GR: What are some of the challenges in telling a story that’s been done so many times before. Was it difficult to distance Grimm from the sugar coated Disney-fied versions of these classics?
AM: Grimm deals directly with the Disney-fied sugar coating issue. Each episode presents an overly clean version of a well-known tale, and then allows the player to reintroduce the necessary darkness – all so these tales can regain their teeth.
In terms of difficulties… there are a few. For one, we have to be careful not to accidentally incorporate someone else’s copyrighted ideas into the game. To that end I instruct everyone to avoid watching classic Disney fairy tales or reading tales from purchased collections. We don’t want to get sued! A related issue we frequently encounter is “paying off” audience expectations about a given tale. Many people only know their fairy tales from the Disney versions, and those are often radically different from the original tales. For instance, making sure Pinocchio is recognized – even when he smashes “Jiminy Cricket” to death as was done in the original tale – is something we’re constantly thinking about.
