Grimsburg, which officially joined Fox's Sunday night animation lineup in February, is packed with clever references to noir movies and familiar detective shows.
Created by coexecutive producers Catlan McClelland and Matthew Schlissel (with Chadd Gindin serving as EP/showrunner), the series centers on rumpled private eye Marvin Flute (voiced by Jon Hamm), who returns to his hometown to solve strange crimes and piece his life back together. One of the directors, T. G. Hopkins, discusses five key sources of inspiration for Grimsburg:
The Coen Brothers
The show's creative team likes the offbeat, noirish world of Joel and Ethan Coen, especially their 1996 movie, Fargo. "We talk a lot about live-action movies because of the way our show looks," Hopkins says. "The Coen brothers love clean single shots, and they often have their characters looking just past the camera. There are not too many over-the-shoulder shots, and then we cut to wide shots for comedy. Like Fargo, we have someone in law enforcement who goes about his job in a very matter-of-fact way, but they're dealing with terrible crimes and murders. It's that kind of dry wit."
David Lynch
In the show, a lot of weird things happen in a small town, and nobody does that better than director David Lynch, who made Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks.
"Grimsburg has the same kind of vibe," Hopkins says. "We looked at the work of David Lynch for the way he shows us a town in middle America that looks perfect on the surface, but as you dig a little bit deeper, you start to find the bugs."
Bruce Timm's Batman
One of the show's biggest animated influences is Bruce Timm's seminal take on Batman. "I have a production cel from the Batman: Mask of the Phantasm movie hanging in my office," Hopkins says. "We pay homage to Timm's Batman: The Animated Series [Fox Kids, 1992–95] in the way we depict Flute's trench coat like Batman's cape. Our hero is whipping that thing around and jumping over things as he's chasing after bad guys."
Cowboy Bebop
Hopkins says one of the biggest innovators of animated noir style is the TV adaptation of Hajime Yatate's manga Cowboy Bebop. The show, which premiered in Japan in 1998, also inspired an animated movie in 2001 and a live-action Netflix series in 2021. "Talk about real noir style — the smoke, the rain, the way you can feel someone's character just by the way they walk," he says. "I've tried to pull from that show whenever I can. Shots of people cutting their food or putting money into a jukebox — little things like that help you build a sense of atmosphere beyond the normal type of Sunday night animated fare."
The Venture Bros.
Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer's long-running Adult Swim show The Venture Bros. is another key source of inspiration for Grimsburg. "I love that show's dry, confident humor," Hopkins says. "Our main villain, Pentos, has the same kind of relationship with Flute that archvillain the Monarch has with Dr. Venture. Both series have a large cast of characters, and they play with similar themes and humor. The Venture Bros. first came out in 2003 and ran for seven seasons and had a movie in 2023, so we hope our show will have the same kind of luck and longevity!"
Grimsburg airs Sundays on Fox and is now streaming on Hulu.
