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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.02 - MAY 2000
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The Problem With Bad Teeth Hot Projects The story is full of perceptive details and humour. It presents a psychologist and a priest as they try to decide who knows what's best for little bears. After a failure in the re-education center for boys Bobby is sent to the Wicked Wood. Which, as you may guess, is not a horrible place but a kind of paradise. For example, when little Bobby waits horrified for the Wolf, a group of animals come along in colourful clothes singing, "YMCA." In the end love overcomes all obstacles and the two hostile communities live in perfect harmony. "Animals are always made human for movies," says director Philippe Leclerc of Praxinos. "I began to think that they have to have some other kind of life behind the screen, too." Visually Teddy's Coming Out is made in the now trendy '60s style, with a touch of Tex Avery and Tom of Finland. The backgrounds are simple but effective and colourful. The total budget is only around 6 million Euro or USD. Producer Jean-Paul Caspari says that a big slice of the budget is slated for music. The film will be full of gay cult music, like Doris Day, Gloria Gaynor, Marlene Dietrich, The Village People, and of course, Elvis Presley and Judy Garland. Director Philippe Leclerc believes that the film will find its audience, as did films like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. "We do not look to provoke, we want to make a comedy and talk about tolerance," he underlines. "This is not only a gay movie," he adds. This is easy to believe, as the plot sounds truly funny and innovative.
A more mainstream, but most interesting project, is Loisel's Peter Pan by German company Trixter and director Michael Coldewey. Frenchman Regis Loisel is one of the best European comics artists today and he has been working on his five album story Peter Pan for several years. It is loosely based on the well-known book but interpreted in Loisel's sensitive and intelligent manner. The fifth album will be published soon. Coldewey says he became a fan of Loisel four years ago upon seeing the albums in Paris. "His drawings look like traditional animation, but his way of telling the story is different," Coldewey says. Trixter bought the rights in February and is just beginning the work. In March they didn't yet have a pilot. Trixter is a German company, based in Munich that specializes in character development and design. They are a strong CGI producer as well. Trixter works together with another German company, Das Werk, that at the moment might well be the biggest European post-production company. "Now that we have strong support from Das Werk we can start Peter Pan," Coldewey says. Trixter has just finished another feature animation Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2, a Canadian-German-South Korean film directed by Coldewey and Michael Lemire. It will have its German premiere in May. "Though Trixter is strong in 3D animation, we will do this in 2D," says producer Lilian Klages. "We try to keep the work in Europe and quality high. At the moment we are discussing cooperation with a Spanish company." |
Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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