Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie star and director discuss working in a hybrid production world

Sandy Cheeks and the gang are out-of-water and Texas-bound in the latest film addition to the franchise! Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is available to stream on Netflix on Aug. 1

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie was written by Tom Stern and Kaz and directed by Liza Johnson. It was announced in May 2021 as a spinoff film that would center one of Spongebob's closest friends, the thrill-seeking squirrel, Sandy Cheeks, as the lead. The film is produced by Nickelodeon Movies and distributed by Netflix with animation provided by Pipeline Studios. This film is a part of three spin-off films planned for streaming release on both Netflix and Paramount+.

In the film, Bikini Bottom is getting suddenly scooped up and out of the ocean and it's up to Sandy and SpongeBob SquarePants to make their way to Sandy's family in her home state of Texas to save Bikini Bottom from the hands of an evil CEO named Sue Nahmee.

Making up the cast include the original and long-time voices of the animated characters including Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krab, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star, Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles, Mr. Lawrence as Plankton. New voices join the feature film such as Johnny Knoxville as Randy Cheeks, Craig Robinson as Pa Cheeks, Grey DeLisle as Ma Cheeks, Granny Cheeks, Rowdy Cheeks and Rosie Cheeks, and Wanda Sykes as Sue Nahmee.

The Parent Watch had the pleasure of speaking to Lawrence and the film's director Liza Johnson who both divulged on their own unique roles in making this film, what impact the franchise has on them, and showcasing another side of Sandy and her family. If you and your kids are ready, say 'Aye aye, Captain'! and read on to find out more about Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie!

The Parent Watch: I would be remiss if I didn't start off by mentioning the 25th anniversary of Spongebob SquarePants. After all these years of voicing Sandy, have you noticed that you have any similar characteristics?

Carolyn Lawrence: You know what’s so crazy? We all do. We all bring something of ourselves into our characters. I think Steve Hillenburg [creator of Spongebob Squarepants] had a magical ability to see more of who we were as people, perhaps even more than who we were as actors. He definitely picked up on parts of our personalities that he wanted to bring to life in these characters. That makes me laugh when I look back. It’s like, he saw me from the very beginning, which a lot of people don’t. It also made me laugh because, while I used to do a lot of on-camera work where I was consistently cast as the dumb blonde, in animation, I’m smart and capable. So I thought, 'Isn’t that interesting?'

He saw the other side of you, you could say.

CL: Right. He saw the full being, which how he doesn't always see so that's cool. So forever grateful.

In this movie, Sandy's returning to her home state of Texas. We see all her family members, eccentric, lovable, adorable family members. I love seeing everyone in their own unique way. Were you curious about how Sandy's family would be portrayed on screen in this film?

CL: I was initially worried because I love her and her world, and it’s important to keep it consistent. I’m very protective of it—maybe overly so at times. But then it was really fun when I read it and learned more about it. I was like, “Oh, I love it so much.” I love the dynamic and that it’s so relatable. For me and my family, I don’t have any other family members who are actors or in entertainment. So, it was me stepping outside the box, much like she stepped outside the box to pursue science. I think it’s beautiful how they’re portrayed and how they still support and love her. Even when her mom says, “Oh, she can do anything as long as she’s here,” they want her to go be the full person she can be. I think that’s a great message.

I totally agree. Seeing Sandy act opposite the live-action characters, which she's done before, but with Wanda Sykes and seeing that. It's so funny, along with all the other live-action characters. What was your reaction to seeing that, too? I love live-action animation hybrid, so I love seeing that it adds another dimension to the story.

CL: I'm with you. I love the technology, and I love how it's morphing and it's becoming even more beautiful. Every time a movie like this is made, the technology gets better and better and better. Piero Peluso did such and our director, Liza Johnson, obviously, did such an amazing job that it's so immersive. I don't know about you, but I started to forget which was which. That says something. If, in the moment, you're really fully believing that they're completely in the same world with two completely different technologies, that's quite the feat. They did it seamlessly. It's beautiful. I mean, there's a moment where I'm running around Wanda Sykes and even now I'm saying 'I'm running around Wanda Sykes,' like I actually did.

There's a scene with Mr. Krabs going up to Wanda Sykes' character, and I was like, 'This looks like something that could happen in real life.' So it's a testament to the skilled animators, obviously. If you could see Sandy in any other world or any other part of the country or anywhere, where would you want to see her?

CL: Well, she went to the moon once. I think it'd be fun if she did more in outer space. But I also think it's interesting because our oceans still, we have so much about our own planet that we still don't know. So it could be either. I mean, as humans, we really are learning more about our oceans and the depth, and there's areas we haven't ever explored. So either one, either she could go out in the universe somewhere, or she could go way deep in the ocean.

The Parent Watch: Liza, you have a long list of credits from directing, and now you're a part of Spongebob's world. I wanted to know, what was it like to be a part of bringing this movie to life? How did you get this opportunity?

Liza Johnson: Oh, I was so fortunate. I read it during COVID, and I just thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever read. I really didn't know the franchise. I'm much older than my youth would suggest, and I don't have my own children. I had not really been super exposed to it, although I do live in the world and they have T-shirts and stuff, and I know that it exists, but I just didn't know the richness of the world. When I read that script, I actually had a certain freshness about it where I was just like, these people are crazy, and this is amazing. Also, I found it quite moving and meaningful, which is something that attracts me often to comedy. Curiously, through working for a number of television shows, I actually felt that I knew exactly how to do the movie. Because even though I grew up thinking that I would be making sad French films, especially in the recent years, I've worked on a lot of joy that I think needs to be brought to the world. Through that, I met a lot of people who know quite a lot about traditions of comedy and how to stage it and what's funny and how to shoot it and how to keep actors funny.

I’ve had a lot of good fortune in that area. When I went to meet with the executives for this movie, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. That’s partly because I worked for Barry Sonnenfeld on the Netflix show A Series of Unfortunate Events. His work is very different from SpongeBob, but it’s also very maximalist. I remembered watching him work and noticing that sometimes he would call cut and a rubber chicken would swing into the frame. I thought, “Okay, sometimes you need a rubber chicken to swing into the frame.” Even if it’s not essential to the story, it adds to the feeling that there’s a lot going on. Additionally, his approach to shooting is very specific and special. Of course, I had to take a master class in his style to work on his show. This approach came to mind when I watched the franchise, which is traditionally drawn and not, at least historically, shot with a lens. The way he shoots things gave me a new perspective on creating a world that we can shoot with a lens, allowing the characters to interact within it.

That really helped me. Others have been really generous as well. One time, I came back to the Silicon Valley office and showed Alec Berg a picture of a two-story motel. He said, 'The second floor isn’t funny. Only the third floor is funny.' I was confused and asked why. He explained, 'It’s not dangerous on the second floor. That’s not funny. The third floor is funny.' I said, 'Okay.' Then, I had to go tell the actor that we were going to strap him to a higher floor. I felt a bit apologetic because I knew he might not love that. He responded, 'Oh, that’s vaudeville, baby.' It seemed like everyone except me was familiar with this vaudeville tradition, which I think is reflected in the show. For me, the tradition that makes me feel comfortable is actually from The Muppet Show, which I watched as a kid. There was always something like Gonzo getting shot out of a cannon behind Kermit’s head. Even though The Muppet Show is live-action, it’s not the opposite of what happens in a SpongeBob frame. I just tried to bring that knowledge and collaborate with the amazing animators, especially Pierrot, the animation supervisor, who is a god among men.

We came from very different vocabularies except for the language of film. We used terms like "wider," or described things as looking like Kim Novak's hair in Vertigo. This was a lingua franca we had in common, which we could use with the board artists. We prepared every single frame before shooting the plates and the parts with the live-action actors. This way, we ensured that we weren't animating anything that couldn't be animated and knew where all the characters would be. For instance, if Wanda or the other live-action actors needed to know where someone was coming from, they would have that information. Similarly, if a dog was supposed to jump on a pile of tiny SpongeBob figurines, we knew where the pile would be. We built a common language, boarded everything together, and then shot it in the same way you would shoot any VFX movie. So, we didn't really reinvent the wheel there.

Were there any particular scenes that were a challenge to direct? Any hurdles that you had to overcome?

LJ: There always are, but the ones that we had were the same as they would have been in any movie. In Santa Fe, it rains every day at four o'clock, pretty much, in the summer. We needed for it to not rain every day at four o'clock. Sometimes we would have to think of different solutions to just accommodate our schedule, really classical problems, not ones that are really specific to this hybrid live-action and animation. That's a good example of a classical problem.

It sounds like it! Since you are a newcomer to the animation world, [when it came to] working with these voice actors, what was it like to be in the room with them as they were doing their magic?

LJ: It's pretty amazing. Just the live wire that each one of those people is and the ways that each of them is really comfortable in the ensemble at this point after 25 years is pretty incredible, and it's a pretty well-oiled machine at this point. Again, I think one of the great things about going back and forth between films and television is that in television, you get to shoot a lot. For example, I worked on this show, What We Do in the Shadows, where you can come to have some confidence that an ensemble that knows each other might make up a line better than the one that was written for them and to really figure out how to make space for that joyful, I guess, improvisation off of a structure is what I would really call it. A lot of what stayed in the film is literally what was written. Really with Tom {Kenny] as a leader of the situation, and in this movie, Carolyn [Lawrence] as the soul of the movie, they could sometimes make a line that was better than the one written, and that was very fun to co-produce with them.

Now that you're more familiar with the franchise, I know you're probably not a complete expert, but after learning more, is there a character that has become your favorite? Sandy's the focus, but did any of the other ones speak to you?

LJ: Sure, but I think it’s Sandy’s movie. I’m probably more like Squidward, or possibly Patrick. I really respect and admire SpongeBob; his attention to the details of the world is admirable, and I aspire to that. However, I believe it’s really Sandy’s movie, and there are many aspects of her experience that I identify with. The challenges of leaving home to become the squirrel you were meant to be are things I understand because they’re not uncommon. Even being an amazing scientist might not align with what your parents wish for you if they value something else, like circus skills. Even when you excel at what you’re supposed to be good at, if your true desire is to do science, that’s something I relate to deeply. I think there are many ways people navigate that story, but I really respect how she has built a new community under the sea. The film provides her with opportunities for things to go in various directions as the story progresses.

The idea that it enables a rapprochement or a reunion with her biological family, even while rescuing and supporting her chosen one, is a really beautiful thing. In the biography of people in the world, maybe that happens or maybe it doesn't. In a beautiful cartoon, I think it's a wonderful, joyful way for the story to go. I absolutely loved seeing Sandy's family. I love how they’re all unique and eccentric characters who come together to support her. What was so fun about putting those scenes together with the voice actors was introducing Sandy’s family to all the fans who clearly adore her so much.

It was pretty amazing, and I hope they stick around. I don’t know, of course, what will happen in the story, but it seems like one possibility is that they could become a permanent part of her life now that we know who they are. It was really fun to design them and find their voices—both the actors who voice them and their actual personalities. I think the wildness of the circus is something that really appeals to me. I grew up in Ohio and did a project with a circus school there. It’s mostly for young people, but they teach people of any age or size to swing from a trapeze or aerial silk. They don’t shoot anyone out of cannons, but they do a lot of acrobatics. Knowing the joy that such physical skills bring to the area where I grew up, I think it’s a really great choice for whoever created her family. It’s fun, joyful, and physical, like the rest of the franchise, but it’s something we haven’t seen before. I feel like the writers made a very good decision.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is available to stream on Netflix on Aug. 1