An LA-based Irish director and producer has pulled off a coup by casting Mel Brooks in a starring role in his new animated short film.
Nigel Tiernan, who is originally from Kilkenny but has lived in California since 2009, co-produced Addicted To It, a cautionary tale about mobile phone use in which Brooks, who celebrated his 100 birthday last June, plays a mischievous phone that comes to life and who will do anything to keep its owner hooked.
Mel Brooks and Nigel Tierney in the studio for Addicted To It
The seven-minute short is currently touring film festivals around the world and has qualified to be considered for the upcoming Oscars in the Animated Shorts category, prior to the announcement of the final shortlist.
Addicted To It sees main character, Dace, try to take a walk among the Redwoods without his phone only to have the device turn into ‘Phoney Bunny’, who tries to pull him back down the rabbit hole of doom scrolling.
Brooks, whose long career as a director and writer includes The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Space Balls, was all in on the project as soon as he was sent the concept.
Speaking from his home studio in LA, Tiernan (42), who previously worked on Shrek Forever After, The Croods, and Kung Fu Panda 3, says, “When we stumbled onto the bunny character as the idea, it was this notion of something that is charming and sweet but also chaotic.
Mel Brooks voices “agent of chaos” Phoney Bunny
“We loved the idea of the bunny, like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, pulling you into that portal of the mobile phone. So neither bad nor good but this agent of chaos who is definitely manipulative, the ultimate narcissist trying to keep your attention.
“We thought ‘who could play this role comedically but also deliver the message?’ And no better an agent of chaos than Mel Brooks!”
And Brooks didn’t record his vocals remotely – he was more than happy to do his voice parts in person with the production team.
“First off, we sent him the video and right away we got an email saying Mel has seen the video and is interested,” Tierney says. “So we asked did he want us to set up a remote system and they said no.
Nigel with singer Dixie D’Amelio, whose vocals feature in Addicted To It
“He showed up to the studio with his wonderful production partner and assistant. No entourage, no fuss. He wore a lovely suit with a red pocket square.”
Tierney adds, “He was great and so generous with his time. He hung out afterwards, signed things and took pictures with everyone and offered to promote and support the film as best he could. He loved it.
“Selfishly, I’ll tell you he told me I did a good job of directing him and for someone who grew up watching his movies, I don’t need any other compliments after that.”
Addicted To It was directed by Tierney and Federico Heller and features original music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jeff Marx and also features singer Dionne Warwick.
Addicted To It has qualified to be considered for the upcoming Oscars in the Animated Shorts category, prior to the announcement of the final shortlist stage
It was produced in Argentina, Ireland and the United States with an international team of over two hundred artists and musicians and it wraps a serious message in kinetic, eye-popping colours and a manic pace.
Addicted To It was very much inspired by the personal experiences of Tierney and his fellow producers.
“As a parent, there is almost this complicated relationship we have with our devices,” he says. “Obviously I use it for work but I go to check an email and the next thing you know I’m on Instagram for an hour.
“It became particularly noticeable when I saw that habit form around my kids. They’re seeing their dad not paying them attention.”
The filmmaker has two kids, 13-year-old Nigel Jr and eight-year-old girl Crystal, who is named after her mother, and who has a singing role in Addicted To It.
“After screenings at festivals, everyone says the same thing,” Teirney adds. “’I wish I could show this is my kids or my parents . . . ‘ so this is an issue that is affecting everyone.”
Nigel Tierney
What is a seemingly carefree little animation that embraces the absurdity of our relationship with technology is also a lesson about our excessive and sometime obsessive phone use.
“We don’t claim to fully know the solution of the impact of what we are addressing but what we do know is that there is this yearning to experience life in the present and how challenging that is,” Tierney says.
“The idea of our lead character, Dace, is him making the effort to go for a five, ten-minute walk without his phone and how difficult that is.
“There are many ways people are addicted but we didn’t want to be preachy. We are all addicted and if you can’t go without your phone, that’s fine because we are all a little bit addicted.
“The analogy I use is my mum trying to sneak vegetables into the dinner when I was a kid so if we can deliver the message that way . . . “
Tierney is sitting in front of his impressive trophy cabinet as we speak via Zoom and his work also includes the acclaimed animated short Earth, which won a Cannes Lions award.
He also directed Bad Bunny’s immersive Un Verano Sin Ti 360° visualizers and his first animated feature, Goldbeak, was released by Lionsgate. He works across music, advertising, and immersive technology and he is currently developing an animated musical with Jeff Marx, best known for co-writing the songs for Broadway’s Avenue Q.
It was his early interest in video games that sparked an interest in animation but ironically, he left his native Kilkenny just as Cartoon Saloon, the acclaimed studio who have produced a string of animated hit movies including The Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers, and Song of The Sea, was being set up.
“I met the guys from Cartoon Saloon at Dreamworks when they were first pitching The Secret of Kells and I said ‘where were you when I lived in Kilkenny!?’” Tierney laughs. “I love that Kilkenny is now such a centre of animation.”
Significantly the end credits to Addicted To It state that it was totally made with “human hearts and human hands” and with no AI. As a filmmaker, Tierney knows how hard it is to balance the opportunities and the pitfalls of a new tech that many believe extinguishes actual human creativity.
“I can see opportunities for AI to help artists do more, to make more minutes of animation, to realise ideas they might otherwise never have the resources to attempt,” he says.
“My hope is that it expands what people can create and supports their livelihoods. But purely generative filmmaking holds very little interest for me. I want to make things. I want to work with artists.
“If you want people to care about what you’re making, you have to care about how you make it. That means meaningful music, meaningful visuals, and thought behind every pixel and every note.
“You’re asking someone to give you a few minutes of their life. You should care enough to make those minutes worth their while.”
As Mel Brooks himself says, “If people can put their phones down long enough to watch Addicted To It, we’ve already won.”
However, Tierney is only too aware that a lot of people will end up watching his new film on their . . . mobile phones.
“It’s definitely the biggest irony of the whole thing! To encourage people to put their phones down, we first have to reach them on their phones,” he says.
“We’re asking people to try one small thing: take a five-to-ten-minute walk without your phone. Have a look around. Give yourself a moment where nobody’s trying to sell you something or get you to scroll to the next thing.
“If you watch our film on your phone, have a laugh, and then stick the thing in a drawer and go for a wee walk, I’d be delighted. That’s exactly what we’re hoping for.”
Addicted To It will be screened at:
BITBANG: Buenos Aires, Argentina on 27th of October. Tampa Animation Festival, Tampa Bay, Florida on 5th of November. Open World Animation Festival, Pennsylvania, United States on 5th of November. Coronado Island Film Festival. San Diego, California on 7th of November. Manchester Animation Festival, Manchester, England on 8th of November. Anchorage International Film Festival, Anchorage, Alaska on 4th of December.