Andy Serkis To Direct ‘Animal Farm’ Movie For Netflix
Legendary performance-capture supremo Andy Serkis will be directing a film adaptation of ‘Animal Farm’ for Netflix it has been announced.
For those of you that somehow made it through school without ever reading the book, George Orwell’s classic allegorical novella follows the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm who overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves. What starts out as a dream of freedom and equality becomes slowly corrupted as a cunning, ruthless élite, led by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, start to take control.
According to Deadline, who first reported the story, the film reteams Serkis with ‘Planet of the Apes’ director Matt Reeves who will produce with Rafi Crohn and Adam Kassan, alongside Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish for their company, The Imaginarium. Serkis and Cavendish first optioned the rights to ‘Animal Farm’ back in 2012 from George Orwell’s estate.
“We are incredibly excited to have finally found the perfect creative home in Netflix for this extraordinarily zeitgeist work by George Orwell,” Serkis commented in a statement. “On top of that, to be reunited with my great friend Matt Reeves – with his acute sensitivity, storytelling intelligence and honesty and command in this realm – is to have the very best scenario for our long-held passion to bring this fable alive.”
“Andy is such an incredible artist – he is truly a force of nature and a beautiful soul,” adds Reeves. “To be able to work with him again and with Jonathan and Netflix to see Orwell’s classic tale brought to life in a totally new and exciting way is an absolute dream.”
The deal comes only a few days after Netflix acquired the international rights to ‘Mowgli’, a performance-capture adaptation of ‘The Jungle Book’, also directed by Serkis. That film stars Christian Bale as Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as Kaa, Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan and Serkis playing Baloo.
‘Mowgli’ is expected to come to Netflix UK in 2019. There is no release date yet for ‘Animal Farm’, but given the amount of CGI work involved, we wouldn’t expect to see it for a few years.
