20th Century Fox: JASON STATHAM IN HIS FUNNIEST AND HARD-HITTING ACTION STUNTS IN “SPY”

In the latest all-out high-octane action and laugh-out-loud “Spy” movie, Jason Statham describes his role in the film as “different from anything I’ve done, and it’s been great fun.”

 

Statham stars with Academy Award nominees Melissa McCarthy and Jude Law along with Golden Globe nominee Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Allison Janney with the special participation of Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson. The movie brings at the center of the action the world’s unlikely heroine, Susan Cooper (McCarthy), a brilliant, intuitive and relatable desk agent, who has worked in the dreary basement at CIA headquarters for years. Her colleague is the charming, sophisticated and self-absorbed super spy Bradley Fine, played by Jude Law. An unsung hero, Cooper is the one who guides her partner via a computer and an earpiece, when he is out on perilous assignments, steering him through sticky situations around the globe. Fine gets the credit for all the successes, but it is actually Cooper doing most of the complicated work. She is also secretly besotted with the charismatic Fine, but it’s a case of unrequited love.

When Fine goes off the grid while trying to locate a nuclear bomb, Susan Cooper volunteers to go out into the field herself, becoming a bona fide spy, infiltrating the world of international espionage in Europe. She has to confront the villainous, rich and ultra-glamorous Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) who is the daughter of a notorious arms dealer, with access to a nuclear weapon. It is up to the intrepid Agent Cooper to stop her before she wreaks global havoc!

Cooper has another challenge to deal with in the form of Rick Ford (a hilarious performance by Statham), a supposedly ace operative. Ford turns out to be bumbling, intense and supremely arrogant. He completely underestimates Cooper, who surprises everyone with her all-round excellence. Out of her element at the start, Susan Cooper rapidly learns all the skills required for her new job.

Statham’s Ford considers himself a match for anyone. Everyone. All at once. Part Rambo, part Clousseau, Agent Rick Ford embodies the words intrepid, fearless and clueless. Ford’s confidence is far removed from competence. Ford quits the CIA in protest of Cooper being an agent on the field, and goes off the grid, determined to see the mission through on his own. “Ford is very intense, yet comically oblivious to his own bumbling,” says Statham.

Director Paul Feig, once an aspiring stuntman, is a fan of Statham’s movies, and, as with Nancy and Miranda Hart, tailored the Ford role to the actor. Melissa McCarthy says, “Jason’s Rick Ford is going to blow your mind. He’s a bit of a sociopath, but Jason plays him with such conviction. He doesn’t wink at the camera or allow it to go into spoof, which is what makes it so ungodly funny.”

 

Side-splittingly funny, riveting and action-packed, “Spy” opens very soon this May 21 from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

HARRISON FORD CONNECTS MYSTERIOUS PIECES OF TIME IN “THE AGE OF ADALINE”

 

One of cinema’s greats, Harrison Ford, who have starred in the most successful and acclaimed films in history, including the landmark “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises plays a pivotal role in the latest unforgettable love story to unfold on screens, “The Age of Adaline” with Blake Lively in the title role along with Academy Award winning actresses Kathy Baker and Ellen Burstyn.

 

In the movie, having miraculously remained 29 years old for almost eight decades, Adaline Bowman (Lively) has lived a solitary existence, never allowing herself to get close to anyone who might reveal her secret. But a chance encounter with charismatic philanthropist Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman) reignites her passion for life and romance. When a weekend with his parents (Ford and Baker) threatens to expose the truth, Adaline makes a decision that will change her life forever.

Harrison Ford plays Ellis’s father, William, a college professor. “Harrison Ford was the first and only choice to play William as far as I was concerned,” says Krieger. “We needed someone who brought real intelligence to the role and was clearly a heartthrob in his day. Harrison has always been great playing an academic, be he also captures the ethereal side of William.”

Lively admits she was a little nervous to meet the Oscar®-nominated actor she says. “Maybe I should not have watched the Indiana Jones trilogy before shooting. He is a brilliant actor, and true personal hero.”

The script’s whimsical premise paired with its down-to-earth approach to Adaline’s miraculous life caught the actor’s fancy. “This is very different from anything I’ve done before,” says Ford. “It’s one of those movies that is about being transported into a fantasy, but played very realistically. It’s a very clever construction. It was a delight to work on an ambitious movie that has a magical thinking to it. The audience is taken to an extraordinary world, but not the world of high-tech science fiction. It has roots in everyday life plus just enough magic to excite your imagination and open your heart.”

The film’s leading lady made a lasting impression on the Star Wars star, “She works very hard at what she is doing and is terrific in the part,” says Ford. “As an actor, she’s fully prepared, she’s inventive, she’s patient and she’s very generous with the other actors.”

Ford’s character is celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary when his son brings home a girl who looks, sounds and acts exactly like a woman he was in love with 45 years earlier. “William is a scientist,” says the actor. “He knows there’s no realistic way this can happen. His wife, played by Kathy Baker, thinks he’s pining for this long-ago romance.”

Ford has special praise for Baker, whose work he says he has admired for many years. “Kathy was terrific in helping make that part of the story come alive,” Ford says.

Baker shared Ford’s sentiment, “The Age of Adaline was a dream job for me. Harrison is fun and funny and smart and professional and witty and wise, and I was very lucky to have the opportunity to work with him. The film is beautiful to look at and is full of romance and magic; I am looking forward to sharing it with our audiences.”

 

Lively says the film is unlike any she’s ever seen in its exploration of that idea. “It’s about love and loss and what they mean if you were able to live forever,” she says. “Is that a gift or is it a curse? I walked away from Adaline’s story thinking that life happens exactly the way it’s supposed to. To live life surrounded by the people you love, to come and go with them, that feels like the perfect order to me.”

An unforgettable journey in time starts when “The Age of Adaline” opens May 20 in cinemas nationwide from Pioneer Films.

ISABEL LUCAS: BIKINI-CLAD FEMME FATALE IN “CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR”

 

Isabel Lucas, best known for her debut feature roles in the Australian television series “Home and Away” and in the blockbuster action movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” continues to emerge as one of Hollywood’s up and coming leading actresses as she equally stars with music pop star Nick Jonas in the thrilling and edgy thriller “Careful What You Wish For.”

 

In the film, Lucas stars as Lena Harper, a sultry gorgeous married woman who caught the attention and passion of Doug, a high school student who gets into a serious web of lies when he starts having a torrid affair with Lena.   Married to a wealthy investment banker, played by Dermot Mulroney who plays Elliot Harper, Lena and husband moved in to a town next door to Doug’s family vacation house at Lake Lure where the two lovers met.  Doug and Lena secretly hook up when her husband is out of town, eventually, Doug discovers shocking domestic issues as their affair continues.  Keeping his affair from his family and best friend, Doug suddenly finds himself trapped at Lena’s side when Elliot is found dead in the couple’s home. Upon further investigation, it seems that everyone has become a suspect, with all evidence leading to Doug as the prime suspect.

“It’s definitely a different role than anything I’ve ever done before, one of those things I really wanted to challenge myself,” Nick said of the “intense” movie.  When asked if he got nervous in his naked intimate scenes with Lucas, “It doesn’t make me nervous, I think it’s important for me to take steps and continue to grow as an actor and push myself in this way. I think, for the audience, they have to be prepared to come see a movie that’s pretty intense.” He continued, “The whole movie is not sex. It’s a part of the movie. The story overall is an exciting one, and one I think people will be taken by.”

Likewise, Lucas said in recent interviews about her role, shared what it’s like filming those sexy scenes. “Sometimes you just have to jump straight into it. The more that I can shed my own personal thoughts, fears, ego, so forth, the better.   When you’re heading into uncomfortable territory, too much overthinking can just make it worse.”

Further, she says that she has a lot of respect for her co-star Nick Jonas, “I really felt like he blossomed and grew as an artist – because he is younger, and being in this movie was sort of bigger shoes for him to fill in some ways. It was really incredible what he brought to this role. He was able to be spontaneous and take so many risks.”

Director Allen Rosenbaum, who directed teen hits such as “Aquamarine” and “Ramona and Beezus” as well as addicting television series “90210,” “Gossip Girl” and “vampire Diaries” describes Lucas’ role as fragile yet more dangerous than she appears. “I look forward to bringing the fascinating characters to life in this provocative and sexy coming of age thriller,” said Allen in a statement. “The lead character of Lena is a uniquely complex femme fatale — a compelling archetype that hasn’t been brought to the screen in some time and is due a revival.  I am thrilled to be collaborating with the talented Isabel Lucas on this project and am excited by the depth and mystery she will infuse into the film.”

 

“Careful What You Wish For” opens May 6 in cinemas nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

WORLD ACCLAIMED COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR JALMARI HELANDER DIRECTS SAMUEL L. JACKSON IN “BIG GAME”

 

 

                After dodging bullets and the powers that be being at the helm of the Avenger’s S.H.I.E.L.D., Samuel L. Jackson takes on his latest dangerous job as the President of the United States in “Big Game” where the threats are more difficult to evade sans the superpowers around him.

 

Reminiscent of Harrison Ford’s film “Air Force One” where terrorists are after the President’s life, “Big Game” amplifies the action thrills from the plane, on the air and on land when Air Force One crash-landed in front of a 13-year-old hunter named Oskari played by Onni Tommila. Knowing his way in and around the forest, Oskari leads the President far from the terrorists.

Nearby, the President finds the bodies of his murdered Air Force One crew and realises his chief of Security, Morris (played by Ray Stevenson) have betrayed him.  The villains, wanting to show the world that they are the deadliest terrorist group in the world, a batch of rich and power-hungry terrorists pays millions of dollars to the corrupt presidential security group and White House insiders to arrange for the downing of the presidential plane that is on its way to Europe for a summit near the Finnish border. The terrorist group, led by madman Mehmet Kertulus, unleashes a series of Chinese-made missile to take down Air Force One. But, before the plane blows up, President Moore is able to evacuate in an escape pod and crashes in the wildest part of Finland. Moore is fortunate enough to land in the vicinity of a Finnish kid named Oskari who is out in the wilderness as a part of his survival/initiation rite to prove to the village that he can become a real man. Together, they must survive the harsh environment of Finnish wilderness and escape well-equipped and well-trained terrorists.

“Big Game” takes place in Finland, but while some locations were shot there, most of the shoot took place in Germany.  The wild outdoor locations, explains the director, played a major part in creating the atmosphere of adventure.  “As director and screenwriter, it was important to me personally that the main character is Finnish, but at the same time, I’m very interested in creating a movie that transcends language barriers,” Helander says.

When “Big Game” debuted at Toronto International Film Festival, it was met with general praise from critics, who described it as being a lot of fun and also very, very silly. Likewise, Variety’s Dennis Harvey decribes the film as – “has all the trappings of a muscular, expansive popcorn adventure, with sweeping aerial shots of the spectacular terrain (much of it actually shot in Germany) and a conventional, thundering orchestral score. Taken in a lighthearted spirit, it’s all good fun, with well-handled if increasingly improbable action.”

A throwback to the big action movies with a contemporary punch, “Big Game” opens this May 6 in theatres nationwide.

RIDLEY SCOTT PRODUCED FILM “CHILD 44” OPENS TODAY (APRIL 29) AT AYALA MALLS CINEMAS

From blockbuster and acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott comes a chilling action drama “Child 44” based on Tom Rob Smith’s best-selling novel of the same titled starred in by Hollywood’s most admired actors headed by Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Vincent Cassel, Joel Kinnaman and Jason Clarke about an unlikely hero amidst desperate times.

Orphan-turned-war-hero Leo Demidov (Hardy) has risen through the ranks of the MGB, the state’s domestic security apparatus, to become a star investigator of dissident activity. When he and sadistic colleague Vasil (Kinnaman) capture suspected spy Anatoly Tarasovich Brodsky (Clarke), the “traitor” names Leo’s own wife, beautiful schoolteacher Raisa (Rapace), as a co-conspirator.

Forced to investigate Raisa on suspicion of treason, Leo also takes on the case of a boy found carved up alongside railroad tracks. Despite evidence to the contrary, Leo describes the death as an accident to the boy’s father, MGB Agent Alexei Andreyev (Fares Fares) because Stalinist decree dictates, “There is no crime in Paradise.”

When Leo refuses to denounce his wife, MGB Commander Major Kuzmin (Vincent Cassel) exiles the couple to the grim industrial city of Volsk. Confined to a one-room hovel and stripped of rank, Leo and Raisa learn that dozens of other dead boys have suffered gruesome “accidents” near railroad tracks under almost identical circumstances as Alexei’s son. Teaming with local Police Chief General Nesterov (Oldman), they sneak back to Moscow and pursue clues before zeroing in on mild-mannered factory worker Vladimir Malevich (Paddy Considine).

Desperate to rein in his former colleague, the increasingly psychotic Vasili tries to stop Leo and Raisa before they catch the child murderer, who has no place in Stalin’s supposedly crime-free Communist society. In the end, only one man survives the spectacular forest showdown between hero, pedophile and bureaucrat. But despite the victims and the damage done, the Soviet State remains immune to Leo’s inconvenient truths.

The author’s fans include Oscar®-winning filmmaker Ridley Scott. Galvanized by Child 44’s rich characterizations and epic scope, Scott arranged nine years ago to meet the novelist at his London production headquarters. “It was slightly surreal,” recalls Smith. “I’d gone from having this project I thought might not even get published to talking to Ridley Scott in his office sitting next to a Gladiator sword and a prop from Alien. Ridley was full of incredible ideas for the project.”

Scott initially intended to direct Child 44 himself. Then he saw Swedish director Daniel Espinosa’s 2010 crime thriller Snabba Cash (aka Easy Money). The highest-grossing movie in Swedish history, Snabba Cash showcased Espinosa’s inventively staged action sequences and stylish editing. In Child 44, Espinosa saw an opportunity to blend visceral action sequences with psychologically nuanced character arcs against a rich historic tapestry, thus a thrilling and engaging masterpiece was produced.

“Child 44” opens April 29 exclusive at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide. Log on to www.sureseats.com for schedule

20th Century Fox: “FANTASTIC FOUR” (3D) LATEST EXHILARATING TRAILER REVEAL

 

 

A coming-of-age origins story grounded in reality, Josh Trank’s version of “Fantastic Four” bringsMarvel’s original and longest-running superhero team in a unique, new setting. The latest hero movie is about to set the fandom universe in a different, exciting pace that centres on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

 

 

Starred in by today’s multi-talented actors who have great pedigree – Miles Teller (“Divergent” series, “Whiplash”) stars as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, Kate Mara (“House of Cards”) as Sue Storm aks the Invisible Woman, Michael B. Jordan (“The Wire”) as Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch and Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot,” “The Adventures of TinTin”) as Ben Grimm aka The Thing.

 

 

 

The latest trailer reveal of “Fantastic Four” (3D) that has stirred the fans’ excitement all over the globe can be seen here:http://ift.tt/1Go7YKJ

Prepare for the coolest intelligent superheroes the universe has ever revealed in their incredible, jaw-dropping action scenes when “Fantastic Four” (3D) opens in cinemas on August 6 in the  Philippines.

20th Century Fox: PREPARE FOR THE HUNT WHEN “HITMAN: AGENT 47” HITS CINEMAS THIS AUGUST

 

“Hitman: Agent 47” is based on the top-selling and award-winning video game franchise “Agent 47”. Directed by Aleksander Bach, the movie centers on an elite assassin who was genetically engineered from conception to be the perfect killing machine, and is known only by the last two digits 47 on the barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. He is the culmination of decades of research ­and forty-six earlier Agent clones — endowing him with unprecedented strength, speed, stamina and intelligence. His latest target is a mega-corporation that plans to unlock the secret of Agent 47′s past to create an army of killers whose powers surpass even his own. Teaming up with a young woman who may hold the secret to overcoming their powerful and clandestine enemies, 47 confronts stunning revelations about his own origins and squares off in an epic battle with his deadliest foe.

 

 

The movie was to be starred in by the late Paul Walker until his untimely death came in 2013 and Rupert Friend was eventually chosen for the lead role. Also starring in “Hitman: Agent 47” are Zachary Quinto knwond for his role in “Star Trek,” Hannah Ware (“Betrayal), Ciaran Hinds (“Game of Thrones”), Thomas Kretschmann (“Avengers: Age of Ultron”) and Emilio Rivera (“Sons of Anarchy”).

 

“Hitman: Agent 47” explodes in cinemas this August 27 nationwide from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

20th Century Fox: CAREY MULLIGAN STARS IN LITERARY CLASSIC “FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD”

 

 

Based on the literary classic by Thomas Hardy, “Far From The Madding Crowd” is the story of Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan), a fiercely independent and spirited young woman who inherits her uncle’s farm. Financially autonomous (a rarity in Victorian times), beautiful and headstrong – she attracts three very different but determined suitors: Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a sheep farmer, captivated by her willfulness; Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor. This timeless story of Bathsheba’s choices and passions, while trying to maintain her own independence, explores the nature of relationships and love – as well as the human ability to overcome hardship through resilience and perseverance.

“Far From The Madding Crowd” opens July 8 in cinemas nationwide from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

 

Watch the movie’s trailer here: http://ift.tt/1Go7XGw and like 20^th Century Fox (Philippines) on Facebook for more exciting news.

Meet the directors of Shaun The Sheep: The Movie

To the outside world, three people are mainly associated with the extraordinary success story of Aardman Animation – co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton, and the acclaimed writer-director Nick Park have all found fame. Yet within Aardman’s Bristol offices and studios, another man enjoys legendary status among employees. He’s known to one and all as “Golly”, but his real name is Richard Starzak, one of the two directors of Shaun The Sheep The Movie. His nickname is due to the fact he was born Richard Goleszowski, a name he went by for many years before changing his surname. He joined Aardman in 1983, and was Lord and Sproxton’s first employee. He initially stayed with the company for nine years, worked on and off for them during a long freelance spell, and rejoined Aardman full-time in 2005.

In his earlier years he worked on Aardman’s landmark series Morph, and directed episodes of Rex the Runt (which he had devised) and Creature Comforts for Aardman. He worked (with Park) on Peter Gabriel’s groundbreaking 1986 pop video Sledgehammer, and in 2007 devised and directed the first Shaun the Sheep TV series, also writing several episodes.

“Golly joined us straight out of college in Exeter,” Lord recalls. “He was always an ideas person first and foremost. His drawings were quirky, his animation was quirky, and creatively he was different from the rest of us.

He was punk, if you like. He came as an animator studio jack-of-all-trades.

“He always had this very strong sense of comedy. His humour was very sardonic, derived from his Polish ancestry. It was British but also Eastern European.

“It was very different from Nick’s humour. Rex the Runt was spectacularly different from Wallace and Gromit. Golly would create these Morph sequences that were quite bizarre. He did a bit of everything — Morph, TV commercials, pitching ideas for story boards, and an animated part of Sledgehammer set on a roller-coaster.”

“I always knew he was different. To get him to be like me or Nick was never going to happen.”

Park admires the way Starzak took the idea of a TV series for Shaun and made it his own: “He had a strong vision for it and ran with it. It’s been getting an audience of both children and adults. I’ll sing Golly’s praises on that, because it does play to the 8-9 year olds, but it’s somehow got the adults interested too. It’s the wry humour, the cultural references to movies.

“I’ve grown up with Golly in the company. We were both taken on around the same time. We were doing Morph episodes back then, constantly talking about the Beano, and comics we loved as children – the Bash Street Kids and all that. And then he went out and did Rex the Runt.

“The way I feel about my characters is – how do you let them go? You feel that sense of ownership. I’ve never been able to let Wallace and Gromit go. So Shaun has been a great experience for me. I was in the middle of Curse of the Were-Rabbit, so I didn’t have much time to spend on developing the TV series. So what I did at first with Shaun feels quite small now. It’s become a much bigger phenomenon.”

For his part, Starzak has now experienced with Shaun the sense of ownership that Park describes:

“I never really got it when Nick would say Wallace and Gromit had become real to him. Now I sort of understand that. You’ve been fleshing out a character like Shaun for so long, you feel like you know him.”

Burton joined Starzak in directing duties, completing what Lord calls “a double act.” His background is in comedy writing; he has credits in British TV, including Room 101, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Have I Got News For You. Says Lord: “Mark did some writing on Chicken Run for us, then he got the chance to work at DreamWorks (Burton was a writer on the first Madagascar film, which kick-started the hugely successful franchise). And then he came and did a heroic writing job for us on Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

“He has the experience no one else here has — of mainstream TV and radio comedy, that understanding of how comedy works. We make funny films, but there’s a lot of people out there who do comedy professionally, live or on TV or radio, and if you have any sense you tap into that. So that’s what Mark does for us.”

Like the animators and model-makers, both directors have their favourite characters in Shaun The Sheep The Movie, aside from Shaun. “You find yourself relating to The Farmer,” says Burton, laughing.

“He’s vaguely absurd, he’s put upon a bit, but he’s doing his best.” “I’m very fond of Bitzer,” admits Starzak. “He gets it from both sides. He’s an example of that older brother type, like a go-between with parents on one side and younger kids on the other. He’s a recognisable type. He likes control, he wants control, but he can’t get it anywhere.”

Shaun The Sheep : The Movie is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA. SHOWING on April 29. NATIONWIDE!

Baa-hind the scenes of Shaun the Sheep: The Movie.

 

 

Is Aardman Animations about to have its biggest hit at the box office? The Bristol-based company behind Wallace and Gromit is quietly hopeful that after several successful but not quite blockbuster-level movies, including Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas, they might have a global franchise on their hands: all thanks to an unassuming sheep called Shaun.

First glimpsed in a small role rescuing Gromit from jail in 1995 short film A Close Shave, the sparky Shaun has since surpassed odd couple Wallace and Gromit to become Aardman’s most commercially successful creation.

 “Wallace and Gromit have been loved for so long but in terms of sheer international exposure Shaun The Sheep is the most successful,” says Peter Lord who co-founded Aardman Animations with David Sproxton in 1976.

Quite so. The TV series chronicling his misadventures, launched in 2007, is a smash in 170 countries.

Now he has his own film, Shaun The Sheep Movie, a baa-rnstorming  romp (stop-motion animated in the Aardman tradition) brimming with visual invention, brilliantly crafted set-pieces.

Co-writer and co-director Mark Burton describes it as “a slapstick comedy without words” and the silent storytelling aspect is certainly one reason the series travels so well, a la Mr Bean.

“The shows are so rich visually,” says Lord. “I’m not going to say anything negative about the competition but very often when you look at other kids’ series which are dialogue or narration based they’re sweet and the stories are well told but they’re not funny. Shaun is funny the whole time because it’s so visual.”

Nevertheless, the decision to make Shaun dialogue free was initially a practical one says Richard Starzak, the Aardman animator who devised the series and co-wrote and co-directed the movie with Burton, whose credits including Aardman’s Chicken Run and Dreamworks’ Madagascar.

“The original idea of having no dialogue was actually to make the animation easier because animating dialogue is quite lengthy and expensive,” Starzak said.

Although the character was conceived by Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park it was Starzak, an Aardman employee on and off since 1985, who is credited with steering Shaun to international pastures.

Says Lord: “In terms of making Shaun who he is today, I think that’s Richard’s great achievement.”

Of Polish origin and known as “Golly”, the softly spoken Starzak nursed the idea of a feature film from the first series. “It felt like it had a lot of potential to tell longer form stories because it had an emotional heart. Even as a TV series it punched above its weight.”

Having originally devised the series as a kind of workplace comedy in which the flock were pitted against their masters, Starzak created more of a family dynamic between the characters with Shaun as the naughty little brother, Bitzer the big bro trying to keep order and the farmer the hapless parent.

The question was how to advance from seven-minute episodes to an 80-minute feature film. “It’s very hard to tell a story visually over 90 minutes” says Burton whose background includes writing for TV comedies like Have I Got News For You and Room 101.

“You need an idea that is simple enough to be comprehensible but not so simple that the story drags.” 

The idea they hit on combined simplicity, scale and plenty of potential for sheep-out of-water comedy: remove Shaun and pals from the “comfort zone” of the farm and plonk them in a city (called Big City in the film but loosely modelled on Bristol).

An unlikely inspiration was 1985 teen classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Shaun plots to take a day off from the farm’s mind-numbing routine but things go awry when the slumbering Farmer freewheels into the city in his caravan.

“Ferris Bueller was a big influence because we loved the idea of a character who was ebullient and street smart and changes the world around him,” explains Burton.

There’s also an undercurrent of melancholy to the story reminiscent of the Pixar movies as Shaun’s attempt to jazz up his life disguises a sadness at his stale relationship with Farmer.

 “You need the emotion to make the comedy funny,” says Burton.

As an Aardman outsider who works both for the company – he co-scripted the Oscar-winning Wallace And Gromit: Curse Of The Were Rabbit – and Hollywood studios Burton is well placed to comment on the secret behind Aardman’s success.

“We discuss this quite a lot. What is the Aardman thing? I think it’s something to do with taking epic ideas, like prison escape in Chicken Run, and doing a very Aardman, quirky British version of it,” he says. “And we all come from a similar background watching British sitcoms and Morecambe and Wise and there’s a bit of that DNA there too.”

Shaun The Sheep Movie marks Aardman’s break with Hollywood: its previous four movies were made in conjunction with studios Dreamworks and Sony. Shaun is a collaboration with French production and distribution company StudioCanal and Peter Lord says it feels more of a natural fit for the company.

“When you make a Hollywood movie there’s always an awareness of the American market rumbling away. That background pressure is just deep in the movie culture. With StudioCanal we’ve enjoyed more freedom. It’s been great,” says Lord.

Shaun The Sheep Movie is in cinemas on April 29.

Nationwide !

Released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA.