Disney has just premiered Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a new animated film, on its Disney+ streaming service. The short comedy is the latest adaptation of author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney's ultra-popular book series, and he wrote the screenplay as well. It is based on protagonist Greg's (voiced by The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers' Brady Noon) earliest adventures as he chronicles middle school mishaps in his journal.
A middle child at home and less-than-popular student at school, Greg spends his free time playing video games with best friend Rowley (Ethan William Childress, Mixed-ish) and avoiding the molding piece of cheese that cements any student's outcast status. As he tries to increase his social rank among classmates, Greg begins to lose sight of the things that really matter until his family and Rowley help pull him back.
Kinney spoke to Screen Rant about growing with his characters even as they stay the same, taking Greg from 2D to 3D, and the origins of the Cheese Touch in his own life.
Screen Rant: You've gone from 16 novels to a spin-off series and 4 live-action films, and now you've written an animated film. What is it like to watch Greg grow before your eyes, but also stay the same?
Jeff Kinney: Gosh, I feel like I've been growing with him. I started this series when I was about 28 years old, and I've grown a lot as a person. I've become a father, I've worked on lots of live-action movies, and finally I got to this place where I was ready to write the screenplay myself.
It's been a really interesting journey for me, and I'm grateful for every step of it.
What was that collaboration like, to be really hands-on with this film?
Jeff Kinney: It was really interesting because I got to revisit the first story that I wrote. When I wrote Diary of a Wimpy Kid to begin with, I wasn't experienced as a storyteller, and I wasn't particularly good at it. I was a good gag writer, I was a decent illustrator, but I didn't know how to tell a story for the screen.
I learned a lot on the live-action films, and hopefully, I put it to good use on this animated film.
I had never thought that Greg was anything like a sociopath, but on the trailer comments, so many people were like, "He's not enough of a sociopath." And then I looked up your Reddit AMA, and you were like, "I don't think he's a sociopath..." When it comes to this collective conversation around Greg's less than desirable social skills, how do you strike the right balance for him?
Jeff Kinney: I think of Greg as just being a messy kid. In fact, I think of him as being an accurate kid. A lot of things that Greg does and thinks? I did all those things. And the people that criticize Greg for his behavior? I think they probably did a lot of those things, too.
Greg is recording his life at a time when he shouldn't be recording. It's right when he's not a fully formed person, and I think that people that give Greg a label are sort of missing the joke. Right off the bat, Greg says, "One day when I'm rich and famous, I won't have time to answer people's stupid questions." Whatever that is - I'm not sure how you label that - it's misguided. It's a little bit cocksure. But I don't think it's anything worse than that.
One of the biggest aspects as Greg grows up is his friendship with Rowley, which is at the heart of the story. Greg isn't the best friend at the start of the story, but how do you see that relationship's progression through the film?
Jeff Kinney: Every story and every film is about growth, right? Greg starts off the film not valuing his friendship with Rowley, and the viewer is really rooting for this friendship to work out because you can see that Greg at his best and Rowley at his best are really a good pair.
It really is interesting, because we're taking a bit of a risk by writing a story about this kid whose faults are really glaring, and we're hoping that the audience takes this journey with us, because we want the audience to root for these two friends.
I love the animation and feel like it's just so fitting for the story. What is it like to collaborate on what these characters will look like in 3D?
Jeff Kinney: Yeah, that was another big leap of faith. First, we had to render them; we had to model them. And, of course, you're used to seeing Greg and his friends in three-quarter view. I'm not a very talented artist; I'm very limited. So, it's weird seeing the characters at different angles; from overhead and things like that.
But we wanted to have the camera angles really follow the characters in a way that was more flexible than something like The Peanuts Movie, for example. I think we achieved that. It was weird at first, and it doesn't perfectly line up with what's on the page. But I think that you can nod your head and say, "Yeah, that's about right. That's about how they would look."
What made Brady Noon the perfect choice for Greg, in your opinion?
Jeff Kinney: Boy, the casting department really nailed that one. Brady's got all those qualities. He's a little cocksure; he's a bit of a salesman. He's also a really likable kid, and he's vulnerable as well. And we needed all of those elements. If you take away any of those elements, this doesn't work. That's why it's so hard to cast for Greg.
And then Rowley, who's played by Ethan, is different. He's a really pure kid. He's a kid who clearly likes being a kid, and he's a lot of fun. He's a very joyful kid, so the combination of these two salt and pepper personalities works really well.
You mentioned going back and revisiting story elements from the first story, and the origin of the Cheese Touch is a big one. What is the Cheese Touch in your life?
Jeff Kinney: The Cheese Touch was a combination of the cooties, which was a thing when I was growing up, and an actual piece of cheese on my church parking lot underneath the basketball hoop. I won't say what happened to it, but if you watch the movie all the way through to the end, then you can probably get it.
I asked Brady what he wants to do next with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and he wants to see Greg and Rowley in high school with Roderick teaching them the ropes. Does that sound like something that we can get? What are your plans for this iteration of the story?
Jeff Kinney: I think the thing that we love about cartoon characters is that they stay the same. They stay as a constant, right? We don't think about the fact that Donald Duck is 90 years old; we like him to stay the same with all his feathers. I think it's really important for Greg to stay in middle school forever.
Brady might outgrow him and move on, we'll see. But I think it's really fun to deliver on that promise of consistency with a cartoon character.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now available to stream on Disney+.
