Andy Serkis(Venom: let there be carnage) directs an animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic short story farm animal for Aniventure and his company The Imaginarium. Production is underway at Cinesite, which is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary as the world leader in animation and visual effects.
The dystopian fable published in 1945 shows a group of farm animals rebelling against their human owner, hoping to create a society where they can be equal, free and happy. He was nominated by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels between 1923 and 2005, and won Orwell a Retrospective Hugo Award. It has already been adapted for radio and stage, with John Halas and Joy Batchelor mounting a film adaptation in 1954, and John Stephenson adapting it into a TNT TV movie in 1999.
Nicholas Stoller (storks, Captain Underpants) adapted the screenplay for Serkis’ long-gestating film, previously edited at Netflix, which he will produce with Adam Nagle (Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank), Dave Rosenbaum (hitpig) and Jonathan Cavendish from Imaginarium (Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle).
“The arduous journey to bring this extraordinary story to the screen was finally rewarded with the opportunity to partner with the brilliant team at Aniventure and Cinesite,” said Serkis. “Together, we hope to make our version of Orwell’s masterpiece ever-relevant, emotionally powerful, humorous and accessible to all ages. A tale not just for our time, but for generations to come.
“Since 1945, when George Orwell first published farm animal, the story has remained relevant and a key instrument for understanding how the world works,” Nagle added. “Andy has had a particular talent for creating unique and memorable characters over his remarkable career and we are delighted to be working with him, Jonathan and Cinesite to adapt farm animal for a modern audience.
Serkis is an Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor, filmmaker and performance capture pioneer, who has previously directed feature films including Venom: let there be carnage, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Breathemost recently appearing as Alfred in Matt Reeves The Batman.
Aniventure was established in 2014 to create original animated content with high production values. Over the past eight years, the company has acquired and created a wide range of content for development and production, with two films (Riverdance: The Animated Adventure and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank) complete and with distribution.
Serkis and Cavendish’s Imaginarium is a next-gen storytelling production company, whose sister company is performance capture studio, Imaginarium Studios. His TV shows include Croquemitaine Mushroom for Sky, Death and the Nightingales for the BBC and the next half bad for Netflix. Other movies include The ritual for Netflix, and the next one by Taika Waititi The next goal winswith Michael Fassbender and Elisabeth Moss.
Serkis is represented by CAA, Principal Entertainment LA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Stoller by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham.