“Boondocks” creator Aaron McGruder wants you to help create a Ruckus. That’s Uncle Ruckus, the hardcore handyman who appears on McGruder’s “The Boondocks,” the Adult Swim/Cartoon Network show that features Huey, Riley and Robert “Granddad” Freeman.
The controversial Chicago family moves from the South Side to the white suburb of Woodcrest. Based on the long-running comic strip, McGruder uses the Freemans and Uncle Ruckus to deal with themes of hypocrisy, racism, corporate arrogance and other significant issues with a dose of twisted humor.
Now, McGruder wants fans to show their support for his latest project, “The Uncle Ruckus Movie.” McGruder is seeking support, through Kickstarter, for the live-action movie starring the voice of Uncle Ruckus, Gary Anthony Williams. McGruder will write and direct the movie that will focus on Ruckus’ back story and family but will not include the Freemans. Fans will now understand more about Ruckus’ life and gain insight into why he’s so angry.
McGruder hopes to earn $200,000 by next Friday to finance the movie. So far, he’s raised over half of that with 2,184 contributors who can get everything from original music by Uncle Ruckus to access to an insider production blog. Donors can check out new clips of Ruckus to see what you’re buying into here.
“There are no investors, corporate or otherwise, involved with the movie as of this moment,” McGruder said. “This whole thing is kind of an odd idea, so we’re starting with Kickstarter on this one and we’ll just see what happens. Crowd funding, however, is a big deal. It represents an entirely new relationship between fan and creator. It also represents a new financial model for making stuff, and that’s exciting. There’s always been interest in a live-action Boondocks movie, which to me was out of the question considering Huey and Riley are essentially impossible to cast. The animated feature would cost around $20 million, but a live-action Uncle Ruckus movie could cost a fraction of that. So just for the hell of it, we had the costume made and it was pretty amazing. To see Gary actually transform into Uncle Ruckus…it’s quite the surreal experience. I never expected the transition to be so completely seamless.”
Check out more information and donate via Kickstarter.
