Witches haven’t been dealt a good hand in the past. We might view them as goddesses who wield magical powers in popular culture, but in reality, they were innocent women who were unfairly persecuted by men who wanted nothing but their own way. It’s a definition we have come to accept, but now Paula Rhodes (Resident Evil Village, The Evil Within 2) and a cast of talented actors from animation and video games want to rewrite that story from a different perspective.

Burned is an upcoming crowdfunded film with a cast made up of iconic stars like Cissy Jones (The Owl House, Firewatch), Yuri Lowenthal (Spider-Man 2, Persona 4), and Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil Village) to name a few. Set to combine live-action and motion graphic animation techniques, the film will delve into the history of witches from the eyes of characters intent on piercing through the lies.

The cast also features Noshir Dalal, Steve Blum, Tara Platt, and Julian Richings.

“The Malleus Maleficarum was essentially a rage post by Heinrich Kramer, who was clearly sexually repressed and not a big fan of women,” Rhodes tells me of the project’s origins, in which she seeks to repaint the misogynistic ramblings of a man who wanted nothing more than to paint women in a negative light. “So after his death [in 1505] it picked up speed and gained so much power that it led to the torture and death of almost 100,000 people, mostly women, over the next 400 years. That fact that this ridiculous book started with ridiculous roots and then gained so much power really resonated as a parallel to how much we need media literacy.”

Burned will be split into two sections, beginning with a live-action library sequence starring Cissy Jones and Sarah-Nicole Robles. A third librarian is also taking part, although casting for that role is yet to be announced. Soon after coming across a copy of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, Robles’ character brings over the book to Jones, who then informs her of the true story, which I’m told by Rhodes will be like a mixture of Drunk History meets Princess Bride, all in the name of reclaiming a story which for centuries has been misconstrued.

“I had just left The Owl House, so I was very excited to be in the witching world again,” Robles tells me. “Then I read the script and could see it already. That’s exactly who my character is, she is the audiences’ way in. I’m a librarian, I find this book, and I ask other librarians about it, and it sets off a beautiful storytelling moment for them where they’re like, ‘Here, let me tell you how it really happened.’”

“They’re our Greek Chorus,” Rhodes explains. “They’re the narrators who are going to be bringing us along as an audience and into the story, and it’s going to literally take us into a tale within a tale. That is a motion graphic, a graphic novel essentially, in layers where we can play around with some light motion, but you’re also adding what is essentially a fully realised radio play with all the voices and sounds around it.”

Originally, the crew wanted to travel to Austria and film this for real, but it wasn’t in the budget of an indie production being kickstarted by a bunch of renowned voice actors. So they are doing the next best thing, and leaning into experience already gleaned from animation and video games. This is where Newbon, who previously worked with Rhodes on Resident Evil Village before his turn as Astarion catapulted him into the stratosphere, comes in.

“I was wondering how to fill in the blanks, and then I realised it’s going to look like Neil, it is literally going to be illustrated to be him,” Rhodes adds. “I reached out to him, and I think he was in New Zealand at the time - the dude likes to travel - and he immediately said it sounds amazing. After Newbon, it wasn’t long until the likes of Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt, and Steve Blum also hopped aboard, voices that have come to define the last generation of voices in animation and video games.

America Young is also a part of our conversation. A voice actor, director, writer, stunt performer, and producer who says her role on the project doesn't extend beyond "being a massive fan of Paula Rhodes", but I'm convinced she isn't giving herself enough credit. Having stepped into the shoes of Barbie, Gotham Knights' Batgirl, and a number of other characters throughout her career, Young is also experienced behind the scenes in a way that Robles and Rhodes don't once hesitate to bring up.

"I have a lot of experience in producing, directing, being scrappy and pulling things together," Young tells me. "When I knew [Rhodes] was going to do this I knew she would do it to the utmost. I knew that every little thing would be thought of and brought to the highest possible standard, so I just wanted to be a part of that and support her as much as I possibly could."

Much of the talent involved in Burned comes from existing communities across animation and video games, with The Owl House, Baldur's Gate 3, and even Spider-Man fans coming together to celebrate a new creative project in spite of their own. The world of popular culture is a surprisingly condensed one, and it's wonderful to see familiar faces unite like this to do some seriously cool stuff.

Burned deals with some dark subject matter at its core, touching on deaths of thousands as a consequence of how women were viewed in a society still centuries away from equality. But it also can’t be needlessly grim, hence the combo of history and humour that aims to educate as much as it satirises.

“We listen a little more if our guard is let down by a laugh,” Rhodes notes. “While we take that whimsy [and look at it] with a fantastical lens, we’re always looking at the bigger picture too. People were dumb enough to believe it, and then smarter people were like, ‘I’m not stupid, but it does give me the power to kill people I want to kill, so we’re gonna go with it,’ and you see that power dynamic now, right? You see people taken along by the lie, and the people telling the lie and manipulating you because they want to take the mob with them.”

Robles adds: “Witch has a lot of definitions. You could be talking about your religion, culture, or both. You could also be talking about Halloween characters or real people who happened to be persecuted for the most erroneous of reasons, like a man has perverted dreams about you, so clearly it was the woman’s fault for sneaking into your room with her witchcraft. I love witch stuff, I love history, but beyond that I had no idea where things began, so this is a fun and important piece of history. Well, not fun for them...”

Burned is closing in on its funding goal at the time of writing, and I hope to delve deeper into the roles some of the team play when it comes to branching out from acting and stepping into the positions of producer, director, stunt coordinator, writer, and disciplines that, for so many reasons, those trained in other arts are told to avoid. Rhodes wants to address this stigma while telling a story that is equal parts history and humour.

To bring our discussion to a close, Rhodes touches on a quote by Margaret Atwood which gets right to the crux of what this film is trying to put across: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them, and women are afraid that men will kill them.”

“That disparity, it hits a note of truth,” Rhodes says. “It really led to underline the mission on this [film] and that [Kramer] was a joke, he was a troll, and he got way more power than he deserved. It’s time to turn the tables a little bit, to take the narrative back into the truth and laugh at him. We are not going to put him in the brightest of lights, but it’s a very truthful one and one that I think he deserves. So we’re going to have the last laugh.”

Next: ND Stevenson And Molly Ostertag On The Future Of Queer Storytelling