Bomb Squad is an animated musical about the gang that made the Atomic Bomb.
This project is in development. Completed are a trailer which is composed of a series of static images of finished art, a full-length script, words and music for a dozen songs, and a full-length pencil sketch version of the film.
As a musical, this is an irreverent look at history. But aside from the singing and dancing scientists, atoms, and sub-atomic particles, everything that’s shown is, to the best of our ability, true. It’s a period piece. This is how it all happened, why it all happened, and how the main characters involved thought and felt about what they were doing while they were doing it. There is quite a range. When the Bomb was tested for the first time, some cheered, some cried, some threw up. This is their story.
PROJECT SUMMARY
The film follows the atomic scientists from their golden days uncovering the secrets of the atom, to the morally excruciating choices they make as they develop the ultimate weapon.
It’s a story of how the best minds in the world ended up in a desperate race to make the worst weapon in history. Follow Oppenheimer, Heisenberg, Meitner, Fermi, Teller, Bohr, and Szilard, and the rest of the crew as they find the fate of the world suddenly thrust in their hands.
It’s a thrilling tale told in a style that is historically accurate but visually and musically wild. The true-life story by itself is gripping and relentless. But on top of that we take off in a wholly new direction that is tremendously entertaining and wickedly funny — turning it into a musical.
The music and imaginative visual treatment provide the driving force in this intense race against time. Bomb Squad draws its energy from an explosively jazzy score — inspired by the smoke and sweat-filled dance halls of the swing era — a roller coaster of rhythm and song that dips and weaves through the fear and wonder that ushered in the atomic age.
Over a dozen songs fill out the score with a with a wide range of styles taking us on a journey from sweetness and light all the way to pitch black. Included are the crackling music hall ditty The Nucleus, a Delta Blues number Mrs. Teller’s Baby, the jive-and-wail Gadget Song, and the apocalyptic It Worked.
Bomb Squad takes place on an epic scale — featuring not only human characters, worldwide locations, and global events, but also by bringing the atomic world to life. The atoms themselves become characters in the story as we hurtle headlong into history.
PROJECT STATUS
• The full-length screenplay is complete.
• A dozen songs have been written with finished lyrics and musical treatments.
• Several thousand scene and character drawings have been created.
• A pencil sketch version of the entire film has been completed, currently timed at 103 minutes.