Heroes of the Golden Mask – Director, Sean Patrick O’Reilly Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB5I76QLZKU

Sean Patrick O’Reilly is a Canadian filmmaker with big ambition, having written, directed and produced many fantasy, action and adventure films over the last decade. His most recent animated feature, Heroes Of The Golden Mask is a superhero story with a fantasy edge which will be available in the digital format starting June 9, 2023. I was lucky enough to catch Director Sean Patrick O’Reilly in between projects and learn a bit about his influences and how this latest Chinese co-production came together.

Adam Pope: It’s very clear from your IMDB profile that you must be a comic book fan. There’s a picture that you took with Stan Lee for, so I have to ask, how did your comics fandom influence your desire to get into producing, writing directing films like Heroes of the Golden Mask? 

Director Sean Patrick O’Reilly: When I started Arcana comics, my goal was to publish comic books and then kind of be like a Stan Lee. Have someone make my Spider-Man and go to set, eat the snacks and kind of watch other people make my movies, but it didn’t work out that way. It’s a lot harder than you might think. So arguably, it was maybe easier for me to actually just start producing. And so I ended up producing my first animated series Kasagi, and then Pixies and then ultimately Heroes Of The Golden Mask.

Adam Pope: That’s awesome. You obviously you have cast members in Heroes of the Golden Mask like Ron Perlman and Patton Oswalt who have ties to comic book based productions like Hellboy and M.O.D.O.K., and many others. Now, Patton in particular is very well known for his genre fandom. So were you guys able to geek out together in between recording sessions? 

Director Sean Patrick O’Reilly: Yeah, for sure. I mean, it’s kind of funny, because, you know, the casting is very driven by me, if you will. And so I’ve worked with a few of them in the past. And yeah, I mean, Patton’s amazing. He actually has a recording studio at his home. Because I think, of The Goldbergs when he was the voice of it. So I believe they put it there and yeah, amazing. The work was truly great. 

Adam Pope: For those who have not seen the film just yet, Heroes of the Golden Mask features a team of adventurers from throughout history and the world. It’s kind of like the Avengers, if they were based in ancient China had cool portals to travel through time and space. So are these characters in any way based on existing historical figures of myth? Are they just archetypes? 

Sean O’Reilly: Well said. So Aesop, which is Patton Oswalt’s character, is from the lost city of Atlantis, and Zuma, is Chichen Itza. We never actually say it in the script. It’s like all these people are from lost cities and Sanxingdui is a newly discovered lost city in China. Ultimately, that’s where the masks and the powers come from. So we kind of had every character with their own little mythos. Again, we don’t go into it in the in the film per se, but that was definitely the background for them. 

Adam Pope: Now, I would say in addition to the comic book Influence, Heroes of there Golden Mask feels very much like it could have been a syndicated cartoon series alongside Captain Planet or Silverhawks or to go really deep, something like Dinosaucers. So how influenced would you say you were by team adventure cartoons of the 80s and 90s?

 

Director Sean Patrick O’Reilly: 100%! Obviously, there’s going to be a touch of Power Rangers in there, even if it’s not animated, but it’s definitely that type. I mean, you know, Nickelodeon used to call a wish fulfillment. I’m not sure about every kid, but I would love to find a mask, or you find a ring and you become Green Lantern. And you find a mask, and you’ve become Charlie from Heroes of the Golden Mask. And you know, that’s what kids wish for, and at least I did, and even as an adult I still think it’d be pretty amazing. 

Adam Pope: Animation is obviously a very international process these days and really traditionally has been  as well. So was Heroes of the Golden Mask produced in China first, and then you were brought on to direct the American voice cast? Or was it a much more collaborative process in the development of the film? 

Sean O’Reilly: Yeah, officially it’s a co-production with Golden Images and they’re out of China. And it’s part of China’s cultural heritage. And so that’s why Sanxingdui is up in the forefront as the lost city. And so they did a lot of the development, first pass of the screenplay, a lot of the designs, and then post production and distribution as well. Then we were kind of the meat and potatoes of production, if you will. The animation and the American voice casting. I did get to write new dialogue and the script. That’s always fun being the director. Sometimes, you know, you wonder how much freedom that you’ll get. So this is awesome. 

Adam Pope: Yeah, definitely. Heroes of the Golden Mask is noted as being Christopher Plummer’s final performance and I have to admit I didn’t expect him to be playing a Brando-esque Godfather, kind of heavy character. That really caught me off guard. And since you had worked with him previously on the Pixies and your Howard Lovecraft films, was this a role you had him in mind for specifically? 

Sean O’Reilly: It wasn’t to be honest. He caught me off guard a little bit too, and I loved it. So I’ve directed him maybe seven or eight times. He’s also Canadian. When I got my first animated feature Pixies, he is the voice of the Pixie King. And it’s funny I read an article by the director of Donnie Darko, who was like, ‘You know, once you start getting your first actor and and some cool people, it’s like everyone joins the pool party.’ So if people are asking , ‘Well, who else is in this?’ And I can say, ‘Well, Christopher Plummer’, it’s like, oh, okay, that’s cool. And then everyone else is willing to kind of take a chance on those type of things. So I’ve worked with him before many times. 

Sean O’Reilly: And then what I love about Mr. Plummer is he actually takes the time to read think and analyzes like, ‘I think in my character would sound like this.’ And I always love natural voice acting, so for him to come with this and he had the whole background thought out. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I thought it was amazing.

Adam Pope: You also have worked with Bruce Willis on what turned out ultimately to be some of his final films. Bruce did have some forays into animation as well with Bruno The Kid, Over The Hedge and he was even in Beavis and Butthead Do America, which is amazing. So was he ever considered for role in this movie is? Is he doing voice acting these days to your knowledge? 

Sean O’Reilly: Yeah, I mean, it’s funny. So I believe I’m the last writer director to have worked with him on Corrective Measures. And then afterwards, there was a trilogy of films called the Knight trilogy. And so those ones are just released now with Lionsgate. And so I believe those are his last three movies and I was on set with him in Vancouver. For voice acting, to be honest, I didn’t know about Beavis and Butthead and Over The Hedge. And so I never actually pitched him. I actually probably should have looking back on that.

Adam Pope: Getting back to Heroes of the Golden Mask, are there plans to create a franchise? Because it feels like a concept with a lot of room to expand into films or streaming series and you have a history of turning things into a franchises. Is that part of the plan? 

Sean O’Reilly: Yeah, it’s one of those things that is part of the plan. So the movie comes out to the USA on June 9, 2023 and then it has a very wide theatrical release in China. So while I am planning to make a franchise, you kind of never really know. Even Marvel and everyone pivots right now, right? I think Willow season 2 is no longer the plan. I was really bummed on that, I’m a fan. But you always have these big plans and you know, you hope to carry them out. But the vision is definitely there. I would like to just explore these lost cities. I’m a big fan of UNESCO heritage sites. I’ve been to over 100 and I actually collect masks when I travel. In Costa Rica and everywhere I’ve been to like Machu Picchu and that’s what I love to do.

Adam Pope: Best of luck with the release of Heroes of the Golden Mask. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a great adventure. Great performances all around and even you get it on the action a little bit. You get to play the sidekick to Christopher Plummer as Rizzo.

Director Sean Patrick O’Reilly: Exactly. Thurman. He’s not the brightest bulb. But you know, he gets by.

We want to thank Sean Patrick O’Reilly for taking the time to do this interview. You can view a video version of this discussion on the Popgeeks YouTube channel here. Heroes of the Golden Mask is available to stream digitally in the USA on June 9, 2023. Read our Heroes of the Golden Mask review here.