3 minute read
FIGHTING AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY
Save Ralph’s lovable rabbit puts the spotlight on cosmetic testing on animals.
ANIMAL ACT: Spencer Susser and his team use a sweet stop-motion rabbit to spread a dark message about the cosmetic industry in Save Ralph.
Among the 15 wonderful titles that will be competing for the Best Animated Short Oscar this year is a powerful project titled Save Ralph, which was created in conjunction with Humane Society International to call for an end to cosmetic testing on animals worldwide. The stop-motion spot, which was written and directed by Spencer Susser (Hesher), first debuted in April 2021 and went on to win numerous awards, including last year’s Annecy Cristal and OIAF prize for best commissioned film, and both the Grand Prix for Good and the not for profit Gold at Cannes Lions.
The short introduces viewers to Ralph, a hapless rabbit (voiced by Taika Waititi) who is one of the many victims of the brutal practices of the cosmetic industry. Susser joined forces with puppet maker and set designer Andy Gent (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle of Dogs) and his team at London-based studio Arch Model to bring the likeable rabbit to animated life. Produced by Jeff Vespa, the short also features the voices of Ricky Gervais, Zac Efron, Olivia Munn, Pom Klementieff and Tricia Helfer. Susser points out: “Animals in cosmetic testing labs don’t have a choice and it’s our responsibility to do something about it. When the opportunity came up to create a new campaign for Humane Society International, I felt that stop motion was the perfect way to deliver the message. When you see the horrifying reality of the way animals are treated, you can’t help but look away. What I was hoping to do with this film was create something that delivers a message without being too heavy handed. I hope that audiences fall in love with Ralph and want to fight for him and other animals like him, so we can ban animal testing once and for all.”
Wake-Up Call for the Cosmetic Industry
“We applied a lot of love and attention in showing the physical suffering of being used as a tester — the skin rashes, the scars and swollen red eye,” says Gent. “Ralph is such a sweet character, he tries to downplay the awfulness of what is happening to him, but his injuries tell the true story, and in a way that draws the audience in rather than makes them look away. Your heart breaks for him because when he’s trying to convince the audience that everything’s OK, he’s really trying to convince himself. Of course, it’s not OK. But
Andy Gent
stop-motion animation allows us to tell this tragic, upsetting truth about something awful and unjust in a way that recruits people to win this fight with us.”
Gent mentions that he and his team worked on the project for many months. “We knew the ins and outs of every single part of it all, but when you play the roll back, everybody’s welling up in tears at the end. So, I think you can see from that there’s a personal investment in it. It’s not just about telling a story in a film or in advertising. People working on this have connected to it, and when we see it played back, we’ve stopped thinking of Ralph as a stop-motion animation puppet and instead as a character telling a story that makes you want to change things. In our miniature world of models and puppets, using stop-motion filmmaking, we hope to bring attention to this mission to stop animal testing for cosmetics. We’re all very passionate about what we do, and it’d be very nice to think that this project to Save Ralph will have a greater, wider effect.” ◆
Watch Save Ralph and find educational materials on the current status of animal testing and how to take action against it available at hsi.org/saveralphmovie.
7 > 9 MARCH 2023
BORDEAUX NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE
