Ok folks I know you British fans are dying to find out about the THUNDERBIRDS movie and Nick Park's CHICKEN RUN. Well I have a spy close to the action, and this spy (known as Captain Scarlet) tells me that there is a single writer on both projects by the name of Karey Kirkpatrick. Personally I don't know which project I'm more excited about. I mean THUNDERBIRDS is Gerry Anderson Super Marionation. And there just ain't no marionation like Super Marionation. And the coolest Super Marionation is best acheived by Derek Meddings. huhuhuuh! Coooool. Anyway, this Kirkpatrick fella is finishing the script. And Captain Scarlet says that the director (Peter "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" Hewitt) is going to pound out the final draft in preparation for the top secret casting session which begins in 10 short days. The biggest question I am asked by Robogeek is, "You mean it's not marionation?" To which I answer, "Nope." To which Robogeek responds, "Then what's the point?!?!?" Well I can only think that realistic cool ships and island bases would be the goal. Just so long as Leslie Neilsen stays far far faaaar away from the project and it keeps that unearthly coolness to it! Maybe if you took a random frame out and added duplicate frames every now and again, it would have that jerky action, thereby becoming SUPER HUMAN MARIONATION!!! Oh and by the way the papers in LONDON that are claiming to have casting scoops, set details and bits - n- pieces on THUNDERBIRDS. NONE OF IT IS TRUE! If you have seen quotes from 'official people' it is not true, they haven't talked to the press. So there ya go...
Then Captain Scarlet went on to talk about CHICKEN RUN. CHICKEN RUN is the first feature that will come out of Aardman Animations, the world renowned Bristol based claymation studio responsible for many classic, Oscar winning shorts as well as hundreds of commercials (i.e. Chevron, Burger King). Most notably, Aardman is home to Nick Park, Oscar winning director of "Creature Comforts" and the popular "Wallace & Gromit" shorts. Nick and Aardman Co-owner, Peter Lord, will be directing the film.
I've never been to England, but I am told that Wallace & Gromit merchandise is EVERYWHERE and that these characters are practically worshipped, I've heard that one out of three dogs are now being named Gromit. As proof of the insanity around Nick Parks and his characters, Nick was recently given the C.B.E. (Commander of the order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II. The next step would be knighthood. Pretty soon, ol Nick will be joining the likes of Paul McCartney in defending the monarchy from the world at large.
Captain Scarlet then tells me that Chicken Run is the story of a bunch of chicken who live on a chicken farm and are trying to escape. (they will pay homage to many classic WWII war/escape films that have words like "great" and "escape" and "stalag" and "17" in the title, though for fearful legal reasons, they can't put any of those words together in certain orders. wink, wink, nudge, nudge...). It's being produced by Aardman and Jake Eberts (James and the Giant Peach, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves, A River Runs Through It, etc.) and released by Dreamworks.
This, too, is a very cool project. In fact this is a MEGA COOL project. After I saw the first Nick Parks 'Wallace & Gromit' cartoon I instantly wanted to see Nick do a feature film. I mean seriously, his work is sooooo cinematic, it will make ya drool. Very un- Disney. Captain Scarlet says all of the characters in Chicken Run are British (with the exception of one Rhode Island Red rooster from America) and the humour is very English. Northern English to be more specific. (the film is set in the Yorkshire Dales - very close to"Full Monty" territory).
Like I said, I have no clue which film I'm most excited about... though I have to say I'm inching towards the CHICKEN RUN project simply because a feature length claymation extravaganza is just waaay too damn delicious to pass up. Hopefully Captain Scarlet will continue to find himself nearby the projects, because these two are certainly peaking interest in me.
