Hey everyone. Capone in San Diego for Comic-Con 2011.
So I've spent the first couple days bouncing from panel to interview to screenings, with very little time to write in between. But I did want to make a point to talk about two of the lesser-discussed film and maybe get or keep the discussing going a little longer. First up was what turned out to be (although it wasn't really publicized this way) as the Aardman Animation panel, during which co-founder of Aardman, Peter Lord talk about the studios two latest works: the stop-motion animated THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS (due March 2012) and ARTHUR CHRISTMAS, a CG-animated feature due around Thanksgiving. I was less impressed with the visual take on ARTHUR CHRISTMAS, but I'll admit, I couldn't stay to see that portion of the panel. Plus, with a cast like James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie, and Imelda Staunton, maybe the look of the film isn't what's going to blow my mind.
THE PIRATES!, however, looks mind-blowingly cool. A far cry from covering the same ground as the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films, the story focuses on a group of pirates led by their Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) who aren't very good pirates and don't look anywhere ready to win the annual Pirate of the Year award. If you've seen the trailer, you know the sequence where the Pirate Captain accidentally lands on a leper ship, and the arm of one man falls off right in front of him. I love that Aardman has gone that darkly funny for THE PIRATES!
And look at this cast: Brendan Gleesan, Jeremy Piven, Brian Blessed, Martin Freeman, David Tennant (as Charles Darwin), Salma Hayak, and Imelda Staunton (as Queen Victoria), with Lord directing his first feature since 2000's CHICKEN RUN. Lord brought a couple of the actual working "puppets," including a Pirate Captain in full regalia. Lord walked the crowd through the basic plot and his array of vocal talent, admitting that Aardman was held in such high regard in the UK that pulling together such a revered cast like this one was relatively simple.
I'll have a fairly lengthy interview for you soon with Peter Lord, during which we'll go over in much detail some of the points he made about THE PIRATES! specifically and Aardman in general. It's good stuff. To my mind, Aardman has a track record as strong and reliable as Pixar
Before I leave you, I should also mention that just before this animation panel began, the audience was treated to what amounts to the trailer for the new Morgan Spurlock-directed documentary about the history and meaning of Comic-Con, entitled COMIC CON EPISODE IV: A FAN'S HOPE. The clips were heavy on famous faces--Eli Roth, producer Joss Weadon (our own Harry Knowles is also a producer), Guillermo del Toro, Seth Green, Kevin Smith, and Seth Rogen--interviewed to share their Comic-Con memories. Oh, I cannot wait, but I will have to until sometime next year, according to the trailer.
Alright, more Comic-Con businesss to come very soon. I've got a quick report on Friday on the Justin Timberlake-Amanda Seyfried sci-fi/chase/drama IN TIME, from writer-director Andrew Niccol; and I've got details on Relativity panel featuring THE RAVEN (directed by James McTeigue and starring John Cusack, Alice Even, Brendan Gleeson, and Luke Evans) and Steven Soderbergh's HAYWIRE. You'll want to read that one, for sure.
-- Capone capone@aintitcool.com
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