It may be over a year away but those claymation boffins over at Aardman Animations have demonstrated that production is most definatly underway for their next project Early Man. The film is directed by Aardman veteran and Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park.
Aardman and StudioCanal have released a very short clip that’s shows the films hero Dug and sidekick Hognob prepared to fight off an unseen but growling creature before deciding otherwise.
Early Man, as the title suggests, is set in the dawn of time and centres on Dug a prehistoric stone age dweller. Along with Hognob, his loyal animal friend, the pairs efforts to reunite their tribe results in the invention of football.
The project is the first film directed by Parks since his iconic duo Wallace and Gromit made their feature debut. Fans will be excited to hear that Early Man is based on an original concept by two Aardman writers, Mark Burton and John O’Farrell. The film follows Aardman’s last feature success Shaun the Sheep Movie which brought its lovable bleeping menace to the big screen.
The voice cast is led by the talents of Eddie Redmayne as the lovable hero Dug, because winning Oscars and starring in Harry Potter follow-ups was not enough. As of yet no other voice stars are attached but Redmayne can more than hold his own. This could also be an indication of Aardman’s trait voiceless characters such as Shaun and Gromit.
Seeing as this is the studio that has brought as Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep as well as my personal favourite Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, can they follow up their earlier successes? Well if the talent and early animation are anything to go by then yes, yes they can.
Early Man will not hit cinemas till January 2018 but animation fans and those who just love the great British sense of humour should be excited.