Wizards
Short description
Set long after a nuclear war has reshaped the Earth, Wizards depicts a world where humanity has given way to mutants, elves, fairies and other magical beings. Twin brothers are born to a fairy queen: Avatar grows up gentle and inclined toward magic, while Blackwolf becomes cruel. Their conflict comes to a head when Blackwolf unearths forgotten military technology and ancient propaganda footage left over from the old world, uses it to build an army, and turns his ambition toward conquest. Avatar, a bearded and reluctant wizard, sets out to stop him, joined by the warrior elf Weehawk, the princess Elinore and an assassin robot named Peace.
Ralph Bakshi directed, wrote and produced the film, which followed his earlier features Fritz the Cat and Coonskin in his filmography. It is an animated fantasy with science-fiction elements, running 81 minutes, made for about 2 million dollars and earning roughly 9 million worldwide. The voice cast includes Bob Holt as Avatar, Jesse Welles as Elinore, Richard Romanus as Weehawk, David Proval as Peace and Mark Hamill as Sean, among 24 credited performers. On TMDB it holds a rating of 6.2 out of 10 from 252 votes, indicating a modest but steady following rather than broad acclaim.
What's left behind the scenes
- After the animated film's release, director, writer, and producer Ralph Bakshi intended to film a sequel, 'Wizards 2', which would have focused on the relationship between Avatar and Elinor, but for a variety of reasons, he never got around to making it.
- While using the rotoscoping technique, the animators utilized battle scenes from the historical action film 'Zulu' (Cy Endfield, 1964), the war drama 'El Cid' (Anthony Mann, 1961), the action film 'Battle of the Bulge' (Ken Annakin, 1965), and the historical drama 'Alexander Nevsky' (Sergei Eisenstein, 1938). Excerpts from the biographical drama 'Patton' (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1970) were also used.
- Ralph Bakshi invited Susan Tyrrell, an actress he admired, to provide the voiceover for the narration. Tyrrell recorded the narration but asked Bakshi not to include her name in the credits. Years later, she told Bakshi that she received many offers from directors thanks to this project. She also admitted that she regretted her decision to remain uncredited.
- Ralph Bakshi cast actor Bob Holt as the voice of the Avatar because he was excellent at imitating the voice of Peter Falk, who was Bakshi's idol.
- Director, writer, and producer Ralph Bakshi cast Mark Hamill as the voice of Sean upon the recommendation of George Lucas, a great admirer of Bakshi's work.
- The work of American underground cartoonist and illustrator Vaughn Bodē had a huge influence on the project's creators. In particular, the robot Nekron-99 is an exact copy of a character created by Bodē known as Cobalt 60.
- A few months after the animated film's release, 20th Century Fox pulled it from theaters so as not to interfere with another of its projects—George Lucas's sci-fi film 'Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope' (1977).
- While working on the animated film, Ralph Bakshi utilized concepts of fantasy worlds that he had drawn himself while finishing high school in the mid-1950s.
- As work on the project neared completion, George Lucas asked Ralph Bakshi to change the title from 'War Wizards' to 'Wizards' to avoid parallels with his own 'Star Wars'. Bakshi agreed because Lucas, in particular, allowed Mark Hamill to take time off from the 'Star Wars' set to work with Bakshi, in whose animated film he voiced Avatar.
- At one point, Ralph Bakshi realized that the allocated budget would not be enough to complete the battle scenes and requested a budget increase, which was denied. Around the same time, George Lucas approached the management of 20th Century Fox to request a budget increase for the filming of the space opera 'Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope' (1977) and also received a refusal. Following this, Bakshi completed the animated film at his own expense, finishing the battle scenes using the rotoscoping technique.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
