The director of the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog film has opened up about his “anxiety” over the redesign of the character.
After the release of the films first trailer, the famous SEGA character’s appearance was widely ridiculed on social media – something that promoted a hasty redesign soon after.
Now, the film’s director, Jeff Fowler, has spoken to Digital Spy about his worries following the significant redesign the character has undergone.
Fowler said: “I think it had been about five months that had passed since the first trailer. We had worked very hard on our updates to the character. It was definitely a little bit of like, ‘Oh man, what happens if they don’t like this?’
“…But really, everyone that saw it internally as I was working on the film, just responded so positively. It really felt like, once we shared it with the fans, they would really embrace it and be excited about it.
“Fortunately, any anxiety I had the night before passed really quickly once it was released. Because, yeah, it was such an incredible feeling to see Sonic 2.0 get embraced the way it was.”
Fowler went on to say that creating a film where Sonic was the “outsider” helped to develop the film’s plot more easily.
“As great as it is for him to have his powers, it just felt really interesting to then have the other side of that where his powers are also what are forcing him to live in this very isolated way, outside of this small town of Green Hill.
“And for that to actually create a little bit of a challenge for him to overcome emotionally. That just felt like a really great place to start.”
Following the release of the film’s first trailer, many fans were critical of Sonic’s appearance, with one describing it as “beyond awful.”
Fowler responded at the time, saying: “Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear…you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen.
“Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.”
Sonic The Hedgehog is released in UK cinemas on February 14.
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