Sausage Party leapt a ton of hurdles just to get released.
Who knew a cartoon about a hotdog with a foul mouth and some bun lust would spark so much
controversy?
But for all the reactions to the film, the weirdest stories happened behind the scenes.
Here are some details about Sausage Party that even hardcore fans may not know.
Child friendly
Sausage Party came about a dill slice away from being burdened with an NC-17 rating in
the U.S., but the ratings board is apparently a bit more relaxed in Sweden.
Because they let the movie with this...
"But once we're out the doors it's not a sin."
"For us to let you slip it in."
...and this…
"They're eating children!
f------ children!"
...hit theaters with an "11" rating, meaning that kids aged 7 to 11 could go see Sausage
Party with an adult, and kids older than 11 could see it anytime they wanted.
Those parents must have been thrilled.
"Jesus C-----!
She's peeling me f------ skin!"
Happier ending
The giant food orgy at the end of Sausage Party came out of nowhere, but it was originally
even more filthy than the final cut.
Writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg gave the animators free reign to be as creatively
nasty as possible, and the result was 12 straight minutes of food-on-food action.
Rogen told IndieWire, "We found out that animators can be pretty sick when told they can do whatever
they want."
The Naughty Dog
Movie studios love a tie-in deal, but, as Seth Rogen put it, "Shockingly, no major sausage
company wanted to partner with a movie that condemns the eating of sausages."
However, the movie did manage to work out a promotional tie-in with the hot dog restaurant
chain Dog Haus.
"In conjunction with the Sony Pictures release of Sausage Party Dog Haus is proud to present
'The Naughty Dog.'"
The Naughty Dog consisted of a spicy kielbasa topped with onions and horseradish mayonnaise
on a grilled bun, which sounds delicious, but remember: that hot dog only wants you
to love it.
"Frank!
Move your F------ A--!"
Casting call
One of the first people Rogen cast for Sausage Party was his good friend, Oscar-nominated
actor Edward Norton.
You know him mostly from roles where he doesn't play an animated bagel.
"I am Jack's smirking revenge."
Norton loved the concept for the Sausage Party, and even came up with the idea for the character
he'd eventually play, Sammy Bagel, Jr.—"a bagel that sounded like Woody Allen."
"The only thing I've ever pushed is my peaceful agenda which that I didn't even push I ah
passively aggressively nudged."
Rogen also thinks that Norton's early involvement helped assemble the all-star cast.
"I think he was ultimately the one who talked Kristen Wiig into doing it, also.
He really helped wrangle the cast, and because he was one of the first people involved in
it, it was easy to get other people because we always could say, 'We got Edward Norton
in the movie!'"
A different direction
Animated movies are time-consuming to make, so a lot of them have two credited directors
to split the workload.
This was also true for Sausage Party, which was helmed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan.
Content-wise, Sausage Party was a huge shift for Tiernan in particular.
Although he's a veteran animator who worked on projects like All Dogs Go to Heaven, Cool
World, and The Tigger Movie, Tiernan's only previous animation directing experience was
overseeing episodes of Thomas & Friends, the animated preschool series about trains with
faces.
"It's not your fault the weather stopped you doing your job.
And isn't the important thing that all the children's letters get to Santa on time?"
And then...he did this:
"Oh 'shroom...are you hit?"
Animator approved
Sausage Party is messed up in most ways you can imagine.
Nobody's going to argue about that.
"I was afraid you left me because I wasn't fresh anymore.
And then I was attacked by a douche."
But people in the animation industry seem to love it.
After Sausage Party hit it big at the box office, Sony mounted an Oscar campaign for
the movie and held a special screening to drum up Academy interest in the movie.
Seth Rogen gave a speech at the event, and afterward, Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton
came up to him and said, "When you gave that speech before and everyone applauded, that
was just great.
That’s exactly what we need people like you to talk about."
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