Brad Bird has spent over 30 years trying to make Ray Gunn, and now we’ve finally got a fresh look at what he’s been obsessing over since before The Iron Giant even existed. The new image from Ray Gunn shows Sam Rockwell’s Raymond Gunn — the last human private detective in a world where machines have taken over most investigative work — looking appropriately hardboiled in a city that looks like 1939 got high on its own supply of optimism. Ray Gunn is set in Metropia, an alternate future viewed through a pre-World War II lens where Art Deco skyscrapers keep climbing, cars fly, and jetpacks are just another commuting option.
Bird describes it as The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers, which is either the coolest elevator pitch you’ve ever heard or the kind of thing a film student says before getting laughed out of a pitch meeting. But this is Brad Bird, so we’re inclined to trust him. The man has two Oscars and a Ratatouille on his resume. He knows what he’s doing.
The voice cast is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Rockwell plays the titular detective, Scarlett Johansson voices Venus Nova — a multimedia pop star whose scandals might literally get her killed — and Tom Waits shows up as Eyera, a one-eyed alien who happens to be Ray’s most trusted ally. Patton Oswalt also appears as a hologram, because of course he does.
Bird has been very vocal about wanting to prove that animation isn’t just for kids, and Ray Gunn seems designed to make that case as loudly as possible. He even skipped directing Incredibles 3 to get this made, handing that sequel off to Peter Sohn so he could focus entirely on this passion project. That’s commitment. Or stubbornness. With Bird, it’s usually both, and honestly we respect it. You don’t sit on an idea for three decades unless you genuinely believe the world needs to see it.
The film hits Netflix on December 18, which gives you just enough time to rewatch The Iron Giant and remind yourself why this man gets the benefit of the doubt. Ray Gunn was originally conceived as hand-drawn animation, but budget realities shifted it to computer animation — though Bird insists the visual style still channels that classic noir aesthetic. The first footage screened at Annecy back in June, and reports suggest the blend of retro and futuristic is genuinely unlike anything else in animation right now. Michael Giacchino is scoring the whole thing, because Bird knows better than to fix what isn’t broken.
John Ratzenberger also pops up, continuing his streak of appearing in every Bird project. The budget reportedly sits north of $150 million, which is a lot of money for a movie about a guy in a trench coat questioning aliens. After decades of false starts, studio mergers, and creative limbo, Ray Gunn is actually happening. Thirty years is a long time to sit on one idea. Here’s hoping it was worth every single second of the wait.
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