Sunrise Animation Studios’ David is noticeably intricate in its world creation, setting new records for a faith-based animated movie. (Image: Angel Studios) 
You don’t get more David vs Goliath than an animated musical adventure made in South Africa opening against a sequel to the highest-grossing blockbuster of all time.
And yet that’s exactly what happened with David, made by Noordhoek headquartered Sunrise Animation Studios. In its first week of cinema release, David broke records for its production partner and distributor Angel Studios, and set new box office benchmarks for faith-based animated movies (surpassing The King of Kings and The Prince of Egypt). All while opening in second place behind James Cameron and Disney’s Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Resoundingly ticking the box for earnest family entertainment this festive season, David is a polished and surprisingly sophisticated tackling of the Old Testament tale where a humble shepherd boy becomes the leader of the Israelites. Along the way, he steps up to face Goliath, the monstrous champion of the Philistines, and triggers the paranoia of his once-patron and friend King Saul.
We received the opportunity to interview David co-directors Phil Cunningham and Brent Dawes about the against-the-odds success story of bringing their animated film to the world.
Originally from Zimbabwe, David film creator and producer Cunningham wrote and executive produced the 2003 stop-motion film The Legend of the Sky Kingdom, before going on to found Sunrise in Cape Town with his wife Jacqui. One of Sunrise’s greatest successes to date is its Jungle Beat franchise, comprising TV series, YouTube shorts, feature films and game adaptation. Long-time Sunrise creative lead Dawes was a key figure steering those projects and, in addition to directing David, was one of the film’s writers.
David was a film 20 to 30 years in the making. Could you walk me through the timeline of the film’s development? Specifically, when and how did the Angel Studios partnership come into being?
Phil Cunningham: The vision for this film started over 30 years ago when I was canoeing down the Zambezi River. You could canoe for four days and five nights and not see a human being; just elephant, buffalo, lion, beautiful thunderstorms and sunsets. Growing up in the wild I fell in love with adventure and always loved storytelling, especially around the campfire at night. There was nothing better than falling asleep looking up at the galaxies above and thinking about stories that would inspire the world.
This is where the idea of telling David’s story was birthed. He was a flawed human like all of us but lived expansively and adventurously, and the telling of his story might inspire people to take on the giants of their lives and of our generation.
In 2015 we made our first research trip, and Brent wrote the first draft of the script. In 2017 we made the demo – a proof of concept for the film to raise the finance. It was in 2019 that we first made contact with Angel Studios, and we reached out to them. We began crowdfunding with them and went into full production after that.
Note: Angel’s crowdfunding approach raised $49.7-million of David’s $60.9-million project budget, according to Angel in 2023.
David is a poster child for contemporary animation in that it’s a massive collaborative venture, with in-house and remote contributors around the world. What was that like?
Phil Cunningham: Watching this beautiful tapestry come together with so many different people all around the world, it wasn’t just 400 people, it was 400 amazing people in 32 countries working in unity around this vision. That was my highlight.
My wife Jacqui’s got a wonderful saying that the process is more important than the product. So the way you treat people and the way you go about making the movie is even more important than the movie itself. Of course, the product is important, and we’re not perfect, so we don’t always get it right, but that was the mission. Our heart was to really put love into the people, in the way we treat artists, investors and the people around us. And I think because we all, as leadership, pursued that wholeheartedly, people will feel that love as it comes out on the screen.
Brent Dawes: We couldn’t have made David without the collaboration of so many people from all over the world. We were still in the throes of making a different feature film when Covid hit and we were forced to quickly adapt to working remotely, even with those in the same city as us. This helped us see that with the right technical infrastructure in place coupled with a very with-it tech, IT and production team, so much more was possible than previously thought.
People have strong feelings when it comes to religion, so did you feel any extra pressure in adapting Old Testament texts?
Phil Cunningham: David is one of the most inspiring characters in human history: a warrior, poet, shepherd and king. In the book of Acts, God says: “I found in David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.” I was like, “Wow, imagine if we could make a movie about David. It would give us a glimpse of God’s own heart. This beautiful heart that is expansive, full of adventure, joy and kindness, not boring, not dull, not austere. It could inspire a generation.”
At the same time, David was far from perfect, like all of us. We are all flawed; we all make mistakes. But what we love about David is that he held nothing back. When he was full of joy, he spoke it out. When he was full of fear, or anxious, or had questions, he voiced that. You’ll see in the movie, there’s a big moment where he questions God, and he says: “Why, God?” And I just love that, because it gives us permission as humans not to sanitise our approach to God, just to talk out our fear, our hope, our joy, our concerns. And David’s story is an amazing example for us to look at and say: “Wow, you can be that real, that honest, and just live that wholeheartedly.” You don’t have to be perfect; David is an incredible example just to live with all your heart and leave nothing on the track. So, no pressure, just a deep desire to inspire people through this story.
Brent Dawes: We were always conscious of the fact that we were attempting to tell a story that is not only 3,000 years, old but is treasured in three major world religions. We felt a sense of custodianship, as opposed to ownership, as we went about making it. That said we also relaxed into the fact that if it has lasted this long and is so important to so many people then it was a story worth telling, and would resonate with people as long as we tried to tell it as faithfully as possible within the constraints of a 100-minute animated movie.
Whether you know much about the story of David, or not, one thing that comes through incredibly strongly in the film is a sense of attention to detail in capturing this place and time. Given that you could have depicted things with broad brush strokes, why choose this intricate route? And how did you go about achieving such a feeling of authenticity?
Phil Cunningham: Authenticity was very, very important to us for this film; when you really feel the world, we believe it helps absorb you into the time, the space, the story. We did multiple research trips to Israel, hired consultants and had the most incredible Head of Research and Production Designer, Lynton Levengood, who could literally have a PhD in the Davidic period – he gained so much knowledge and poured it out into the film.
Brent Dawes: We really wanted the world to feel believable. Rich, textured and lived in, whatever your standpoint on the faith side of things. There is rich archaeological evidence from the time of David. We wanted to honour that and bring it to life. We went on multiple research trips and took great pains to learn as much as we could about people and life from that time. We had to create it all anyway, why not start from reality when it is already so rich and interesting? The team really bought into this and every department went all out to create the incredibly rich, textured world and characters in the movie.
Saul and Jonathan are interesting because they could so easily have been set up as David’s rivals in a more expected and/or conventional sense. Saul is absolutely not a boo-hiss villain. Could you tell us a bit more about those creative choices?
Brent Dawes: We wanted to remain as true to scripture as we could. Saul is human, David is human. It would have been unfair of us to vilify Saul as a one-dimensional baddie. He’s actually a tragic character, who could have had a very different story if he had made different choices. Jonathan is a kindred spirit with David, which I think made things harder for Saul. We really wanted to honour what we were reading in scripture rather than trying to fit the characters into a conventional cookie cutter.
You’re veteran animators, with the hit Jungle Beat franchise under your belts. But I imagine that was a very different experience from this. So, what were your biggest learnings from making David?
Phil Cunningham: My biggest learning was a re-enforcement of something I have known for a long time – that you are only as strong as the team around you!
Brent Dawes: It was a whole different challenge making David. The scope, the scale, animating humans instead of animals. Being responsible for a story that is already dear to billions of people… it was a whole new world.
The biggest takeaway for me and what I observed is that making a movie like this requires incredible vision, bravery and stamina from everyone involved. There was such a deep and far-reaching buy-in from the team; that everyone who worked on this movie poured themselves into it so enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. There was an intrinsic sense that we had to give it our all for ourselves and for one another. And along with that a real belief that we were working on something truly special. It was an utter privilege to be a part of making this movie, and we all felt that.
Is there one thing in the film that you’re particularly proud of?
Phil Cunningham: It is often said that you end up living the story that you are telling, and we certainly felt this many times along the journey. I think two key words come to mind: humility and perseverance.
Jacqui loves a particular African proverb that says: “If you want to go fast, go alone, and if you want to go far, go together.” It was an incredible privilege to work with the most talented and courageous group of people in over 30 countries around the world. Filmmaking is the most incredibly collaborative process on so many levels, not just a creative level. When we felt like giving up others would find the courage, when we could see no way around a situation others would see a way. This was deeply humbling in a beautiful way and I would just like to give a huge shout-out to the 400-plus people who poured their lives, their energy, their courage and their passion into this film. I’m deeply humbled and forever grateful to everyone involved. There are no words to describe the privilege of directing this film with Brent Dawes. He is incredibly creative and unflinching under fire.
From a personal point of view, Jacqui and I are deeply grateful to our children who sacrificed so much to see this project come to life and encouraged us every step of the way. Again very humbling, so I think I am particularly proud of our amazing team and my amazing family and how they all learned, grew and rose to the challenge of making this film.
Brent Dawes: Honestly, the fact that we did it. We have been talking about making this movie for so long and talking about the quality we wanted to achieve, but until you get there and do it it’s all talk. It’s so wonderful being able to sit back and watch it and say: “Yes, that’s what we intended to do all along.”
Finally, what do you hope audiences take home from David?
Phil Cunningham: At Sunrise, as a studio, our whole mission is to inspire through story. So that’s our passion behind the David movie: that people would walk out, no matter what walk of life they’re coming from, inspired to take on the giants in their life.
Brent Dawes: When we were making the movie there were two words we wanted for the audience. The first is for them to be “entertained”. Whether you’re from a faith background or not we wanted people to come to the movies and just be transported and have a wonderful time. The second was “inspired”. May the story move you or stir you in a way that makes you leave feeling inspired in some way.
Ultimately our hope is that the movie meets each individual where they are, and they are moved or touched in a way that is personal for them and where they are on their journey through life. DM
This interview was first published on Pfangirl.