After just releasing his new romantic-comedy film You’re Cordially Invited at Prime Video, Nicholas Stoller still has a busy year ahead of him. Season 2 of Platonic, his hit Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen series with Francesca Delbanco, is set to return to Apple TV+ with more friendly humor later this year. But before that, he’ll take a trip to Animal Farm, as Andy Serkis‘s much-anticipated adaptation of the timeless George Orwell novel finally releases. Stoller was in charge of penning the final script for the political satire, helping to finally get the project over the finish line after Serkis and Rupert Wyatt began crafting it years ago. It was a one-of-a-kind opportunity that let him work alongside an artist he respects greatly and give the 1945 novel a modern update with a new approach.
In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, for You’re Cordially Invited, Stoller opened up about how he came aboard Animal Farm and the vision he and Serkis were setting out to realize. From the beginning, the mere mention of working with the multi-talented Lord of the Rings actor and Venom: Let There Be Carnage director on such an iconic novel adaptation was enough to get him excited. “Andy Serkis and Animal Farm made me want to do it,” he laughed. “My agent was like, ‘Do you have any interest in this?’ And I was like, ‘100%.'” Before he could get to work, however, he wanted to familiarize himself with the story for the first time since school. He even roped in the daughter to read the book and, in turn, made another fan:
“That was one of those things where then I read the book to make sure I could have a take. They had a script, but he was very much like, ‘Let me know what you think.’ So I read the script, and then I read the book. I hadn’t read it since I was in school, and it’s such an amazing story, in addition to being this incredible allegory. I told my oldest daughter, who now is 17, but at the time was 11, ‘You should read this book, Animal Farm.’ She was like, ‘Okay.’ She started reading it, thinking it would just be about cute animals, and at the end, she was like, ‘That was crazy. That’s the craziest story.’ It blew her mind. She loved it.”
Serkis’s ‘Animal Farm’ Changes the Dynamic With a New Character
Animal Farm remains a frighteningly relevant story to this day, following a group of farm animals that rebel against their human owner in search of freedom and equality, only to find themselves betrayed and under the boots of even more oppressive and power-hungry pigs. Helming the new, ruthless regime is Napoleon, a former leader of the rebellion who quickly seized the levers of power and re-established inequality among the populace while punishing his enemies. Serkis has previously told us that his version will embrace comedy and orient itself as more of a family film, something that Stoller kept in mind when penning the script. Yet, the biggest change in creating a contemporary update involved the story’s structure around its dictatorial hog.
Stoller shared that he helped Serkis flesh out a new character not featured in the book that would be central to the plot and show how those who grow up under Napoleon’s controlling dictatorship are influenced and what happens when they finally break out of the system and see the truth. The addition sounds in line with Orwell’s themes while still making the adaptation unique to the pair. Between that, some smaller updates for the modern day, and a more “darkly comic” tone, Stoller is confident that Serkis’s passion project will resonate with audiences just like the book:
“So, I wrote it. He had a very clear idea of the tone he wanted, and he wanted the central dynamic that’s not in the book between the kind of Napoleon, bad pig and a younger pig who kind of gets corrupted through the system and then pulls out of it. I thought that was a really good structure, and so he developed it with me, and then I just wrote. It’s a bit updated because, obviously, the book was written in the ‘40s, so if you were to update that exactly to what it was, it would feel a bit dated. So, I updated it a bit and made it more darkly comic than the book is. The book is comic, but it’s serious. I’m excited for people to see it. I think it’s going to be awesome. It’s been a passion project of his for a long time.”
Production of Animal Farm is a joint venture between Cinesite Studios, Aniventure, and Imaginarium Productions. It’s also Serkis’s first proper foray into animation as a director. Though the film isn’t far off from release, Stoller has been kept in the dark about what the finished product actually looks like. He was, however, able to share his excitement and tease some of the process behind it, while also giving a bit more love to his “badass” creative partner:
“I’m so excited. I’m psyched to see it. I haven’t seen anything. I know that they’re doing the mocap thing. I’m probably going to get the mountain wrong, and he’s such a badass, but I did one Zoom with Andy Serkis, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’m about to summit K2.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t understand your world, but I love it.'”
Serkis’s Animal Farm is set to be released this year. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the adaptation until then. In the meantime, Stoller’s You’re Cordially Invited, is available to stream now on Prime Video.
