Kyle Balda Says Mother’s Death at 23 Shaped 'The Sheep Detectives'

5 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · May 12

Balda said his mother’s sudden death when he was 23 drew him to “The Sheep Detectives,” a mystery about sheep trying to solve their shepherd’s murder while struggling to process grief.
A 1-year anniversary he had completely forgotten became the turning point in his own grieving, he wrote, and he recognized that same instinct to erase pain in the film’s sheep characters.
Mopple — the one sheep who cannot forget, voiced by Chris O’Dowd — crystallized the film’s emotional core for Balda: remembering hurts, but it also keeps loved ones alive.
Balda said Craig Mazin’s script and the film’s comedy offered a way to explore death for family audiences without hopelessness, using laughter to help viewers sit with difficult feelings.
Drawing on frontline workers’ responses to his Minions films during the pandemic, Balda said he hopes “The Sheep Detectives” gives families a space to talk about death together.

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