Feb 2, 2024

Top Spanish Project “Girl And Wolf” Begins Production; First Trailer Here (Exclusive)

Spanish animator and graphic novelist Roc Espinet is working on his feature directorial debut, Girl & Wolf, an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name. The film has recently begun production in earnest, and Espinet has released the first trailer for the film to commemorate the occasion.

“Girl & Wolf” tells the story of Paula, an innocent young girl living in a medieval village that is attacked by wolves. In the film, this stalwart young girl faces dark childhood traumas, soulless hunters, magical wild spirits, and an ancient wolf pack.

For the past decade, Espinet has worked as an animator on several outstanding Spanish productions, including Unicorn Wars, Homeless Home, and Birdboy: The Forgotten Children. He also worked on the Prime Video original series “Niko and the Sword of Light,” Disney's “Future Worm.” and Adult Swim's “Rick and Morty” animation.

Spain is in the midst of a hot streak in the independent feature animation field, culminating in an Oscar nomination for “Robot Dreams” this year. There will be no more exciting animated film from the Iberian Peninsula in the future than “The Wolf and the Girl.

“Girl and Wolf” is produced by Hampa Studios, Signatia, and Aretha Films, with a budget of approximately 4 million euros ($4.3 million). This is a high price for a first-time director's Spanish animated feature. The Great Unicorn War was produced with a budget of 3 million euros ($3.6 million), and the film was directed by Alberto Vazquez, one of Spain's top animation producers. The Robot's Dream, directed by Spanish Academy Award winner Pablo Berger, had a budget of 5.5 million euros ($6 million).

Espinet spoke to us about fulfilling his dream of adapting “Girl & Wolf” as an animated feature film, the influences that inspire him as an artist, and the challenges he faces as a first-time director.

Cartoon Brew: You worked on this story for years, first presenting it as a comic book. What were your visual influences in developing the look of Girl and Wolf? Girl and Wolf” started as a comic book, so that's where my main visual inspiration came from. I have been influenced a lot by French comics, such as “The Quest for the Time Bird,” “L'Orc,” and of course the great genius Moebius. I'm also drawn to American indie comics like “Cerebus”, “Bourne”, and Eastman and Laird's “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. And, of course, lots of comics. All of these are very important to my artistic development, which is clearly reflected in the style of Girl & Wolf.”

What kind of animation inspired you? Like many others of my generation, “Akira” has impacted me in many ways and continues to reverberate in everything I do, like my last manga, Harpoon. Hayao Miyazaki, the great master whose work I have been influenced by, continues to inspire me above all else and always guides my path. With “Girl and Wolf,” I wanted to fuse all of these influences that make up my art style. I apply comic book graphic solutions to the big screen and am always looking for a rich, handcrafted taste that would fit well in a film such as this.

How much did you have to change when adapting your comic as an animated feature? Adapting my comic to film was a big challenge. The original comic is 320 pages long. Many characters are involved in the story, and many stories are spun into a spiral of tension and emotion before reaching an epic climax. If adapted literally, the film would have been about five hours long. Obviously, a film that long could not have been made. Nevertheless, the plot is well developed and constructed like a house of cards. So, a team of several screenwriters was assembled to perform precision surgery to keep the movie to 75 minutes. Some story arcs had to be removed. As a creator, it was a difficult task to remove pieces that I believed enriched the story and characters. It was a long process of refining the plot while maintaining the essence of the comic. In the end, we reworked over a dozen versions of the script, and I am especially pleased that we were able to keep the soul of the work intact all the way through to the final script.

You have worked with some great filmmakers on several important Spanish titles. 2]

I feel very fortunate to have been able to direct my own film, and I am very proud to have been a part of the process. The Girl and the Wolf is a very important project for me. In a way, it's like my life's work, and I've learned a lot from it. I started this adventure about 15 years ago, when I began to assemble the world of the story. Over the years, “Girl and Wolf” has been a source of learning for me, ever since the project escalated from an idea to a comic and now to a movie. During that time, I worked on such great projects as “Bird Boy,” “Nerdland,” “The Great Unicorn War,” “Nico and the Sword of Light,” “Future Worm,” “The Deadly Class,” and “Rick and Morty” bumper. All the while, I was learning filmmaking procedures from great directors. However, it was very different when I actually did it myself. In the process, I quickly learned how important things like psychology and communication skills are.

What has been the biggest challenge -

Communicating your vision to the rest of the team and ensuring that the soul of the story is maintained through the various departments involved in the production is difficult. Sometimes it requires being creative in ways that go beyond paper and pencil. It can be difficult, but at the same time it's a lot of fun to learn about the whole process. Like the rest of the team, I enjoy it a lot. In Spain, there are not many animated action, adventure, and fantasy films like this one. I am honored to be able to contribute to the development of such films in Spain. So, to expand on the previous question, I am very excited about making this film and I really can't wait to show the world what we are doing.