George Orwell penned quite a few important works in his lifetime and while ‘1984‘ will likely go down as his most relevant piece, the social commentary in ‘Animal Farm’ is a close second. Now Netflix is planning on bringing the novel to life. Not only that, but the crew which has been announced so far is top notch with Matt Reeves producing and Andy Serkis set to direct this performance-capture film. Joining them on the production side will be Rafi Crohn and Adam Kassan of Reeves’ 6th & Idaho banner and Jonathan Cavendish from Serkis’ The Imaginarium.
After Reeves made an overall deal with Netflix this past January, it makes sense for one of his projects to land here and it is exciting to see that he will be reunited with Serkis after their previous outings in both ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes‘ and ‘War for the Planet of the Apes.’
Serkis and Cavendish acquired the rights to the film in 2012 and had been looking for the perfect opportunity and outlet to make that happen and now it finally is. When initially pitched, Serkis was meant to play a part in the movie, and it isn’t clear if that will still be happening with him in the director’s chair ,but no one does motion capture like Serkis so it would be hard to see him not in front of the camera as well as behind it.
According to Serkis:
“We are incredibly excited to have finally found the perfect creative home in Netflix for this extraordinary zeitgeist work by George Orwell, 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.”
He is excited about the work, and it should be noted that the duo has a unique take on the subject as Cavendish plans to take “Animal Farm to the screen in a thoroughly contemporary fashion, which will highlight the staggering relevance today of the satirical and dramatic power of Orwell’s re-imagined classic.”
It isn’t clear how involved Reeves will be, but he isn’t one who is known to rubberstamp his name on a project. Of working with Andy again, he has shared:
“Andy is such an incredible artist — he is truly a force of nature and a beautiful soul. 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.”
This is a dream that we can’t wait to see become a reality!
Are you excited for Netflix to be bringing us ‘Animal Farm’? Do you think that Andy Serkis will be working double duty and star in the film as well? If so, which character do you hope he ends up playing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Deadline
