The Dream Team: Disney Tie Up Henry Selick

Shortly after Henry Selick’s stop motion feature James and the Giant Peach was released for Disney, the decision was made to shut down all operations. But now the man who made the Oscar nominated Coraline has returned, rejoining with long time colleagues John Lasseter and Brad Bird.

His first release in 1993 for Disney did remarkably well, Nightmare before Christmas continues now through DVD sales and heavy merchandising in all of the Disney retail stores, it delivered profit and a creatively seductive film. However with James and the Giant Peach, he did not score enough profitability for Disney to see it as a viable option to continue with and Disney pulled out of the stop motion department.

Selick speaking variety sounds, well, chuffed. “I’ll quote Dick Cook right after James and the Giant Peach was finished. He said, ‘We don’t believe this is a viable medium anymore, and we’re not going to do it’. But with the return of Selick and the recent 2D animated feature The Princess and The Frog Selick announced “It’s great that both of those things are back”.

 The decision came down to John Lasseter, who once again proved his worth as one of the men at the top of the Pixar and Disney partnership. The story even eludes to the fact that Selick will no less have the Pixar ‘brain trust’ made up Bird, Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter among others, to ping his ideas off and collaborate with.

This is a telling new partnership that is likely to garner the cream of the future 2d, 3d and now stop motion animated features for the considerable future, by using common sense Lasseter is creating a group of individuals that together create a complex for creativity to develop.

MATT RICHARDSON

Brad Bird's Mission Impossible

Ever since Tom Cruise confirmed that his next project was to be the reprisal of Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible franchise, he and producer JJ Abrams have been searching for a director. Now it seems they have uncovered an unlikey contender in the form of Brad Bird, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

With the release date now set by Paramount to May 27, 2O11, production needs to step up a gear if it is to begin shooting in early summer. Paramount believe this is necessary due to large scale production that will boast worldwide locations and action set-pieces which are as much apart of the franchise as Cruise himself.

Bird may be viewed as a left field choice as a potential M:I director. However, back in 2006 the elected director of Mission Impossible III was similarly a unknown entity: JJ Abrams. His previous roles had only amounted to television but that decision proved to be decisive; sparking the Mission Impossible franchise back to life.

Admittedly in the post-Paul Greengrass/ Matt Damon Bourne outings, The M:I-III did not quite deliver their scale; however what it did achieve was to produce a very good fast-paced action-thriller.

According to Heat Vision Blog, a number of candidates have been interviewed for the role, including Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer and Edgar Wright who is currently scurrying through post-production on Scot Pilgrim Vs The World, and thus unavailable to consider such appointment.

While Bird, akin to Abrams, has no live-action film directing experience, he has got an increasingly strong back catalogue of animated features including The Iron Giant, Ratatouille and The Incredibles. It is clear from these films that Bird not only has an excellent eye for a set piece; Incredibles is especially a testament to this inate ability to produce on a large scale, but also that he can do so without losing the integrity, heart and soul behind the picture.

His lack of live-action experience is not for want of trying. Bird has being trying to get 19O6 off the ground for a while now, but due to a lack of funding, or possibly the lack of believe in his ability to bring a live-action to the big screen he has not been able to do so.

Accepting his 'Mission Impossible' might provide a means to an end; with Bird given the opportunity to show his ability to adapt to live action, he may get the camera's rolling on 1906 sooner rather than later.

Personally, If Brad Bird is able to bring himself into the project rather than being a hired gun, then we’d for one would kill to see Bird’s incarnation.

MATT RICHARDSON