A Popular animated shorts viewed over 92 million times Made a dark darling Hazbin Hotel, its popularity sparked a legion of fans so it could be included in the series.now is a high quality videos Animated (and very adult) musical comedy, io9 had the chance to chat with creator Vivienne Medrano to find out more.
Hazbin Hotel It follows Charlie Morningstar (Erica Henningson), a princess from hell who opens a hotel with the goal of rehabilitating demons and reducing the kingdom’s overpopulation in a peaceful way. You see, heaven sends angels every year to wipe out their numbers, and Charlie hopes to put an end to this practice. Between the powerful radio demon (Amir Talay), his girlfriend Vaggie (Stephanie Beatrice) and their first experiment – adult film star Angel Dust (Blake Roman) With the help of Charlie, Charlie begins to try to give souls a second chance.
io9 sat down with Medrano —Hazbin Hotel‘s creator is also its executive producer and directed all episodes – hear about her inspirations and her journey to Prime Video. Hazbin Hotel Also produced by A24 and Fox’s Emmy Award-winning animation studio Bento Box Entertainment (Bob’s Burgers, Crapopolis, Great Northern, Grimsburg).
Sabina Graves, io9: Take me back and tell me about inspiration Hazbin Hotel. It’s been an amazing journey for your fans to take the pilot online and make it into a series.
Vivian Medrano: Honestly, it is. I’ve always been very, very influenced by adult comedies.i saw South Park When I was little, I was like, “Oh my gosh, swearing is so fun.” It really changed the whole trajectory of my career. So doing an adult animated comedy was always a possibility for me, but I’m also a huge musical theater fan. So to incorporate that into this raunchy musical that’s full of animation and looks so smooth and catchy, which is everything I love, it really resonated with people. It’s incredible to see the response. This really brings the making of the original pilot into this incredible new series.
io9: Speaking of lore, I love that it twists all these preconceived notions of hell and has such a mix of characters. What was it like working with Charlie to reinterpret that and give it more of a female perspective?
Medrano: I love it because I really love mythology, and I really love adaptations of mythology. Obviously, there’s a lot of amazing Greek mythology and stuff like that that’s been adapted over the years – and to me, Hell has such rich lore. There are so many different texts, there are so many different religions, there are so many different ways to depict the afterlife, and I was like, “Oh, this is so interesting.” Demons as a concept are very broad, so you can really follow your Design and do things the way you want. So I want my hell to be like a big circus. Lucifer is like a ringleader and all the evil is based on a circus act or something. It just makes it a little more interesting. The main city is a mix of New York and Vegas, but only the dirty parts – lots of neon. It was so fun to play in a world like that and expand on it and do it with my emotions and focus on the heroine with Charlie – rather than the devil you would normally expect.
io9: Charlie is incredible and relatable. What was your specific inspiration for her character?
Medrano: Originally, when I conceived the protagonist of this group of very misfit demons living in this hotel in a very early iteration, Charlie was a very different character.As time went on, especially when I thought about the redemptive aspect of the story, I thought, “No, I think she needs to be a character [that’s] Much like Leslie Knope [from Parks and Recreation]”——Having a very “No, I’m determined” character even in the face of adversity. So I made a huge switch. This influenced her designs, her personality and the way she performed. I love her and I think she’s a really interesting character right now. I loved writing for her and watching Erica perform her. It’s amazing.
io9: The show has this AIncredible cast – Jeremy Jordan, Keith David. Tell me your reaction to the addition of these actors. Are they someone on your wish list?
Medrano: Some people are really people [on my wish list]- and some of the people who auditioned, I was like, “Oh my God, I know this name!” It was unreal. Jeremy is definitely one of them. I didn’t think he would read it, but he did – and of course he was the funniest, funniest Lucifer audition ever. So he immediately became an actor. It was unreal for me to have these actors because I heard their voices on the soundtrack and thought, “Oh, I wish I could work with these people one day.” In fact, I have, and I still do I’ve been able to call some of them friends and they are incredible people and the kindest people ever…it’s just awesome.
io9: This is so cool. Finally, we love talking about io9’s first fandom. Can you tell me what is your favorite piece of pop culture? How have they impacted your career?
Medrano: Oh, that’s a fun thing.The earliest one I can remember─I have admired it since I was a child billy and mandy’s grim adventures, which was created by my friend Maxwell Atoms. And then obviously, intruder jim It was huge for me around the same time. Looney Tunes It’s huge for me. [As far as movies go,] jurassic park and Roger Rabbit [were] influential. Musical movies throughout the Disney Renaissance.
Hazbin Hotel Now available in high quality videos.
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