Andy Serkis wants to keep his Animal Farm adaptation full of ‘innocence'
Andy Serkis wants to keep his Animal Farm adaptation full of 'innocence'
The 58-year-old actor and filmmaker is set to helm an animated take on George Orwell's dystopian fable
Andy Serkis
(Image: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images )
Andy Serkis wants to keep his Animal Farm adaptation full of "innocence" to balance the book's darkness.
The 58-year-old actor and filmmaker is set to helm an animated take on George Orwell's dystopian fable – which tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human owner in the hope of creating a society where they can be free and equal.
He has now told Variety about why he chose animation as the format to tell the tale: "We started to work on it and did a lot of experimenting, which led us to realize that animation was the right medium for this adaptation.
"That allowed us to keep the innocence of the storytelling that the original book had, while being able to say much more than live action would allow us to do. "In live action, such a story would necessarily have been darker from the outset. Whereas with an animated movie, breaking those ties with reality and keeping Orwell's book, which he described as a fairy tale, in that realm gave us much more freedom to still have emotional engagement with the characters, keep it innocent, and then progressively let the darker themes come in underneath that."
Andy added when asked what value the fable has in the context of today's troubled times: "To really remember that truth is something to be valued. Honesty, selflessness as well.
Article continues below
"We have all become self-driven, and I think it's worth reminding ourselves that there is satisfaction to be had in working not for yourself but for the benefit of others.
"That all sounds very woolly and, in a way, utopian. But I do think that there are certain core human values that are slipping away, and I think that our story somehow questions that."
Nicholas Stoller has adapted the screenplay for Andy's long-awaited movie, which had previously been set up at Netflix, and will produce with Adam Nagle, Dave Rosenbaum and Jonathan Cavendish.
Article continues below
Adam said in a statement announcing the project was underway: "Ever since 1945, when George Orwell first published Animal Farm, the story has remained relevant and a key instrument in understanding how the world works."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
American Horror Story star unrecognisable in hit Sky period drama
She was once known as Violet Harmon in the first season of American Horror Story. Now, Taissa Farmiga has traded Violet's whimsical streak for Gladys Russell's socialite status. George and Bertha Russell's marriage is hanging by a fragile thread in the third season of The Gilded Age - but one of the show's stars originally shot to fame with several appearances in American Horror Story. Taissa Farmiga portrays socialite Gladys Russell in The Gilded Age, originally aired on HBO. In its third series, due on Sky, Gladys has to face the aftermath of her parents' choice to promise her hand in marriage to the Duke of Buckingham. But will she go through with the nuptials? This remains to be seen. But, back in 2011, shortly after debuting her acting career in High Ground, Taissa starred in the first season of American Horror Story as Violet Harmon, the daughter of Vivien (Connie Britton) and Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott). Violet's story ended in tragedy as she committed suicide, joining her killer boyfriend Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) in the afterlife - but Taissa still reprised the role in the eighth season of American Horror Story. She even appeared in the anthology series as two different characters - Sophie Green and Zoe Benson. READ MORE: Disney+ drops to £1.99 in rare deal Netflix and Amazon can't beat Now starring in The Gilded Age, Taissa admitted that she had to delve deep into the Downton Abbey universe to nail Gladys' role. "I started watching Downton Abbey because I thought 'I have to brush up,'" she told producer Joshua Horowitz in 2023 on his podcast Happy Sad Confused. But when she first auditioned for Gladys, Taissa was honest - she wasn't a fan of period dramas. "During my audition, they asked me if I was passionate about period pieces," she remembered, joking later: "I told them, 'I don't know. I'm a stoner, I watch Rick and Morty.'" Growing up, Taissa was the youngest in a family of six children and watched her older sister Vera Farmiga rise to fame through her roles in The Conjuring franchise, Orphan and even Bates Motel. But she had no intentions of following in her footsteps. Instead, Taissa dreamed of being an accountant - until Vera convinced her to appear in her directorial debut drama, Higher Ground. "I was thrown into this world," Taissa once told Yahoo Movies in 2015. The experience was enough for her to change trajectory completely. "After Higher Ground about six months went by and I went back to my normal life," Taissa said. "I was looking at community college classes for accounting. I wasn't jumping right into it, thinking, 'I have to be an actress.'" And the rest was history. Since then, Taissa has bagged a multitude of roles in feature films and series alike. She was notably seen in The Bling Ring with Emma Watson, The Nun franchise as Sister Irene Palmer and even in The Twilight Zone. Taissa is also very active on social media, particularly on Instagram, where she's followed diligently by 1.9 million admirers. The 30-year-old shares everything - from snaps on set and on the red carpet, to her trips with producer husband Hadley Klein.
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Pixar's Elio earns the worst box office debut in studio history with just $21 million
DreamWorks' live-action take on How to Train Your Dragon continued its run atop the box office, but a new Pixar film made franchise history... in the worst way. How to Train Your Dragon dropped a decent 56.3% in its second frame to win with an estimated $37 million, followed by 28 Years Later with $30 million and Pixar's Elio with $21 million in second and third places, respectively. Elio's box office debut was the worst opening weekend for any modern film in Pixar history, according to Variety. The debut is not only below Elemental, which debuted in June 2023 with $29.6 million, but below Pixar's first film ever, 1995's Toy Story, which opened in November 1995 with $29.1 million. Elio - which follows a young boy mistaken as an ambassador for Earth after he invited aliens to come visit - received a good marks from critics and moviegoers on Rotten Tomatoes, with ratings of 84% and 91% respectively. The film earned only $14 million in overseas markets for an abysmal worldwide total of $35 million. The film opened in 3,750 theaters, earning a middling $5,600 per-screen average, with the film's box office projections putting it between $25 million and $30 million, though fans clearly didn't show up as much as previously believed. Elio was produced under a $150 million budget, and with a $35 million global debut, it seems unlikely that it could turn a profit, barring some kind of box office miracle. 'This is a weak opening for Pixar,' says David A. Gross, who runs the FranchiseRe movie consulting firm. 'These would be solid numbers for another original animation film, but this is Pixar, and by Pixar's remarkable standard, the opening is well below average,' Gross added. How to Train Your Dragon remained perched at the top of the box office its second week in theaters, in spite of some tough new competition. The live-action adventure starring Miles Thames, Nico Parker and Gerard Butler earned less than half of the $84 million it collected on its opening weekend, but garnered a respectable $37 million in ticket sales. Fans of the franchise breathed fire into international showings, which earned an additional $53 million, for a global total so far of $358,189,295. Second place went to the fright flick 28 Years Later, which earned $30 million from 3,444 theaters for a solid $8,710 per-screen average. Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson star in the apocalyptic thriller about a group of survivors living on an island nearly three decades after a rage virus has infected most of the world. It will be interesting to see how long this newcomer remains popular at the box office as critics have given the fright flick a strong 89-percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whereas audiences gave it a much less enthusiastic 65-percent score. 28 Years Later is the sequel to 2002's 28 Days Later, with Alex Garland returning as scriptwriter and Danny Boyle reprising his role as director. The thriller scared up some $45 million domestically and nearly $30 million overseas for a debut total of $74.9 million. Disney's live action Lilo & Stitch dropped to fourth place, earning $9.7 million across the US. The family friendly romp has been one of the most successful of 2025 so far with global earnings of $910.3 million, coming in behind A Minecraft Movie with $953.5 million and the Chinese animated fantasy film, Ne Zha 2, which has earned nearly $2 billion worldwide. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning rounded out the top five with $6.55 million domestically. The last film in the Tom Cruise lead franchise never found its footing at the box office after debuting in a distant second behind Lilo & Stitch. International audiences have been more welcoming to the film, paying more than $362 million to see the nearly three hour long action flick for a global total of $540.8 million. Second place went to the fright flick 28 Years Later. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars in the apocalyptic thriller which earned $45 million domestically and nearly $30 million overseas for a debut total of $74.9 million Materialists, the romantic comedy starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans plummeted from third place to sixth its second weekend in theaters. Critics loved the mature love story, but it hasn't caught on with audiences amidst all the competition from family friendly and action films. Materialists collected nearly 50-percent than its opening weekend take, pulling in a mere $5.8 million. The rom-com hasn't gained much traction around the planet either, making only an additional $7.5 million internationally. Ballerina, starring Ana De Armas as an assassin bent on revenge, followed in seventh place. The action thriller from the world of John Wick bowed this week with a little more then $4.5 million in ticket sales. In spite of good reviews from audiences, Ballerina has not fared well with ticket buyers domestically, although on the international stage it's collected another $49.7 million for a worldwide total of more than $100 million so far. Karate Kid: Legends starring the original 'Kid' Ralph Macchio along with martial arts master Jackie Chan waxed on at number eight with $2.4 million in ticket sales Karate Kid: Legends starring Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio waxed on at number eight with $2.4 million in ticket sales. Final Destination: Bloodlines crash landed at number nine with $1.88 million. Newcomer Kuberaa, the latest offering from India, debuted at number 10. The morality tale about a beggar who undergoes a radical transformation to make his way in the world garnered $1.75 million. Brad Pitt will speed into the box office race next weekend with the highly anticipated F1: The Movie, along with the scary M3gan 2.0, giving some competition the family friendly offerings that have made their mark on the summer blockbuster season.
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Ashley Walters, 42, reflects on 'isolating' battle with alcoholism and admits he 'thought it would cure the biggest problem he had' as he poses shirtless for Men's Health UK shoot
Ashley Walters has reflected on his 'isolating' struggles with alcohol, as he posed for a shirtless shoot with Men's Health UK. As well as being the magazine's July/August cover star, the actor, 42, spoke about his journey to getting sober in 2020, after a 15-year struggle with alcohol addiction. Ashley, who recently earned critical praise for his role in Netflix 's Adolescence, shared how he first began using alcohol as a way to improve his social skills. He said: 'I would be in a group of people and be looking at everyone and wondering how they could communicate so wonderfully, and I don't have the ability to do that. 'I was always looking at everyone else like, what manual for life did you get that I didn't? How come I didn't get the memo? 'It started off with me trying to become a person that could talk to girls like my friends could or bust a joke with the mandem like my friends could… 'People may not like me saying it, but for a minute alcohol was the cure to the biggest problem that I felt I had. 'But the thing is, alcohol or drugs' main aim is to isolate you. Its main aim is to take everything away from you, so it has you by yourself and then at that point, it tries to kill you.' Reflecting on his lengthy battle with addiction, the Top Boy star added: 'Alcoholism is a disease. I didn't realise until I got some professional help that it centres in the mind. 'It's not the drug or drink of choice that's the issue. The easy part is to stop consuming alcohol, or whatever. 'The hard part is dealing with the problem in your head. 'But if you don't remedy that part, you're always going to end up going back to drinking because that problem still exists.' Ashley went onto share that since getting sober, he challenges himself in various social situations, without using alcohol as a vice. He added: 'I turn up now and force myself into situations that I probably would have shied away from before just to test how good I am at striking up conversations or being around people… 'I've met some amazing people that I know for a fact I wouldn't have [met when drinking]. I would have been s***ting myself. 'I sat down with Michael B Jordan a couple of weeks ago and we had an amazing conversation for an hour… 'To be able to sit down, laugh and joke naturally with someone I look up to, even though I'm a bit older, feels good. It's a marker of how far I've come.' Ashley recently earned critical praise for his performance as detective DI Luke Bascombe in Adolescence. The four-part series received critical acclaim when it hit the streaming service in March, and centres on a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a schoolgirl. In the show, viewers saw how teen Jamie Miller's perception of girls had been radicalised through content he was viewing online, and also showed the vast amount of social media consumed by teenagers at school. And Ashley went onto share that realisations while filming the show have led him to curtail his youngest son's screen time. He added: '[As parents] we're really about uplifting and pushing the things that they love. He's an animator, so he has a lot of animation software on his iPad and spends his time doing that. 'But sometimes, he's not animating when we think he is. We've been very conscious about that and drawing back on his screen time. 'Half the week, he can't even touch his device. And then actually, it's about me stepping in as a dad and saying, ''Let's go fishing, let's do more stuff,'' so he doesn't want to be on there as much as he is.' 'No one wants to be the ogre parent that comes in and goes, 'All right, that's it, everything off.' 'I don't want them to feel like they're not the same as their friends. You get caught up in all of that stuff as a parent, but I feel like around the world this show has allowed parents, to go, ''Fu*k that s**t. 'Adolescence says this could happen. Now we're going to start having this conversation.'' I think that's a good thing.' MailOnline revealed last month that star Owen Cooper would be entered in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as murder suspect Jamie Miller in the show that has become one of Netflix's most-watched series ever. Experts hailed the 'genius move' of placing Cooper in Supporting, as opposed to Best Actor, which they said would massively boost his chances of winning. Adolescences's four episodes, all filmed in one continuous take, explore the influence of online misogyny and incel culture - with Sir Keir Starmer calling for the series to be shown in schools. The series also sparked frenzied speculation that there could be a second season in the works, but star Ashley said this only seems likely if it follows a new story. He added: 'I'd love to, but I strongly believe that it will be completely different characters with a completely different story. I think that the constant will be the one-take process.' The full interview is available in the July/August issue of Men's Health UK, on sale from 24th June.
