Samantha "Sam" Sparks is the deuteragonist of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, and Cloudy: The Series. She is a young weather intern who aspires to become a meteorologist. She and Flint Lockwood bond over their shared passion for science and the two of them become a couple.
Appearance
Sam has shoulder-length blonde hair that has bangs swept to the right side, green eyes and pink lips. She has spent her whole life trying to balance between cute and geeky; at first glance she is beautiful, but on closer look she's a little goofy, with big eyes and hands.
| “ | In Flint's eyes, she is most beautiful when she puts her glasses back on and pulls her hair back in a ponytail - a fun twist on the usual film makeover moment. | ” |
— The Art and Making of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
|
Like Flint, Sam's appearance solidifies her place as an outsider. Her hairstyle is modern and incorporates highlights, lowlights, and layers. "Her clothing has color and textures more sophisticated than any other character's in the film.[1]"
She wears a pink short sleeve shirt, a mint green blazer, brown skinny jeans held by a white belt, and lighter brown ballet flats. She also wears a silver watch on her left wrist, and a silver bracelet on her right wrist, along with earrings and a necklace. Near the end of the first movie, she wears a white short sleeve shirt, and blue skinny jeans held by a brown belt with a gold buckle.
In the sequel, she wears her hair in a loose ponytail with side bangs, a pink unbuttoned shirt tied in a knot at the bottom front with rolled up sleeves, a dark violet tank top underneath, white short shorts that reach her thighs, beige hiking boots, a gray backpack, and socks. She’s also seen wearing weather-themed pajamas and a light green mud mask.
In the series, Sam wears a purple skirt, mint green blazers, and a white short shirt.
Personality
Sam Sparks is spunky, extroverted, and passionate, but due to bullying faced as a child, she decided it was best to connect with others by dumbing herself down and playing up her cuteness.[2] Sam has an intense passion for weather, which often bleeds through her false "cute" persona.[3]
| “ | She learns to accept herself for who she really is, and only by approaching herself and society with honesty and integrity can she see the dangers ahead and warn Flint - and the world - to head for cover. Also, by opening her mind to her true nature, she opens herself to falling in love with Flint. | ” |
— Head of Story Kris Pearn
|
Once she has accepted herself for who she is, Sam is the rational foil to Flint's whimsical imagination. She acts as his conscience and grounds him in reality when he is too enamored with Chester V's charm.[4]
Sam is fiercely loyal and will defend and help her friends, but she also stands firmly in her beliefs and values, willing to stand up for what she believes in even at the expense of her friendship with Flint. She has a soft spot for the Foodimals and easily befriends Barry the Strawberry and a Cheespider.
History
| “ | When I was a little girl, I wore a ponytail, had glasses, and I was totally obsessed with the science of weather. Other girls wanted a Barbie, I wanted a Doppler Weather Radar 2000 Turbo. | ” |
As a young girl, Sam had a strong passion for meteorology, decorating her room with weather-themed posters and diagrams and sharing weather forecasts with her class. However, her classmates called her "four-eyes" and teased her for her nerdy appearance and interests.[2] Despite needing her glasses, Sam decided to remove them, get a "new look," and work to fit in with the crowd, even if it meant hiding who she really was.
Cloudy: The Series
In addition to her love for weather, Sam was also a skilled horseshoe thrower, even participating in competitions. She gave up horseshoe tossing when she missed the appearance of a comet and instead devoted her full passion to weather.
Sam and her family moved around a lot as a child, making it harder for Sam to keep and maintain friendships. When she briefly lived in Swallow Falls, Flint offered to invent something that would make everyone forget that she was ever there, so she wouldn't have to deal with the heartbreak of saying goodbye to her friends (and thus keep the continuity of the movies intact)[5].
Sam never fully integrated with Swallow Falls's culture, considering many of its traditions and tall tales as "weird." However, over time, and with Flint's help, she learned to appreciate the town's quirks and participated in some of its traditions (like Lobster Claus).
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Sam lived in New York City and worked for Weather News Network as an intern. Her big break came when the producer asked her to do a weather report from Swallow Falls as a favor for his cousin. Unfortunately, Sam's excitement led her to nervously stammer and mess up her sentences. On top of that, when the FLDSMDFR went haywire, it slammed Manny's camera into Sam's face, squishing it live on television.
Dejected after such humiliation, Sam retreated to the docks, where she accidentally kicked Flint in the eyes. She notices his Spray-On Shoes and Steve's Monkey Thought Translator, and her mask slips, revealing her to be just as nerdy as Flint. She realizes that Flint was the cause of her humiliation, but as she vented about it, cheeseburgers began to rain from the sky.
Realizing the magnitude of the event, Sam quickly broadcast news of the Cheeseburger Rain. The wondrous food weather bolstered her career, and over the next month she broadcast the daily weather report, incidentally providing free advertising for the Chewandswallow Grand Opening.
Flint and Sam bonded over their shared love of science, and midway through the month, Flint surprised Sam by creating a Giant Jell-O Mold, remembering her favorite food from the day they met. After a fun day bouncing around the Jell-O castle, Sam opened up about her past. Flint encouraged her to be true to herself, and the two almost kiss before Flint's phone interrupts with a call from the mayor.
As Sam pondered whether to go public with her new look with glasses and a ponytail, she pulled out her dusty Doppler Weather Radar 2000 Turbo. Realizing that the world was in danger from the brewing food storm, she attempted to warn Flint, who dismissed her concerns.
After the Spaghetti Twister tore through the town, Sam and Manny helped the townspeople, including Earl Devereaux and his son Cal, who was in a food coma after consuming too much junk food. Though Cal was healed, Sam warned that the tornado was only the "amuse-bouche" compared to what was coming. Manny hacked into the WNN broadcast, where Sam warned the globe of the impending food storms.
When Flint arrived in the square with the Flying Car II, Sam offered to navigate using her radar. Once they had reached the Meat-a-Roid, Sam jumped in alongside Flint and Brent.
Brent, in his newly-discovered identity as Chicken Brent, held off the attacking Man-Eating Chickens while Sam lowered Flint into a hole lined with peanut brittle. However, an earthquake threw Sam off balance, and she was cut by one of the peanut brittle shards. With Sam's face rapidly swelling from the anaphylaxis, Flint bit the licorice rope in two while Brent raced to get her back to the flying car for her allergy shot.
Sam was nearly incoherent by the time she reached the car, mumbling and groaning, but Manny injected her with an Epi-pen and she instantly recovered, her first concern being where Flint was. Unfortunately, the Meat-a-roid exploded, presumably killing Flint inside.
On the ground, Sam offered her condolences to Tim Lockwood over his son's death when a swarm of Ratbirds descended, dropping off Flint, who was singed but still alive. The two shared a passionate kiss.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Immediately after the kiss, Flint proposed the two of them create a place where they work together, which they named Sparkswood. However, their plans were interrupted by the arrival of Chester V, who invited the people of Swallow Falls to move to San Franjose while Live Corp Thinkquanauts cleaned up the remaining food on the island.
In San Franjose, Sam worked diligently as a weather reporter while supporting Flint in his career at Live Corp. Flint's busy schedule left little time for them to spend time together, so when Flint announced that he was heading back to Swallow Falls to stop the FLDSMDFR from creating deadly food monsters, Sam took charge of gathering their friends.
When Sam, Flint, and friends arrived at the island, it was overgrown with lush vegetation and filled with colorful food creatures, including a living strawberry Sam affectionately named "Barry". When Barry ate the BSUSB, Sam kept the strawberry in her backpack. When Flint and Chester V's assistant Barb expressed suspicion of the berry, Sam left him behind, with Barry following along as she traversed the island.
A Tacodile Supreme attacked the group, but hanging back as her friends fled, Sam realized the Tacodile was merely a mother protecting her young. She rethinks the ethics of their plan and confronted Flint about how friendly the Foodimals were as they traversed the Breakfast Bog. When Flint told her her opinions don't matter "right now", Sam stormed off along with Flint's friends.
Sam vented about Flint's naivety, oblivious to the Cheespider sneaking up on her until it was right behind her. Despite Earl's defensiveness, Sam decided to test her theory and reach out to pet the burger. It responded affectionately, licking her and allowing Brent to scratch its buns. Though this was the proof Sam needed to prove her theory to Flint, she and the others were captured by Sentinels of Safety before they could warn Flint of Chester's nefarious plans.
Sam and the others were taken to the Live Corp Factory, where they were bound in yellow police tape and dangled as leverage against Flint to prevent him from stopping Chester's plan. On the way, Sam recognized that Chester wasn't respectful of Barb's preference for being called an ape instead of a monkey.
Steve, using the Celebrationator, helped Flint rescue Sam and the gang, and they worked together to free the Foodimals and stop Chester. Barb, inspired by Sam's talk, stood up for herself and helped steal the FLDSMDFR back from his clutches. After Chester's defeat, Sam welcomed Barb into the group with open arms.
River Expedition
Sam and Flint established a reserve for the Foodimals, allowing them to flourish and build culture. Sam continued to broadcast from the island, sharing weather reports as well as headline news and cultural events on the island.
Video Game
Sam reaches out to Flint about trouble at the Jelly Castle: first the path to the castle is blocked by giant broccoli, then Gummy Bears attack tourists, and finally Ratbirds invade the interior. Each of these levels uses the Chopper-er. When the dam holding back Mount Leftovers is about to collapse, Sam instructs Flint to rescue schoolchildren trapped in buses, including Cal.
Sam offers to help Flint power up the Flying Car II using giant food at the cannery and volunteers to use the Doppler weather radar to help him navigate through the clouds. Sam and Brent flew up to the Meat-a-Roid with Flint and offered him weapons during his confrontation with the FLDSMDFR, including Spray-On Shoes.
Sam can be seen in Flint's yard in the beginning of Act VII.
If the player gets the game's true ending, Sam and Flint remain in the Flying Car "enjoying the view from above, and eating a very large ice cream."
Behind the Scenes
| “ | At one point we were asked to make her more foxy. Then we got feedback that said, 'Well, we know how she got where she is,' at which point we were asked to make her less foxy. So we redesigned her finally to be more cute and less 'vavoom.' | ” |
— Director Phil Lord
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Concept and Design
It was a challenge to find the right balance between "geeky" and "cute" for Sam Sparks, especially since the directors wanted to make a comedic, graphic statement with her as well. Character designer Carey Yost and modeling supervisor Marvin Kim created an early 3D turnaround of an early concept they considered "grotesque" since they had tried to make every aspect of Sam's appearance comedic.
Sam's hair in particular proved to be a challenge, particularly because of the technical requirements to render each hairstyle. During development, designers used Imageworks's KAMI system to experiment with her hairstyle - it allowed for faster rendering times so artists could spend more time creating and adjusting rather than waiting for images.[3]
Sam's design was finalized with Pete Oswald's take on one of Carey Yost's concept work. Her design immediately sets her apart as an outsider in Swallow Falls, with a modern hairstyle inspired by Farrah Fawcett in the 1970's and clothes and more sophisticated color and texture. In the sequel, Sam's design is reminiscent of Ellie Sattler from Jurassic Park.
Character Development
Transformations were a big theme for directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and they particularly wanted to play off of the ridiculousness of the traditional movie makeover, where a woman removing her glasses and ponytail suddenly make her beautiful. They sought to reverse that trope, having Sam's big makeover moment come with her embracing her true nerdy self.
While Sam's relationship with Flint is romantic, the focus is primarily on their friendship and their independent journeys of accepting themselves and embracing their nerdiness. By accepting who they are, they allow themselves the freedom to love each other.
Gallery
Trivia
- Sam has a phobia of panda bears.[6]
- Sam is severely allergic to peanuts.[2] In case of anaphylactic shock, she has a 0.15mg epinephrine auto injector.
- Certain online versions of the movie poster (example) show Sam with a brighter blue jacket and bright purple skinny jeans rather than the duller blue jacket and brown skinny jeans she has in the movie, which may have been a scrapped early palette for her.
- Sam intensely dislikes the taste of sardines.[7]
- Sam has an imaginary friend named Patootie.[8]
- Hiding her personality behind a facade is a process commonly known as masking.
- Sam is fluent in Chinese; the Chinese proverb "恶霸变成朋友终生是朋友" means exactly what Sam translates it as: "a bully turned friend will be friend 'til the end."
- Sam wears glasses in part of the first movie and in the second movie, but in one of the promotional photos where she’s holding Barry, but she isn’t wearing glasses.[9]
| Characters | |
| Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Characters | |
| Flint Lockwood • Sam Sparks • Steve • Tim Lockwood • Brent McHale • Earl Devereaux • Manny • FLDSMDFR • Mayor Shelbourne • Calvin Devereaux • Fran Lockwood • Joe Towne • Regina Devereaux • Rufus • Patrick Patrickson • Macaroni Head Guy • Sardines • Vance LaFleur | |
| Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Characters | |
| Chester V • Barb • Foodimals • Barry the Strawberry |
- ↑ Production Designer Justin K. Thompson
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Art and Making of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"
- ↑ Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
- ↑ Season 1, Episode 1 "And the Winnner Is..."
- ↑ The Pandas Are Coming
- ↑ Bacon Girl
- ↑ Sam's Imaginary Friend
- ↑
