Sonic Movie Director Fowler Speaks on Redesign Development

Jeff Fowler, the Sonic movie’s director, has spoken out about the hedgehog’s redesign for the first time.

Speaking to Digital Spy, he recalled the five months it took to get Sonic to his current state, when he wondered if fans and casual onlookers would again reject the efforts:

“I think it had been about five months that had passed since the first trailer. We had worked very hard on our updates to the character. It was definitely a little bit of like, ‘Oh man, what happens if they don’t like this?'” he recalled.

“But really, everyone that saw it internally as I was working on the film, just responded so positively. It really felt like, once we shared it with the fans, they would really embrace it and be excited about it.

“Fortunately, any anxiety I had the night before passed really quickly once it was released. Because, yeah, it was such an incredible feeling to see Sonic 2.0 get embraced the way it was.”

Fowler’s comments have drawn one notable critic: One of Sonic’s creators, Yuji Naka. Mr. Naka questioned on Monday why Fowler allegedly did not have the same apprehension to the original design.

https://twitter.com/SonicJPNews/status/1226923938170707970

Mr. Naka may be thinking about a December interview with IGN, where it was executive producer Tim Miller, not Fowler, who pushed back on Sega’s concerns about the original design:

“I don’t think SEGA was entirely happy with the eye decision, but these sorts of things you go, ‘It’s going to look weird if we don’t do this.’ But everything is a discussion, and that’s kind of the goal, which is to only change what’s necessary and stay true to the rest of it,” said Miller. “He’s not going to feel like a Pixar character would because I don’t think that’s the right aesthetic to make it feel like part of our world.”

Save for one remark about the redesign in July, Miller has been noticeably silent in the lead-up to the film, with Fowler and the stars now fronting most Q&A. Fowler has not yet responded to our reporting about the conditions at MPC Vancouver during the redesign process, or on the studio’s closing.

This post was originally written by the author for TSSZ News.