“Was told animated film with female lead won't work”, Says 'Bumblebee' director Travis Knight

"Bumblebee" director Travis Knight on Thursday, December 13 said he was once told that making an animated film with a female protagonist will be a disaster unless she is "a princess or a fairy".

45-year-old filmmaker's latest directorial Bumblebee,  a spin-off of Michael Bay's successful Transformers franchise, has Hailee Steinfeld as hestrong vulnerable teenr Charlie Wilson who befriends affable autoboot Bumblebee. How two end up helping each or in times of crisis is plot.

Knight recalled producing 3D stop-motion animated dark fantasy horror film Coraline (2009) and said he was shocked that studios believed that a woman-fronted animation movie would t work.

''I thought back to from my own experience first time I tried to get off ground a movie called Coraline' and it was 15 years ago. I remember when I was trying to get Hollywood studios to back film I was told repeatedly this one truism which was  You can't have a female protagonist in an animated film unless she's a princess or a fairy'.

It was shocking for me to hear and even more shocking for me to kw that some people thought it was true. We me film anyway and it became a modern classic, director said while responding to a question posed by PTI wher taking a female protagonist for Bumblebee was a conscious decision as Transformers franchise has often been criticized for poor representation of women.

Knight said he went ahe and me film that he wanted to but finds it interesting that some of those conversations are still happening".

"That kind of high bound way of thinking still persists but I think you tell se kinds of stories and n people respond to m and that goes away. Thinking about this film (Bumblebee'), it's interesting that we wanted to tell this kind of a story with this kind of a hero at centre of it," he said elaborating on his decision to go ahe with a female protagonist.

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"I feel like it was right kind of story to tell, to explore a different kind of Transformers' film. We have seen 10 years of certain kinds of Transformers' films. This was a Transformers' film that we all wanted to make, he said.

In past, names such as Megan Fox, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Nicola Peltz, Frances McDormand and Laura Hdock have only appeared in supporting roles. Knight said he came on board for project around two years ago when he first started talking to Lorenzo di Bonaventura and studio.

''y wanted to see if I h potential to be interested in a Transformers' film. I was surprised because I don't think re's anything in my background that people would naturally assume I would be an dition to Transformers' franchise. But more I spoke to Lorenzo and studio about it, more sense it me''.

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''He said he felt y wanted to take franchise in a different direction and Transformers universe is big eugh to explore diverse stories''.

That was really exciting for me because I was a child of 80s who grew up loving se characters. So opportunity to tell an origin story about a character I loved since I was a kid was a dream come true.

film, which has been lauded by critics for infusing a fresh breath of air into franchise, also feature John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, John Ortiz, Jason Drucker and Pamela lon.

Releasing on January 4, 2019, "Bumblebee" - A Paramount Pictures movie, will be exclusively distributed in India by Viacom18 Motion Pictures.