Andy Serkis will direct an animated version of George Orwell’s classic novella, Animal Farm, with the adaptation written by Nicholas Stoller.
Animal Farm is widely regarded as one of the best pieces of English literature of the 20th Century, and is Orwell’s most famous work, alongside the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
The new adaptation will be made by Aniventure – an original animated feature production company founded in 2014 – and Serkis’ own company, The Imaginarium.
“The challenging journey to bring this extraordinary story to the screen has been finally rewarded by the opportunity to partner with the brilliant team at Aniventure and Cinesite,” said Serkis, celebrating the announcement. “Together we hope to make our version of Orwell’s ever relevant masterpiece, emotionally powerful, humorous, and relatable for all ages. A tale not only for our times, but for generations to come.”
Serkis is best known for his work as an actor, appearing as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings franchise, and as the titular character in the 2005 version of King Kong. He recently appeared as Alfred in Matt Reeves’ 2022 DC comic revival, The Batman.
Stoller, meanwhile, is credited with adapting the screenplay for the new Animal Farm. Producers include Adam Nagle – who worked with Aniventure on Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank – Dave Rosenbaum, and Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish, who worked on Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.
Rumours of Serkis’ Animal Farm first appeared in 2018, with the project then said to have been acquired by Netflix.
