Channel Frederator Blog

A beleaguered hardware sales clerk uncovers the mighty wrath of Thor in less time than it takes to say, “Cleanup…Aisle 13?”

Says filmmaker Andy Bean, “I came up with the idea after my initial concept involving a tap-dancing turd was rejected by the SE3D film scheme. I had 48 hours to come up with another proposal and brainstormed out 3 ideas, the most promising of which was this one.

I’ve always enjoyed the portrayal of barbarians, hedonists and wild-men on screen and wanted a really over-the-top, Olly Reed/Conan-type, in a fish-out-of-water scenario. I felt this would give me ample opportunity to script in some hearty “raargh!”s, grog-drinking and if I was really lucky, some naked male wrestling. From this central idea, it was a relatively short leap to the Viking God of Thunder transplanted to that most mundane of settings, the local DIY super-store.

I used to work in a DIY store myself (well “work” is putting it a bit strongly, most of my efforts focused on customer avoidance and seeing how long I could hide in the toilet), so I had some idea of where the little shop assistant, Mud, was coming from. This initial set-up gave me plenty of material to play with, making the most of the contrast between the mythic and everyday. And giving me the opportunity to mete out retribution on pimple-faced shop assistants everywhere, without having to do serious jail time.

Stylistically, I wanted the film to veer away from the clean-cut “cutesy” side of animation; I was going for a type of animation reminiscent of the stop-motion kids’ shows I grew-up with, combined with a cinematic, comic-book sensibility. I wanted it to look a bit home-made and be a little rough around the edges, that’s what gave many of my childhood favourites their distinctive personality and energy – a lot of CGI is far too polished for my taste.”

Andy, your sick and twisted humor doesn’t go unappreciated. Thanks so much for the film!

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Melissa