marionette-films

"Sanjeev Bhaskar as Rupee / Old Gil / King (voice)"

"Rosamund Pike as Daisy (voice)"

"Martyn Ellis as Zeppelin Captain / A.R.P. Wardens / Cumberland Farmer / Scottish Savages (voice)"

"James Hicks as Igor / Joseph Kaplinsky / Farmer 1 / Skinny Guard / Scottish Savages (voice)"

"Pam Ferris as Matron Rutty (voice)"

"Brian Conley as Zeppelin Crewman / Farmer 2 / Stupid Farmer / Erummel / Squire / Hereford Farmer (voice)"

"Richard Griffiths as Hermann Goering (voice)"

"Richard O'Brien as Himmler (voice)"

"Dominic West as Fiske (voice)"

"Timothy Spall as Churchill (voice)"

"Jimmy Boyle as Pinkypoo (voice)"

"Edward McHenry as Charlie / Rat Catcher (voice)"

"My dear countrymen, dear friends. Never in the field of human conflict, was so buggered up by so few for so many!"

"Brave men of the Punjab, we are the last of the remaining Empire, the only soldiers England has left. Their army has surrendered, helpless, on the shores of Dunkirk. So now this honor has been bestowed on us - us, the men of the Raj. And when the time comes we will all do our duty for England and protect Churchill Sahib at all costs!"

"Have you forgotten what being English means? It means being free. I might just be a simple farm boy, but at least I'm a free simple farm boy. What does freedom mean to you? Freedom to grow your own crops and graze livestock. Think what they'll do to your farms. Your cows, Farmer Grey. Your pigs, Mr and Mrs Sparrow. Think what will happen to your FANY, Matron Rutty. Join me... so that in future years you can proudly say, "I fought for England!" Now who is with me?"

"Hugh Fraser as BBC Newsreader / Gaston (voice)"

"Alexander Armstrong as Red Leader (voice)"

"Rory McHenry as Johnny (voice)"

"Ewan McGregor as Chris (voice)"

"Stephen Merchant as Tom (voice)"

"Richard E. Grant as The Vicar (voice)"

"Tom Wilkinson as Albert / Goebbels (voice)"

"Tobias Menzies as Captain English / Monty (voice)"

"Caroline Duff as F.A.N.Y. Girl 1 (voice)"

"Charlotte Moore as F.A.N.Y. Girl 2 / Dairy Maid / Heidi / Helga (voice)"

"The whole movie has this sideways humor to it, almost begging you to think critically about it. It's as if Matt and Trey don't care at all, when every scene apathetically introduces more casual racism or ignorance ("Derka derka, Muhammad jihad", "Everyone has AIDS!", "So Ronery"), but the more you look at it, the more you realize just how much care it takes to SEEM that culturally insensitive. It's a lead; A trap. They want you to call the movie racist for X, so they can show you your own hypocrisy for not seeing, or being concerned with, Y. Which is exactly the point of the movie! Stop worrying so much about whatever YOUR hot-button issue is, and try to see how fucked up the whole of the issues are."

"Their "Team America: World Police" is an equal opportunity offender, and waves of unease will flow over first one segment of their audience, and then another. Like a cocky teenager who's had a couple of drinks before the party, they don't have a plan for who they want to offend, only an intention to be as offensive as possible."

"I wasn't offended by the movie's content so much as by its nihilism. At a time when the world is in crisis and the country faces an important election, the response of Parker, Stone and company is to sneer at both sides—indeed, at anyone who takes the current world situation seriously. They may be right that some of us are puppets, but they're wrong that all of us are fools, and dead wrong that it doesn't matter."

"Like The Interview, Team America isn't an overtly political film as much as a riposte to the silliness of both sides of an argument. In Team America, that means a fictionalised Kim Jong Il who is privately masterminding all of the world's terror campaigns, and a bunch of patriots on both ends of the American political spectrum, who take it on themselves to pass judgement on the rest of the planet. Oh, and there's the added hilarity of the actors who starred in the film. The Motion Picture Association of America's rating still says it best- “Rated R for graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images, and strong language – all involving puppets.”"

"The puppets themselves were provided by the Chiodo brothers, who also worked on Critters and Killer Klowns From Outer Space, and shot by cinematographer Bill Pope. Throughout production, Parker and Stone also underwent extensive reshoots to get every shot just right, paying more attention to detail. The result is gorgeously designed and shot, but Parker and Stone credit this as the hardest thing they ever did, leading them to rule out ever working with puppets again."

"Kim Jong-il was a noted cinephile who, according to CNN, amassed over 20,000 movies in his VHS collection, but he never commented on Team America publicly. It was naturally banned from North Korean cinemas and it was reported that they asked the Czech Republic to do the same thing, to no avail. On the DVD extras for the film, Parker jokes that they would love to have him sing the character's theme if it got an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song."

"The biggest controversy that the film caused at the time was with the MPAA, whose backwards rating system had previously been lampooned by Parker and Stone in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. The infamous puppet sex scene between Gary and team-mate Lisa had to be submitted nine times before it could be passed with an R rating, rather than the prohibitive NC-17."

"In Kirby Dick's excellent documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Stone admitted: “We purposely left in stuff that we didn't even want in [the sex scene], cos you have to give them something to cut so they feel like they pissed on it somewhat. So, we put in every second we shot, a ridiculous 4 minute sex scene... just to push the line way back, so they'd cut to [where we want it]”"

"On top of unfavourable reviews, the White House declared Team America unpatriotic and Sean Penn was so offended by his puppet's depiction as the head of the fictitious Film Actors Guild (FAG) that he sent the filmmakers an irate letter."

"It was the worst time of my entire life - I never want to see a puppet again. It ruined all the serious relationships in my life. You just become a different person, get completely stressed out and don't pay attention to anything else. You work 20 hours a day, take sleeping pills to go to bed and drink coffee to stay up. You feel like a piece of s**t, none of your friends like you, your parents don't like you, but you have a movie at the end."

"Team America is incredible in how deftly it recontextualizes blockbuster action flicks likeThe Rock or Bad Boys. Inside each scene, you may have goofy characters or silly voices, but the structure of the film is, pace-for-pace, a blockbuster film. The scene structure, the staging, the set pieces - it's all a take on Michael Bay and his ilk. Because that is done so cleverly, you hardly even notice it, which gives Team America a time-tested foundation to build upon. Every scene has been rigorously tested with audience after audience, summer after summer."