For more than a decade, filmmakers David Fincher and Tim Miller tried to push a reboot of the 1981 animated science fiction film Heavy Metal through development hell – but even though their endeavor was supported by the likes of James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Zack Snyder, Kevin Eastman, and Gore Verbinski, all of whom were said to be on board to contribute segments to the anthology film at one point or another, they just couldn’t get the movie into production. So they shifted gears, dropped the Heavy Metal brand name, and created the animated anthology series Love, Death & Robots for the Netflix streaming service. Miller recently sat down for an interview with JoBlo’s own Steve Seigh, and during their conversation, he took a moment to look back at the Heavy Metal roots of Love, Death & Robots.
The fourth season, or volume, of Love, Death & Robots premiered on Netflix on May 15th. When asked if he thought they would get to oversee four seasons of the show when it started, Miller said, “No, I didn’t, but you’re always hopeful. I was so grateful just to have the chance because David and I really pitched Heavy Metal for so long, we just wanted to make that movie, which would have been a one-off with the hope of maybe making more. And that would have felt like an accomplishment. This feels like an accomplishment and a gift because we’re gotten to make so many stories, 35, and I really feel like we’re, in a weird way, opening doors in the industry.” You can watch this clip from the Miller interview in the embed above.
Miller and Fincher serve as executive producers on the series alongside Jennifer Miller and Joshua Donen. Miller is also the showrunner. The series has covered a variety of adult topics including racism, government, war, free will, and human nature. The anthology collection spans the science fiction, fantasy, horror and comedy genres and each short has a unique animation style: from traditional 2D to photo-real 3D CGI. The creators were assembled for a global calling for best in class animators from all over the world including artists from France, Korea, Hungary, Canada, and the US among others.
Are you a fan of Love, Death & Robots, and are you glad that the idea of rebooting Heavy Metal evolved into this series? Take a look at the Tim Miller interview clip, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
