Peter and the Wolf: Stop-Motion Finds A Dark Side
Readers familiar with Peter and the Wolf, either through the original Sergei Prokofiev score or one of the numerous animated versions, will know, early on, a likeable character meets a distressing fate. In several cartoon versions, the plot point is softened or reversed (can we say Disneyfied?). Indeed, it’s even softened in the Prokofiev original.
It’s not softened here.
The new stop-motion version of the story, co-produced by BreakThru Films in London and the Se-Ma-For studio in Poland, takes the saga of a brave Russian boy and his fight with a fearsome beast seriously. It’s not too dark, being aimed at families, but it can get emotionally intense, judging by the rough cut AWN saw. This Peter is striking, not cute, his child’s face hinting at yearnings frustrated in his sometimes-bleak day-to-day life. The boy yearns to escape into the wood outside his home — an enormous, wondrous set that may be unprecedented in the stop-motion medium. In the wood is freedom and adventure, and terrible danger in the snarling wolf, which challenges the boy to become a man.
The film was five years in the making, involving more than a hundred British and Polish animators, craftsmen, sculptors and artists. It’s directed by Britain’s Suzie Templeton, who’s made a considerable name for herself on the back of two exceptional stop-motion student shorts: Dog, a dark story of family bereavement, and Stanley, a black comedy about a henpecked husband whose love of gardening takes a scandalous turn. The finished Peter and the Wolf had its world premiere on Sept. 23, marking the 70th anniversary of the music’s debut in Moscow. The live accompaniment, provided by the Philharmonic orchestra, was conducted by musical director Mark Stephenson who originated the project.
Following the live performance in London, and a similar event in Poland, the film will be screened on British television by Channel 4 this Christmas. As of writing, the American rights are held by Columbia Artist Management, which is looking into the possibility of a premiere next year.
AWN spoke to the film’s two producers, Alan Dewhurst and Hugh Welchman, who together formed BreakThru Films in 2002. Welchman’s live-action shorts Crowstone and The Most Beautiful Man in the World won an array of international prizes. He also received a prestigious “Shakespeare Scholarship” from American Beauty director Sam Mendes. Dewhurst cut his teeth at Richard Williams’ animation studio (“truly an inspiration”) before co-founding Passion Pictures, one of the most prominent U.K. animation outfits. On Peter and the Wolf, Welchman was involved with finance and development, while Dewhurst was involved in the hands-on production. The pair took us through the film’s history.
Andrew Osmond: Tell us how the film originated.
Hugh Welchman: I was approached by the conductor Mark Stephenson, who asked if I was interested in doing a collaboration between film and music. We kicked around some ideas, and he told me the Peter and the Wolf anniversary was coming up, so how about that? I hadn’t actually heard the music for about 20 years (I listened to it a lot as a kid) and I fell back in love with it. I watched the earlier animated versions and while I thought many had admirable qualities, they kind of missed the opportunity to do a “proper” film version.
AO: What do you think were the failings of the earlier versions?
HW: Their treatment of the story was too slight to fit the music. They were aimed at very young children, whereas we wanted something that would appeal to seven-to-11s, but also fascinate adults. The main people who have Peter close to their hearts are between 30 and 80 and we knew they would be the driving force for bringing children to see it.
Alan Dewhurst: Our starting point was that this is a very powerful story; a boy confronts a dangerous, lethal wolf. Some versions are very comic and avuncular, but we really didn’t think that’s what was in the story.
HW: We were anxious to keep live music as an element, because the whole point of Peter was to introduce children to orchestral music. So from the beginning it was conceived as something we could show on the big screen, to be accompanied by a live orchestra. One problem was the narration which Prokofiev wrote to go with the music was three minutes long, and the music itself is 30 minutes long. Nobody had really grappled with that difference in scope. (The Disney version of Peter in Make Mine Music is 20 minutes long, with different narration and the music re-orchestrated by Prokofiev himself.)
AD: When we stripped out Prokofiev’s narration (the film has no narration or dialogue), we had a tremendous musical drama, an extraordinary range of emotional tone and color. It’s a very pure cinematic experience.
AO: Tell us the story of the film in this version. Peter seems to be quite an intense character…
AD: He very much goes on a journey. He’s on the edge of puberty, so his yearning to go out into the world is just striking him. He lives with his loving but anxious grandfather, who won’t let him go out into the forest as he longs to. They’re kind of marginal figures, living on the edge of the forest. They’re poor, their clothes are ragged. When Peter goes into town, the other kids are in more modern Western dress and two bully him. (We transfer the hunters from the original version into these bullies.)
So Peter’s life isn’t particularly happy. But he has a deep relationship with animals, and he’s inspired when he encounters a bird, an over-excitable, comic character with an undying enthusiasm. Its enthusiasm and confidence touches something in Peter and prompts him to defy his grandfather and go out. There’s a long passage where Peter, the bird and Peter’s pet duck play in the forest and we see Peter enjoying himself, perhaps as he’s never done before. Then the wolf appears and does something terrible. Peter is prompted in a rage to go and get the wolf.
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