December 19, 2008

Rainmaker, Jerry Lewis Animate The Nutty Professor

Vancouver, B.C. - Rainmaker Entertainment, a producer of CG animated films, announced the DVD release of its latest production, The Nutty Professor.
The Nutty Professor is the animated sequel to the 1963 classic and one of the great family franchises in movie history. The Nutty Professor debuted on November 25 from Genius Products, Rainmaker Entertainment, and The Weinstein Company.

"The Julius Kelp character has always meant so much to me," says Jerry Lewis. "And the chance to introduce him and The Nutty Professor to a whole new generation of kids and their families, and in a completely new way through animation, was very exciting. I loved working with the team at Rainmaker and found them to be fun, creative, and very adept at creating comedy."

Continuing its focus of developing and producing content, Rainmaker, in association with producer George Paige, approached Jerry Lewis with the idea of animating the characters from his 1963 live-action film, which Lewis wrote and directed, and he enthusiastically agreed.

The Weinstein Company signed on for financing and distribution. Evan Spiliotopoulos was brought on to write the script. Rainmaker's "Nutty" director, Logan McPherson, notes, "Julius Kelp is probably one of the most influential live-action characters in cartoons. He is referenced daily on the front lines of animation by crews around the world. The short production schedule was a challenge, so with "Nutty" the goal was to utilize our experience and continue to build on the process to deliver more quality in the same amount of time as some of our previous direct-to-DVD films."

With the genesis of the story from a comedic legend, Rainmaker was determined to create a film of high-quality animation, even with a constrained time frame. Development and pre-production began in January of 2007, production in September 2007, and the film was delivered the end of June 2008. Rainmaker created a main cast of 11 characters, including many costume variations, unique environments and props, and a number of secondary and background characters. For the look of the film, Rainmaker spent much time developing materials and textures to ensure that metal looked like metal and that reflections had a broken specularity, all of which maintains a world that makes sense but is more impressionistic than realistic.

Executive produced by Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, and Eric Robinson; as well as Gregory R. Little, Paul Gertz, and Rick Mischel, The Nutty Professor is based on the characters created by Jerry Lewis and Bill Richmond and on the1963 motion picture The Nutty Professor. The Nutty Professor features the voice talents of the original Nutty Professor, Jerry Lewis as Julius Kelp, and three-time Kids' Choice Award Winner Drake Bell as his grandson Harold.

The Nutty Professor is a heart-warming comedy to be enjoyed by the whole family. The Nutty Professor DVD is available for the suggested retail price of $19.97. Rated PG for rude behavior and mild language.