LAIKA Ent. has struck a deal with the celebrated British comedy duo of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders to join Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher in its first animated feature film, CORALINE. The stop-motion animated movie, being directed/adapted by Henry Selick, is being distributed worldwide by Focus Features.
Selick is adapting the stop-motion flick with CG effects from Neil Gaimans international best-selling book, CORALINE. LAIKA Ent.s director of story Mike Cachuela is co-director of the feature.
In CORALINE, a young girl (Fanning) walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life only much better. But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous and her counterfeit mother (Hatcher, who is also playing Coralines real mother) and father try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home.
French and Saunders will provide the voices of Coralines eccentric neighbors, Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, respectively. The characters are two rival former actresses, living in a basement flat, who dabble in the occult. The acting duo created, wrote, and co-starred in the hit series, GIRLS ON TOP and FRENCH & SAUNDERS. One skit on the latter program led to Saunders creating and starring in the classic show, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS.
Selick said, Id like to say that casting them was my idea, but the credit goes to Coralines creative father, Neil Gaiman. Spink and Forcible are not the usual comic relief characters of animated films, but as performed by French and Saunders, they will be morbidly funny.
CORALINE is a LAIKA Ent. production in association with Pandemonium Films; Pandemonium president/ceo Bill Mechanic and LAIKA Ent.s Mary Sandell are producing the feature, now in production at LAIKAs Portland animation studio. The popular music group They Might Be Giants (TMBG) will provide songs for the film.
LAIKA (www.laika.com) is owned by Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike. The company was rebranded as LAIKA in the summer of 2005, when it absorbed Vinton Studios, an animation leader and innovator for more than 30 years. LAIKA/house produces animated commercials and shorts for global clients, including Coca-Cola, Wrigleys, ESPN and Esure UK.
In addition to CORALINE, LAIKA Ent. is in pre-production on JACK & BENS ANIMATED ADVENTURE, a CG-animated family film which tells a story of survival, brotherly love and grand adventure set in the animal kingdom. That film is written and directed by Jorgen Klubien. The company recently purchased the rights to one of the U.K.s current best-selling childrens novels, writer/illustrator Alan Snows, HERE BE MONSTERS.
In addition to CORALINE, upcoming Focus Features releases include Woody Allens SCOOP, starring Allen, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson and Ian McShane; Allen Coulters HOLLYWOODLAND, starring Adrien Brody, Diane Lane and Ben Affleck; Phillip Noyces CATCH A FIRE, starring Tim Robbins, Derek Luke and Bonnie Mbuli; Shane Ackers animated fantasy epic 9, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov and Jim Lemley & Dana Ginsburg; Kasi Lemmons TALK TO ME, starring Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor; David Cronenbergs EASTERN PROMISES, starring Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts; and LUST, CAUTION, the new film from Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of Focus worldwide success BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.
Focus Features (www.focusfeatures.com) is a motion picture production, financing and worldwide distribution company. Focus Features is part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Ent., NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric and 20%-owned by Vivendi.
