The Twits to Feature Songs by David Byrne and Hayley Williams
Netflix announced today that musician, writer, and founding member of the new wave band Talking Heads, David Byrne, has written and produced three original songs for the animated film, The Twits. The cast performs the songs, which include “We’re Not Like Ev’ryone Else,” “Lullaby,” and “The Problem Is You.”
Byrne is also joined by singer/ songwriter Hayley Williams, of rock band Paramore, on the end title song, “Open the Door,” as co-writers and performers.
The film, written and directed by Academy Award nominee Phil Johnston (co-writer and co-director on Ralph Breaks the Internet, co-writer on Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph), will debut on Netflix on October 17, just in time for Halloween.
The previously announced voice cast includes Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale, who voice the eponymous Mr. & Mrs. Twit, as well as Emilia Clarke (Pippa) and Natalie Portman (Mary Muggle Wump).
They will be joined by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Beesha), Ryan Lopez (Bubsy), Timothy Simons (Marty Muggle-Wump), Nicole Byer (Beverly Onion), Jason Mantzoukas (Mayor Wayne John John-John), Alan Tudyk (Sweet Toed Toad), Mark Proksch (Horvis Dungle), Rebecca Wisocky (Dee Dumdie-Dungle), and Charlie Berens (Gorb Klurb).
The Twits marks the first screen adaptation inspired by the characters from the Roald Dahl book of the same name, which has been translated into 41 languages and sold 16 million copies worldwide.
“This was a fun project. Like other Roald Dahl books, this one has its share of dreadful characters – this time, two of them are front and center,” said David Byrne. “Kids (and adults) love that they can vicariously imagine their own worst impulses played out, harmlessly, in a punky fun story.
“So when I was approached to write some songs for this movie, I immediately said ‘let me give it a try and see if you like what I come up with’. Phil was wonderfully clear what each song needed to express and what the character was feeling at that moment.
“I reached out to Hayley Williams to collaborate on the end credits song and we both agreed that it should serve to remind us that there is heart and connection in the story after all the unpleasantness depicted by Mr. and Mrs. Twit. Hayley was inspired by Beesha’s story and came up with some lyric ideas, and I set them to tune and boom.”
Hayley Williams added, “Being a part of this movie is like one pinch-me moment after another. My favorite Roald Dahl book growing up was The Twits. I’m drawn to learning about twisted characters like Mr. and Mrs. Twit and The Wormwoods from Matilda.
“The way Phil and Daisy adapted the original story was really exciting to me, as was the animation style. It feels like a cautionary tale – and also a really lovely depiction of chosen family and community, which is one of my favorite topics. I owe David Byrne for pulling me into the music for this. It was so fun and so surreal starting a song from scratch with him.”
Writer, director, and producer Phil Johnston added, “I still can’t quite believe that I spent the last few years collaborating with David Byrne, a musical hero of mine since I was 13. From the first demo he sent me, on which the featured instrument was a 100-year-old banjolele, I knew I was going to love the songs he wrote.
“Throughout the process, my collaboration with David has been incredibly fun and surprisingly easy, probably because I’ve been stealing from him for so long. When David and I started talking about an end credit song, the first potential collaborator David brought up was Hayley Williams.
“The first word I said was ‘yes.’ Followed by ‘please.’ I still can’t quite believe that two of my favorite songwriters wrote a song together for The Twits. The saying, ‘never meet your heroes’ simply does not apply here. I met two of them, and boy howdy, it’s been a dream come true.”
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Phil Johnston reimagines Roald Dahl’s iconic characters, Jim and Credenza Twit, in their first feature animated adventure. The Twits tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Twit, the meanest, smelliest, nastiest people in the world, who also happen to own and operate the most disgusting, most dangerous, most idiotic amusement park in the world, Twitlandia.
But when the Twits rise to power in their town, two brave children and a family of magical Muggle-Wumps are forced to become as tricky as the Twits in order to save the city. A hysterically funny, wild ride of a film (chock-full of the Twits’ beloved tricks – from the Wormy Spaghetti to the Dreaded Shrinks), The Twits is also a story for our times, about the never-ending battle between cruelty and empathy.
