Thursday, November 19, 2015

Out of the Shadows

Another live-action director visits Cartoonland. (Usually it's the other way around).

In what will be his first fully animated feature debut, Shaun Of The Dead director [Edgar Wright] is taking on DreamWorks Animation’s shadowy pic. The Jeffrey Katzenberg-run toon studio announced today that Edgar Wright will helm and co-write a as yet-untitled feature “centered on the concept of shadows.” ...

This effort co-written by David Walliams is not a revamping on the long-on-hold Me & My Shadow feature, sources say, but something entirely original dealing with a the same basic concept. “Edgar will spearhead a new approach to this fascinating concept, and we’re ecstatic to have him onboard as director along with David as co-writer,” DreamWorks Animation’s Co-Presidents of Feature Animation Bonnie Arnold and Mireille Soria said Thursday. ...

The trend of having live-action helmers try their hand at animation kind of started with Gore Verbinski and Rango. Rob Minkoff started in animated features as an animator, then became a feature director on Lion King, and then moved on to a variety of live-action films. He returned to his roots with Mr. Peabody and Sherman, but has since moved on to more live-action.

There was a time when I was dubious about live-action directors slumming in the sun-kissed uplands of animation, but as live-action becomes more like cartoons, and vice-versa, I don't think the gaps between the two types of movies is nearly as wide. So good luck to Mr. Wright. So best of luck to him.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Is it fair to assume that this confirms the death of Me & My Shadow as a project?

Steve Hulett said...

Methinks it will be a cousin of Me and My Shadow, but a different feature with a different take.

But somebody with more insider knowledge will have to speak up, because I'm mostly in the dark (get it?) on this.

Site Meter