The Simpsons Movie

***The Simpsons Movie*** is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the Fox television series *The Simpsons*. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress MacNeille, Pamela Hayden, Maggie Roswelland Russi Taylor, as well as Albert Brooks. The film follows Homer Simpson, whose irresponsibility gets the best of him when he pollutes the lake in Springfield after the town has cleaned it up following receipt of a warning from the Environmental Protection Agency. As the townspeople exile him and eventually his family abandons him, Homer works to redeem his folly by stopping Russ Cargill, the head of the EPA, who intends to destroy Springfield.

Although previous attempts to create a *Simpsons* film had been made, they failed due to the lack of a script of appropriate length and production crew members. Eventually in 2001, producers James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Richard Sakai and Mike Scully began development of the film, and a writing team consisting of Brooks, Groening, Jean, Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti was assembled. They conceived numerous plot ideas, with Groening's being the one developed into a film. The script was re-written over a hundred times, and this rewriting continued after the animation had begun in 2006. Consequently, hours of finished material was cut from the final release, including cameo roles from Erin Brockovich, Minnie Driver, Isla Fisher, Kelsey Grammer and Edward Norton; Tom Hanks and the members of Green Day appeared in the final cut as themselves.

Tie-in promotions were made with several companies to promote the film's release, including Burger King and 7-Eleven, the latter of which transformed selected stores into Kwik-E-Marts. The film premiered in Springfield, Vermont on July 21, 2007, and was released six days later by 20th Century Fox in the United States. *The Simpsons Movie*was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $527 million worldwide, making it the eighth highest-grossing film of 2007 and the highest-ever grossing film based on an animated television series.

## Plot

While performing on Lake Springfield, the band Green Day perishes when the lake's pollution dissolves their barge, following an audience revolt after frontman Billie Joe Armstrong proposes an environmental discussion. At their memorial, Grampa foresees the destruction of the town, but only Marge takes this seriously. Later that day, Homerdares Bart to skateboard naked to Krusty Burger and Bart is arrested by Chief Wiggum. Bart considers their neighbor Ned Flanders a better father figure after Homer refuses to take responsibility for the incident. Lisa and a new Irish friend named Colin convince the entire town to clean their lake.

Meanwhile, Homer adopts a pig from Krusty Burger and names it "Spider Pig" (later "Harry Plopper", and simply "Plopper" afterwards), and stores the pig's feces (and some of his own) in a silo, until Marge tells him to safely dispose of the waste. Homer initially intends to take his silo to the waste management plant, but after Lenny calls to tell him that Lard Lad Donuts has been shut down due to health violations and is giving away free donuts, Homer impatiently dumps the silo straight into the lake, polluting it much worse than before. Moments later, a squirrel jumps into the lake and becomes severely mutated; Flanders and Bart (who bond after Homer humiliates Bart) discover the creature before the EPA captures it. Russ Cargill, head of the EPA, presents five "unthinkable" options to U.S. President Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep the town's pollution contained. The slow-witted president picks option 3 without reading it, and Springfield is enclosed in a large glass dome. When the police discover Homer's silo in the lake, and his responsibility for sealing Springfield in the dome, the townspeople of Springfield except for the Flanders family form an angry mob and advance on the Simpsons' home to kill Homer, but the family escapes the town through a sinkhole, which then destroys their house. With the EPA on their trail, the Simpsons flee to Alaska. On the way, Homer tries to make some money at a carnival by riding a motorcycle around the inside of a metal cage, which he accomplishes with the aid of Lisa.

After three months of futile escape attempts, Springfield's residents finally make a crack in the dome; pointing out the damage, Cargill manipulates Schwarzenegger into ordering the town's destruction. In Alaska, the Simpsons see an advertisement starring Tom Hanks for a new Grand Canyon on the site of Springfield; realizing that the town is endangered, Marge and the children want to go back to save it, but Homer refuses to help the people who tried to kill him. After failing to talk Homer into it, his family eventually leave him for good. Alone, Homer is stranded on a slab of ice and floats away. Meanwhile, Marge and the children are captured by the EPA after a conversation of theirs is overheard by the NSA. After a mysterious Inuit shaman woman saves him from a polar bear, Homer has an epiphany and decides to return to Springfield to save the town from danger.

As Homer arrives, a helicopter lowers a small but powerful bomb down a rope through a hole in the dome. While Homer climbs to the top of the dome, the townspeople attempt to climb the rope to escape through the still-opened hole, but Homer slides down the rope and knocks them off along with the bomb. After reconciling with Bart, Homer drives a motorcycle along the dome, inspired by the earlier carnival attraction. As a passenger of the motorcycle, Bart throws the bomb through the hole; seconds later it detonates, shattering the dome and freeing the town. Cargill arrives personally and prepares to kill Homer with a shotgun, but Maggieknocks him out with a rock. The town finally praises and forgives Homer, who rides into the sun rise with Marge and Maggie, whereupon the townspeople restore Springfield to normal. As a symbol of their gratitude, the Simpsons and their friends begin to rebuild the family's house.

## Production

### Development

The production staff had considered a film adaptation of *The Simpsons* since early in the series. The show's creator, Matt Groening, felt a feature-length film would allow them to increase the show's scale and animate sequences too complex for a TV series. He intended the film to be made after the show ended, "but that [...] was undone by good ratings". There were attempts to adapt the fourth season episode "Kamp Krusty" into a film, but difficulties were encountered in expanding the episode to feature-length. For a long time the project was held up. There was difficulty finding a story that was sufficient for a film, and the crew did not have enough time to complete such a project, as they already worked full-time on the show. Groening also expressed a wish to make *Simpstasia*, a parody of *Fantasia*; it was never produced, partly because it would have been too difficult to write a feature-length script. Before his death, Phil Hartman had said he had wished to make a live-action Troy McClure film, and several of the show's staff had expressed a desire to help create it, even Josh Weinstein proposed to use the plot of the 1996 episode "A Fish Called Selma" for the film, before the cancellation of the project.

The voice cast was signed on to do the film in 2001, and work then began on the script. The producers were initially worried that creating a film would have a negative effect on the series, as they did not have enough crew to focus their attention on both projects. As the series progressed, additional writers and animators were hired so that both the show and the film could be produced at the same time. Groening and James L. Brooks invited back Mike Scully and Al Jean (who continued to work as showrunner on the television series) to produce the film with them. They then signed David Silverman (who, in anticipation of the project, had quit his job at Pixar) to direct the film. The "strongest possible" writing team was assembled, with many of the writers from the show's early seasons being chosen. David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, George Meyer, John Swartzwelder, and Jon Vitti were selected. Ian Maxtone-Graham and Matt Selman joined later, and Brooks, Groening, Scully, and Jean also wrote parts of the script. Sam Simon did not return having left the show over creative differences in 1993. Former writer Conan O'Brien expressed interest in working with the *Simpsons* staff again, although he later joked that "I worry that the *Simpsons*-writing portion of my brain has been destroyed after 14 years of talking to Lindsay Lohan and that guy from *One Tree Hill*, so maybe it's all for the best." The same went for director Brad Bird who said he had "entertained fantasies of asking if [he] could work on the movie", but did not have enough time due to work on *Ratatouille*. The producers arranged a deal with Fox that would allow them to abandon production of the film at any point if they felt the script was unsatisfactory.