The Spine of Night's Joe Manganiello on Fantasy Audiences Primed for Adult Animation and the Need for Alternative Choices

The Spine of Night presents an alternative to the traditional fantasy films and TV shows crowding streaming services and movies today. The new indie animated film is a dark fantasy filled with gore and violence, following the corruption of a continent due to the influence of "the Bloom," a magical plant capable of granting great power to those who wield it. The use of rotoscoping, an animation technique in which filmmakers film actors in motion and then use that film as a reference point for the art, makes the film feel like a throwback to several cult classic animated films from the 1970s and 1980s, like Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings and Fire and Ice films, the latter of which was a collaboration with famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta. 

Dark fantasy and a retro aesthetic might explain how actor Joe Manganiello got involved with The Spine of Night. Although Manganiello is best known for his star-making turns on True Blood, Magic Mike, and Zack Snyder's Justice League, he's also an avowed fantasy fan who works for Dungeons & Dragons and owns his own line of streetwear that blends heavy metal aesthetics with franchises like Dark Crystal, Dungeons & Dragons, or the work of Frank Frazetta. Speaking to Manganiello over the phone, ComicBook.com asked how Manganiello ended up with the role of Mongrel, an enforcer for Patton Oswalt's Lord Pyrantin who inadvertently showcases the Bloom's power to the scholar Ghal-Sur. "It was an offer," Manganiello said. "I can only guess that because of all the work I've done in the fantasy genre over the past six, seven years... They saw the light on in the lighthouse and went, 'Huh? What's that? Oh, let's get him. He loves fantasy. He knows what it is. He gets it.'" 

Manganiello believes that The Spine of Night, with its retro aesthetic, is perfect for today's audience, in part because it continues a lineage started by other fantasy films that are being discovered by a new generation of fantasy fans. "When I was a kid, we had Wizards, we had the Frazetta/Bakshi Fire and Ice, we had Bakshi's Lord of the Rings," Manganiello said. "The interesting thing is that most people have been indoctrinated into fantasy culture via Lord of the Rings, or Game of Thrones, or DOTA: Dragon's Blood, the multitude of animated and live-action projects involving fantasy that have just taken over mainstream culture. So, what I think is interesting is that the retro is now brand new because there's a whole audience that is primed and ready for more fantasy that never got to enjoy those movies the first time around."

"I think The Spine of Night is like a piece of history in a way because it goes back to that type of aesthetic seen in like the Bakshi projects," Manganiello continued. "There's a lineage for it, and I'm excited for also a more mainstream audience to be primed and ready to go with this." 

As an example, he pointed out that he watched The Spine of Night with his wife Sofia Vergara, who hasn't been engaged with many fantasy projects outside of Game of Thrones. "She loved The Spine of Night and was riveted the whole way through," Manganiello said. "So I'm excited for it to get out there and for people to see it."

When asked why the darker fantasy hasn't found more of a foothold in Hollywood despite the wider fantasy's genre rise in recent years, Manganiello provided a simple explanation. "I think it's about the studios need to make money," Manganiello said. "When you start making decisions by a committee, it's really difficult to be creative under those auspices." 

Because of the Hollywood landscape, Manganiello noted that The Spine of Night probably could have only been made as an independent film, using throwback rotoscope animation. "And my God, am I glad that they spent the seven years it took to film and paint or record all of it," Manganiello said. "Because there needs to be some alternate choices, in the way that at the end of the '80s we needed alternative music to take over." 

Manganiello also hopes that The Spine of Night is successful and helps turn the tide to bring back more alternative types of fantasy films. "I'm not saying I want a ton of laughless, vicious, blood-thirsty projects," Manganiello said. "I'm not saying that at all. But there is a long lineage for types of film like this and they haven't been greenlit at a larger level. I just have to give it up for the team for making the film and for wanting to make this film. Because sometimes filmmaking can feel like a thankless job, and I always want to take the time to thank them for putting the time in to make something like this because it is so unique, and especially in today's climate. We need more of it."

The Spine of Night is available now via on-demand services.