Seth Rogen does not have high expectations for Kieran Culkin in the first footage from Andy Serkis‘ animated feature Animal Farm.
Serkis directed the adaptation of George Orwell’s 1945 novella of the same name that focuses on a group of animals rising up against their owners. Animal Farm premieres this month at the Annecy Animation Festival and does not yet have a domestic release plan.
Rogen and Culkin lead the extensive cast that also includes Gaten Matarazzo, Glenn Close, Laverne Cox, Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson, Jim Parsons, Kathleen Turner, Iman Vellani and Serkis.
The footage shows pig Napoleon (Rogen) bonding with impressionable Lucky (Matarazzo) when Squealer also tries to connect with them. “Please remove yourself from this,” Rogen warns Culkin. “We’re trying to have a father-son moment.”
Serkis helmed the movie from a script by Nicholas Stoller after Serkis and Rupert Wyatt had penned a previous draft. Producing the film are Serkis, Jonathan Cavendish, Adam Nagle, Peter Nagle and Dave Rosenbaum.
Animal Farm has long been in the works, with Serkis’ work on the project first announced back in 2011. Netflix acquired distribution rights to the movie in 2018 before later letting them go.
Serkis told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 that he did not foresee the film taking an overtly political tone. The late Orwell had said that his story reflected events ahead of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the later regime of Joseph Stalin.
“We’re keeping it fable-istic and [aimed at] a family audience,” Serkis said at the time. “We are not going to handle the politics in a heavy-handed fashion. It is going to be emotionally centered in a way that I don’t think has been seen before. The point of view that we take will be slightly different to how it is normally portrayed and the characters. We are examining this in a new light.”
