Lights, camera, action: Kilkenny’s Cartoon Saloon to produce new Netflix feature
NETFLIX has commissioned Kilkenny’s world-beating animation company Cartoon Saloonto produce a new feature, titled My Father’s Dragon.
Nora Twoney, who received an Oscar nomination earlier this year for Cartoon Saloon’s The Breadwinner, will direct the adaptation of Ruth Stiles Gannett’s children’s novel.
“To have the kind of creative encouragement Netflix are providing is an incredible opportunity for our filmmaking team,” Twomey said. “We are all so excited to bind our skills together and begin My Father’s Dragon.”
First published in 1948, the book concerns a young boy who attempts to rescue a dragon from the remote Wild Island. It has remained a favourite of American educators ever since.
Meg LeFauve, Oscar-nominated for her work on Pixar’s Inside Out, will write the screenplay for the feature. Alan Maloney and Ruth Coady of Parallel Films, the company behind Mary Shelley and The Siege of Jadotville, will co-produce along with Cartoon Saloon.
The new included in Netflix’s announcement of six new animated releases, along with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s much-anticipated take on Pinocchio.
Riding high after his Oscar win for The Shape of Water, the Mexican director will use stop-motion animation for his adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s 19th century novel. That film is expected to arrive, and most likely compete against My Father’s Dragon, for Oscar glory in 2021.
