Today we're gonna look at good ol' Odds Bodkins. Name sound familiar? Of course it does! This blog is named after his magic store - a prominent location in the film. It might also sound familiar if you're the kind of person who attends renaissance fairs or plays a fair amount of D&D.
Read more about Odds Bodkins as a phrase here.
Odds is a charming, friendly fellow with a wise heart, a positive disposition, and a penchant for the esoteric. Odds Bodkins Occult Bookstore and Magical Five & Dime is a treasure trove of traditional magic novelties and tricks, occult pariphinaliea, religious bric-a-brac, and used sci-fi/conspiracy theory paperbacks. If you're from Philadelphia - think of it as a cross between Hocus Pocus Magic Shop(RIP) and GERM Bookstore.
In the movie, the magic shop serves as a refuge for it's two young main characters, Walter (a budding magician) and his brother Elijah.
Odds doesn't get much screen time, but he's still one of my favorite characters.
The character's appearance (and personality to a certain extent) is based off of the British comic artist Alan Moore. I was listening to a lot of his spoken word performances while I was writing the script and envisioning Odds - now I can't imagine anyone else playing his character but the great magus himself. Not sure how we'll go about approaching him (though I'm willing to fly to Northampton and haunt the pubs/coffee shops there if I need to), but I'm hoping he'll oblige us and lend his voice to the project. Weirder things have happened.
In case you were confused when I said "rough character puppets", wait until this weekend when I'll go a bit more into the process of making Mr. Bodkins.
Peace!
This looks so fantastic :)
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