Forgotten Island Directors Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado on Friendship and Authenticity
The longtime collaborators talk about the loved ones who inspired the story, the films that influenced them, and their animation style.
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Fair warning: if you’ve ever had a best friend, you’re going to want to bring tissues to the movies when you see Dreamworks’ newest feature, Forgotten Island. The film tells the story of two BFFs, Raissa and Jo, who, on their last night together in the Philippines before college, end up stranded in Nakali, a magical world where a demon threatens to take away their memories. Or, as co-director and co-writer Joel Crawford describes it to Seen on the Screen host Jacqueline Coley, “It’s essentially a story about these two lifelong friends who grew up in the Philippines and are growing apart. And it’s fun because it’s set against the backdrop of Filipino mythology.”
Crawford and his co-director and co-writer Januel P. Mercado first met over 15 years ago, when they were both hired as storyboard artists for Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), and they’ve been artistic collaborators ever since. And while the two share a close friendship, they tell Coley that it wasn’t just their relationship that they used for inspiration for Forgotten Island. “More than writing what we know, we wrote who we know,” Crawford explains. “My wife Kathy was a huge inspiration for this story, and then having two teenage girls and just experiencing their friendships with their friends made it so much more authentic. We just couldn’t get specific enough.” As for Mercado, he took inspiration from his sister, who shares a name with Jo. He adds, “The important strong women in our lives — we wanted to pay homage to these relationships.”
Raissa and Jo, voiced by Liza Soberano and H.E.R., respectively, aren’t just best friends, they’re ride-or-die. “They’re two weird puzzle pieces that maybe don’t fit in the bigger conventional puzzle, but together they perfectly match,” Mercado says. “They really allow each other to be their true and best selves.” It’s the kind of friendship that makes you feel seen, which is exactly the feeling Crawford tells Coley he hopes to give to the audience. “There’s been this kind of division and isolation that’s happened in the world, and we wanted to really tell a story about connection, about friendship,” he says. “That was one of the core things at the heart of the story — a story that makes people feel like, ‘I matter and the people around me matter.’”
Watch the full interview above to hear Crawford and Mercado talk about which live action films inspired Forgotten Island, their animation styles, and what they thought about Ryan Coogler shouting out their first film as a directing team, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, as an inspiration for Sinners.
Forgotten Island opens in theaters September 25, and you can buy tickets right now on Fandango.
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Seen on the Screen is a Universal Entertainment and Fandango podcast series hosted by Jacqueline Coley, Awards Editor at Rotten Tomatoes.
Claim your ticket to witness the personal narratives happening behind the scenes of film and entertainment! Each episode invites you into intimate conversations with filmmakers, actors, and industry insiders. Blending sharp cinematic trivia with thoughtfully crafted interview questions, Jacqueline leads each guest through a rich, reflective journey into their lifelong relationship with entertainment. From the formative movie‑going experiences that shaped their artistic worldview to their career‑defining moves — asking them to reflect on the films that have rocked their world, scared the daylights out of them, and changed them forever.
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