Stallone, like most parents, had been introduced to the first two SPY KIDS adventures by his own children. But he’d never seen anything quite like The Toymaker before. “I already loved the SPY KIDS because it’s a great fable that has a lot of morality within it,” he says. “But The Toymaker was a chance for me to take a total departure, to fly by the seat of my pants and play the five completely different personalities that make up his identity. There’s my dictatorial self, my mellow self, my clever self, my ambitious self, my not-too-bright self, and they all constantly argue with one another like a schizoid form of ping-pong! It couldn’t have been more fun to attempt.”
He continues: “I also loved how ambitious Robert Rodriguez was in coming up with this concept. This clearly isn’t the same 3D I was brought up on so I think it’s going to be a big visual surprise for a lot of people, including a lot of kids who have never seen 3D before. I think Robert has become a sort of Super-Walt-Disney. He has own language that speaks directly to kids but also translates into inventive fun for parents.” For Stallone, another new experience was acting almost entirely in front of a green screen. “It was sort of like being submerged in endless photosynthesis,” he jokes, “or in my grandmother’s old shag carpet. But it was all so high-tech and imaginative, I sometimes felt I was in the middle of a dream.”
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