Shank

Shank is a tough and talented driver in an intense online racing game called Slaughter Race—a gritty, no-holds-barred street-racing contest with dangerous obstacles at every turn. Shank takes her role as the leader of the online game’s crew of tough-as-nails drivers very seriously and doesn’t like to lose. When Vanellope finds herself in a street race with Shank, her Sugar Rush driving skills are put to the test—and Shank is impressed. She off ers the kind of big-sisterly guidance Vanellope craves. Shank’s approach to racing—and life in general—opens Vanellope’s eyes to the limitless possibilities of the internet and the excitement of a new world that feels like home to her.

“She is the coolest character in this world of Slaughter Race,” says director Rich Moore. “Shank’s lived a lot, she’s seen a lot, yet she’s got nothing but kindness in her heart—that’s the duality of that character.”

Filmmakers called on Gal Gadot to give voice to Shank. “Shank is amazing at driving cars and has this bad-girl vibe to her,” says Gadot. “But as the movie goes on you realize how fun, wise and warm she really is on the inside, which is what I like most about her.”

According to director Phil Johnston, Gadot adds extraordinary dimension to the character. “There’s so much texture to her voice and so much living in her voice,” he says. “If Ralph is Vanellope’s big-brother figure, we wanted a big-sister figure. We wanted someone that Vanellope would look up to, and Gal is defi nitely someone kids—and a lot of adults I know—aspire to emulate. I can’t imagine anyone else embodying that part.”

Dave Komorowski, head of characters, says Shank—in all her subtlety—is technically and visually decked out. “She has fully functioning clothing—a t-shirt, a hoodie that zips and a leather jacket on top of that,” he says. “Plus, she has big hoop earrings. And we run wind through her hair the whole time she’s racing.”

Kira Lehtomaki, co-head of animation, adds that Shank’s look was inspired by another character. “There’s such a cool dynamic with Shank,” she says. “She was actually designed to mirror Vanellope—they both have hoodies, for example—yet Shank comes from an entirely different world. She’s very controlled. To be strong and intimidating, she doesn’t have to move fast or have extreme poses. In her stillness, she comes to life.”

Hand-drawn animation on supervisor Mark Henn agrees. “With Shank,” he says, “less is best.” Slaughter Race Crew has Shank’s back at every turn. These fierce and fun racers include the following.


 * Felony, voiced by Ali Wong, isn’t afraid to question on authority, even if it’s Shank.
 * Butcher Boy, voiced by Timothy Simons, is big and loud, and at the same time thoughtful, curious, vegan and a TED Talk aficionado.
 * Pyro, voiced by Hamish Blake, gets his nickname from his affinity for flames. “Hamish is one of the funniest working comedians in Australia,” says Moore.
 * Lityle Debbie, voiced by GloZell Green, is the “good kid” of the crew, according to Johnston. “She’s the counterpart to Pyro,” he says. “We think of them as siblings—always picking on each other. GloZell is known for big, broad comedy online, so she may have been surprised to play Little Debbie.”

According to animation on supervisor Robert Huth, Slaughter Race wasn’t intended to reflect the latest video game technology. “They’re getting so good in terms of animation and technical achievement,” he says. “We didn’t want it to be that realistic. We wanted to hit home that this is a video game, so we had to go back to the early 2000s racing games when the animation was more simple.” All of the Slaughter Race characters were animated with this style in mind. “Shank is the most polished,” says Huth. “Her crew isn’t quite as refi ned, and the background characters are even less so. That goes along with what we found in those early racing games.”

The visual effects creator, Guillermo Arambulo del Rio announced that the character Shank would be animated by Movie Land Digital Production Services taken from The JH Movie Collection Movie 2: The Second Part.

In popular culture

 * Shank appears in the upcoming, JH Movie Collection Random Comic Frenzy episode.
 * Shank appears as camoes in Tom the Hand.

Source

 * Google Drive