LA's Biggest Con

The Song of the Shattered Skies is a 1994 animated action war drama directed by Garrett Fredrickson and produced by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick.

Voice Actors (so far)

 * Kiefer Sutherland
 * Ving Rhames
 * Barrie Ingham
 * Matthew Broderick
 * Sally Field
 * Harrison Ford
 * Tommy Lee Jones
 * Garry Chalk
 * Dennis Hopper
 * Jim Belushi
 * Al Pacino
 * Michelle Pfeiffer
 * Carl Andy (cameo)

Production
Garrett Fredrickson, the film's director, recounted that the idea for the film began when he "wanted to do an adult piece of animation that wasn't like most adult pieces of animation". As many adult animated films made at the time were more filled with raunchy humor, he wanted to change that, and decided to direct an adult animated film that was more serious in tone. In 1988, he began to recieve backing from Marshall Herskovitzs and Edward Zwick from The Bedford Falls Company for the production of the film, which was then called "The First Passion Project".

Some of the film's inspiration came from several other war films Fredrickson had known about, such as Red Dawn, Patton, among others, but the main inspiration for the film came from the 1986 film Top Gun, namely the aspect of naval aviation, giving Fredrickson the idea to make this film have a focus on aviation warfare rather than standard warfare.

When The Bedford Falls Company came in as the financing company, the film was first brought to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who was distributing the company's TV series Thirtysomething, MGM agreed to distribution and the film entered pre-production. Gainax was contracted to do the animation for the film in 1991, following their involvement with the movie Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise, which Fredrickson was a fan of. It was also around this time when some of the movie's main actors, including Kiefer Sutherland and Matthew Broderick, were cast. Due to creative differences, however, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer backed out of distribution, although they still wished Fredrickson good luck with the project, leading Fredrickson and Bedford Falls to find a different distribution company for the movie. In 1992, Universal Pictures agreed to help finance the film, and eventually the company became the film's new home as they secured the distribution rights to the film, and also signed a first look deal for another film Fredrickson was developing. Production on the film wrapped in June 1994.

Home media releases

 * 1994 MCA/Universal Home Video VHS/Laserdisc
 * 2003 Universal Studios Home Video DVD
 * 2016 Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-Ray