“Bigfoot” Q&A: Creator Graham Roumieu

 

 

It has been a long dumb road to get to the point of Bigfoot appearing on our screens. What started as a book in 2003, Bigfoot has spawned a trilogy of books, and a slew of whispers of being adapted to screen.  Optioned by multiple companies along the way, Bigfoot has finally found his home on VRV and Mondo. Premiering Sunday, September 29th, the show about this mythical creature struggle with the human world is bound to make some waves.

We had the opportunity to talk to Bigfoot’s original creator, illustrator, and writer, Graham Roumieu, about the new animated series. This character is obviously his baby, and the long road they have traveled together is culminating in days. Taking time from his birthday, Roumieu shares his thoughts on the process and his excitement behind the series.

Read the full interview below:

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Jesse Bereta: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today. I got the chance to see a couple of screeners of Bigfoot, and I was laughing my butt off.

Graham Roumieu: It’s so crazy that this thing is coming out after trying to put it together. To get to the idea that other people outside of the project are going to lay eyes on this. To feel one way or another about it is something I am still trying to get used to. The reality of it. So, this is cool.

JB: The show has been talked about since 2013 with Seth Rogen and FX involved. It’s six years later we’re finally getting to see it. How did it finally get put together?

GR: Hey, I spent a long time in the woods, I suppose. The process of getting this to the point where it is actually going to be seen- I’m trying to think back to 2013, and there were even earlier points for it. It was with Disney at one point for a feature film. Finally! The world can see and bask in the glory that is the Bigfoot world. And, all the wonderful insights on life, and hygiene, and borderline filth he will bring us.

JB: Bigfoot is all based on a trilogy of books that you wrote and illustrated. When you were creating those books, were you hoping that it would eventually transition to an animated series?

GR: I think the first approach of someone looking to option it was when the second book was finished. So, the third one, I would be lying if I said that wasn’t part in mind. But, no, those books just came out of whatever weird pocket of my brain that’s been occupied. As a person particularly interested in Bigfoot lore, I’ve certainly learned a lot about it. In the sense of this knack for channeling this guy who’s just a natural walking disaster.

JB: Do you have any intentions of continuing on the book series, or is it done at three?

GR: I’d love to. I mean, after coming out of working on the animated show I’m still trying to find my breath a little bit. But, that has crossed my mind. I think all writers and illustrators have the same sort of file folder on their desk, where it’s just a slightly tattered manila folder with different scraps of paper in it. With like a single word like ‘cauliflower’ on it. And, that was supposed to be the kernel of an idea many years ago. I will have to dig that thing open, blow some dust off of it, and take a look at it. Mostly it’s other books that appeared in my life.

The very first one, I had just come out of college. The second one was the first five years of my work career as an illustrator and an author. Again, with the third one, it was “this feels like the right moment”. At the same time, this character has transmuted into one that actually moves and talks. I prefer to focus on that. I find it such a fascinating thing. Where in the beginning, it was unnerving, and I wasn’t terribly certain how the character would translate to emotion. Now I just find it fascinating to see so many wonderful possibilities for this character. Hopefully, the rest of them go- the audience feels the same way. It was something kind of amazing where the books were written from the guise that it was very much Bigfoot writing it, he’s writing his own propaganda about himself. Where the animated series, there is a step back from that. We’re very close to Bigfoot, and we get to know how everything feels in a moment, that sort of thing. He can no longer hide behind his own self-editing, and we can see a different, raw side of his character. It works beautifully with the books. Sort of an ideal outcome.

JB: He is a character that has taken on a life of his own. He has his own Twitter account (@hellobigfoot).

GR: Yeah, Bigfoot right now is chirping everyone. Saying mildly pertinent things about the show that’s about to start up for him.

JB: How do you think he’s going to handle the fame once the animated series premieres?

GR: I don’t think he understands what modern fame is, necessarily. I think if you’ve read his Twitter account, he’s grasping for what the world is really about. In an occurring moment like what’s going on with…- I’m trying to think of a contemporary example of popular culture, so maybe I’m worse than Bigfoot.  He’ll do just fine. He always struggles on through. He fights on through his extension and trying to figure out how to use social media. That’s his game, surviving and doing just okay.

JB: Will he be doing any watch-alongs on Twitter? Any live-feeds?

GR: I’m not sure what the plan is. I would love to do all sorts of things like that, but no immediate plans. Let’s wait and see.

JB: The original illustrations of Bigfoot were all done with ink and watercolor. And, the animation seems to hold true to that style as much as possible. But, was that a challenging process to transition over? And, did you have a lot of input when it came to the final animation?

GR: Yeah. The studios we are working with here, which were Solis and Look Mom!, which is also Blue Ant. I don’t know how to like divide the two, but there’s a company called Blue Ant media, and then there is Solis. And then, in LA, there’s, of course, Mondo and 6Point, which are project partners as well. The production went down here in Toronto. And, yeah, it was difficult to do. But one of the nice things of having done the actual artwork in Toronto was I could get on the transit system, or walk over to the studios and help with this process and try and figure out the official-  let’s get into the software. It’s incredible, of course, but it is still very hard to recreate something that seems genuinely organic. Also, trying to figure out where to draw the line between the organic flowy-ness of ink and watercolor and the practicality, the economy of animation. I think we found a point that ideal node point of those two things. Where it still has that raw organic feel to it, and it also works as a practical platform to make an animated series.

True to that too, back to some of my earlier comments, of how the point-of-view of these are slightly different. Where the books again are, this is very much Bigfoot, and he’s drawing them. There are still elements visually of that, and even with the storytelling of that. It does take a little bit of a step back, the camera pulls out a little bit. We’re seeing him more involved in his world, so there are secondary characters and little other things that are outside of his control. Which opens up to some different ways of exploring the character.

JB: The humour is fairly dark in the show, how would you best describe the theme of the series?

GR: I’m trying to think of something that’s not cliché, like ‘just some average Joe trying to get through his day in the forest that has supernatural creatures’. I guess it’d be something along the lines of- well. Not that it’s an equation, the idea works clearer, especially in hindsight. Before it was just this gut-intuitive thing. Eric Falconer, who wrote half the episodes along with myself, was like “how do you seal your way to these bright, satisfying colors of an optimist”. It came down to fighting the supernatural with the mundane and putting the mundane in the supernatural. It’s like Bigfoot is Bigfoot. There is nothing remarkable about it for him. Even in his closed world, he’s sort of sick of him being that. In a way that’s his arch, and also his great superpower and his identity in a way. So, he has to go find… him. He has this constant identity crisis. Even though he is an iconic thing, everyone has their own picture of Bigfoot in their minds. Whether it’s the thing hawking beef jerky on ads on the internet or the Six Million Dollar Man- I always get that number amount wrong- or, Harry and the Henderson’s. Just your sort of view.  He’s not human, but a relatable version of this character that’s awkward. He’s so often portrayed as a Neanderthal or a Cookie Monster with a twist, or that caveman-ness. There are obviously certain deficits to a character that is portrayed in the show. But, there is also a beauty and complexity and thoughtfulness to him as a counterpoint to someone who’s so brutal and impulsive.

JB: You mentioned Eric Falconer has joined you in writing duties. Was that strange to have someone else come in and write a character that you’ve been developing for all of these years?

GR: Definitely. It was just some weird thing. But, it turns out that Eric- holy crap, it turns out that a guy that is known as a very good writer for television and other things turned out to be a very good writer. He grabbed onto it almost immediately. He was coming up with ideas that totally changed my ideas about how to approach the storytelling. Any hesitation or fear that I had was gone very quickly. In the past, I’ve had other writers pitch things to me or seeing varied variations of my version of Bigfoot- All that goes back to that whole Cookie Monster/Caveman shtick. That just kept coming up over and over and over. Eric got it right along, he realized right away how the dance-floor would be.

JB: K. Trevor Wilson of Letterkenny provides the voice of Bigfoot. Were you excited to have him on board?

GR: Yeah, I knew of K. Trevor a little bit. When he recorded for Bigfoot, it was like “holy shit”. Like, “where have you been all of Bigfoot’s life?” He got it right away. He’s got that great quality to his voice, but he also has an incredible demeanor that’s beautifully parallel. There’s some softness, there’s this understatement. He grabbed onto the character very nicely right away.

JB: Bigfoot premieres this Sunday, September 29th. Are there any favourite episodes or moments in the show that fans should be looking forward to?

GR: Just expect that the show begins in a certain way, which is wonderful, but things start getting much stranger a few episodes in. The first couple of episodes is just getting to know you, and the audience, that sort of thing. But, the audience will see after the first couple of episodes, which are wonderful in their own right, things go completely upside down, sideways, backward. It starts getting a little bit strange. Not to say that the story doesn’t make sense, the story definitely makes sense, but it slides into something quite surreal and cerebral. Meanwhile falling into glory shots of moss, lichen, and trees, that sort of stuff. It starts off quaint, but there is always this- I don’t know if this is ruining it, but there is this bigger sense of Bigfoot out in the world. There’s a lot that comes out of man’s world.

JB: Yeah, from what I saw in the screeners, there seems to be a different overall theme to each episode. Each episode goes in a different direction.

GR: Yes, that’s the whole idea. I mean, there are beautiful little arcs, it is much more episodic. In the same way that the books each represent a big overall theme of love or hygiene or betrayal. It works in much the same way. There are so many sub-plots and sub-text going on, and that’s where the show really gets to shine and define itself.

JB: Do you have any other projects coming down the pipeline that we can get excited about?

GR: Nothing that comes to mind. It is my birthday, so I think I’m going to go out and drink a coffee and eat a piece of cake, I don’t know if that qualifies as a project?

JB: Well, it’s your project today, it is your birthday. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to talk with us, we’ll let you go have some cake now.

 

Bigfoot is streaming now on VRV/Mondo.

This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity purposes.