, THUMBTANIC has just been unseated at O Entertainment by FRANKENTHUMB, which is now the company favorite.

Q: What are your comedy inspirations?

SO: Wow, that's a big question. I have a lot of inspirations, both comedy and drama. Steve Martin, Bill Cosby, Albert Brooks, Ernie Kovacs, Walt Disney, Paul Newman, Steven Spielberg... the list sort of goes on and on.

Q: What other projects are you working on?

SO: Probably the wildest comedy I've ever done releases this January 18^th by 20^th Century Fox. It's called KUNG POW! It's a crazy comedy set in the 1970's martial arts genre. I bough an old B karate flick from the 1970's, rebuilt all the sets in Mexico, body doubled the actors, then wrote my own script which is half new footage, half from the old film. I'm digitally placed in the old footage, fighting and interacting with actors that [were] shot 25 years ago. Everyone is dubbed, old and new. The actors I shot had to say fake lines while we were filming so the scripted lines could be dubbed in later. It's been the most fun and unusual process I've ever been through.

JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS, a CG animated film distributed by Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, will be in theaters this Dec. 21. It's a really cool, family film. I produced and share writing credit.

We also [IMG4R]have a 3D IMAX animated film, SANTA VS. THE SNOWMAN, that releases Christmas 2002. It's the first ever animated film in IMAX 3D! I love the IMAX theaters, love the documentaries shown in them, but have always felt they would also be a great home for strong family oriented narrative films.

Oh yeah, and [I] don't want to forget JUWANNA MAN, releasing early 2002 from Morgan Creek and Warner Bros. [It's] the story of an NBA bad boy that is kicked out of the league, so poses as a woman in the WNBA to blackmail his agent into getting him reinstated. I acted as producer on the project.

Q: Last question. What's your favorite finger, aside from the thumb (which technically isn't even a finger to start with)?

SO: Yes, technically not a finger, true! I would think my favorite would have to be the little finger. I tend to root for the underdog.