Adult animation has been on the rise lately and more and more cartoons with content for older audiences have been getting the greenlight. Shows like Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman, and more have paved the way for more IP's with similar content to launch on more platforms than just Cartoon Network's Adult Swim Block.
Speaking of Adult Swim, next Sunday will see a new series added to the comedy line-up with JJ Villard's Fairy Tales. A raw and visceral take from the mind of creator JJ Villard (King Star King, Uncle Grandpa, Shrek 4), the new show features adult-aimed warped versions of fairy tales.
JJ Villard's Fairy Tales features an incredible cast of horror-genre movie stars such as Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Linda Blair (The Exorcist), Alan Oppenheimer (He-Man, Neverending Story), and Warwick Davis (Leprachaun, Harry Potter). Also lending their voice talents are Keith David (Community, Pitch Black), Jennifer Tilly (Child's Play), Corey Feldman (Gremlins), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things, It), John Kassir (Tales from the Crypt), and many more.
We recently had the opportunity to pick the brain of creator JJ Villard and asked him several things, as well as what informed the decision of creating a wuarter-hour series versus a half hour show. Take a look at what he had to say below!
Joe: What led to the decision of making the episodes quarter hour versus half hour?
JJ Villard: I’m more like punk; I love Ramones, I love GG Allin, I’m just like all about getting in, blasting episodes, and getting out. I really like the short format. Also, I worked on Shrek 3 and 4, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Sherman and Peabody, Trolls and all those films are two hours long and you work on those films for three years and it's so long and painful to work that hard on one film that most likely is not gonna turn out good. This is like the opposite of that, and it’s just like “let’s go, let’s go!” It's like a bullet train with no brakes, man. It’s great.
Joe: Out of the movies you’ve worked on, which one was your favorite?
JJ Villard: Shrek 4 by far. I feel like that one has heart and such a great villain. I really wanted Sherman and Peabody to turn out great, but Shrek 4 is my favorite.
Joe: If you could adapt any fairy tale that you haven’t yet, what would it be?
JJ Villard: We were talking about the pied piper as Kenny G, and we were doing Pinnochio and all he kept saying was “I wanna be a real woman, I wanna be a real woman!” Maybe that could be a part two of Pinnochio because I really want to do that too. There’s a lot man, I mean we’re getting pretty dark. Like with the gingerbread man - his whole thing is really short and shitty. He just runs, that’s it. So we had some very dark versions of that.
Joe: He kind of gets the short end of the stick in Shrek as well.
JJ Villard: Right, well that’s the good thing about Gingy is really you just have to cook him again.
Joe: You mentioned that you go to some pretty dark places with the show - did you receive any pushback when pitching the tone of the series?
JJ Villard: Well the first note that we got was that I went too far. I took that note so seriously and I realized okay we’ve gotta keep at least a third to half of the original fairy tale in there and the other half we can just f*** with as much as we want and go as hardcore as possible.
My writers got really mad at me sometimes in the writers’ room because I was the referee. I was the senate, judge, and the jury about what could go through and what can’t so it was tough but you know, we did it and we pulled it off and I think all of them have at least a third to a half of the original fairy tale in there. Also, from the top, we got the note that we couldn’t do any religious jokes, puke and fart jokes, or sex jokes. So we had those limitations as well and it was challenging but we pulled it off.
JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales is a new, twisted, fun take on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White. The charm and cuteness of the original stories remain, but now they've been updated and packaged into a ball of raw, visceral, gross weirdness.
The animated quarter hour series is created, and executive produced by JJ Villard (King Star King) and produced by Cartoon Network Studio.
JJ Villard's Fairy Tales premieres on Adult Swim Sunday, May 10th at 12:15 AM. (Sunday leading into Monday.)