CG-animated feature directed by ‘The Triplets of Belleville’ alums Eric Summer and Éric Warin employs keyframe animation of Paris Opera Ballet star dancers Aurélie Dupont and Jérémie Bélingard to bring realistic dance choreography to the film.
Today marks the U.S. theatrical debut of French-Canadian co-production Leap! from The Weinstein Company’s newly-launched Mizchief animation label, and to celebrate we’ve got clips!
Starring the voice of Elle Fanning alongside supporting talent Dane DeHaan, Maddie Ziegler and Carly Rae Jepsen, Leap! is set in Belle Époque Paris. The CG-animated feature -- which was released in France under its original title, Ballerina, in 2016 -- follows Félicie, an 11-year-old orphaned girl who arrives in the city with nothing but a driving passion to become a ballet dancer.
Desperate, penniless and separated from her traveling companion -- a boy from her hometown who dreams of being a famous inventor -- Félicie assumes the identity of a snobby rich girl and makes it into the famous Opera Ballet School. With the help of her friends and a mysterious caretaker, she evades the malicious whims of the school’s toughest instructor and learns that it takes more than raw talent to be a ballerina.
The filmmakers used keyframe animation of Paris Opera Ballet star dancers Aurélie Dupont and Jérémie Bélingard to translate realistic dance choreography to the animated film, making Dupont the de facto choreographer of the film’s dance sequences.
Check out the new clips below:
Leap! was directed by Eric Summer and Éric Warin, who previously served as an animator on director Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville. A co-production with French animation studio Gaumont, Leap! was produced in Montreal by Quad Productions, L’Atelier Animation‘s Main Journey and Caramel Film. The movie is based on an original idea by Summer, with the original story created by Summer and Laurent Zeitoun, and original screenplay written by Carol Noble, Zeitoun and Summer. Zeitoun also served as the film’s producer alongside Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Andre Rouleau and Valerie D’Auteuil.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Paris, 1884. An orphaned girl arrives in Paris from Brittany. Félicie Milliner is 11 and has no money but one big, passionate dream: to become a dancer. With nothing left to lose, Félicie takes a big risk: she ‘borrows’ a spoiled brat’s identity and enters the Opera Ballet School. But how long can she be someone else? Mentored by the tough and mysterious cleaner, Odette , Félicie learns that talent is not enough – it takes hard work to be better than her ruthless, conniving fellow students. That and friendship. Felicie’s inventive, exhausting and charismatic best friend Victor also has a dream: becoming a famous inventor. Together, they both encourage each other to reach for the stars.
Source: The Weinstein Company
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
