Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Summary
After over 20 years of wait , Aardman is repay to one of their most iconic holding withChicken running game : Dawn of the Nugget . Having successfully turn tail from Tweedy Farms in the original motion picture , the animated sequel finds Ginger and Rocky living a peaceable life with their chicken friends on a hidden island , only to have to pretend out into the world when their daughter run away .
Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi have taken over theChicken Run : Dawn of the Nuggetcastfrom Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson , with the eternal sleep of the tout ensemble boast both fresh and intimate faces , some of whom include Bella Ramsey , Romesh Ranganathan , David Bradley , Daniel Mays , Imelda Staunton , Nick Mohammed , and Miranda Richardson . Helmed byFlushed Away ’s Sam Fell , the sequel appear to flip the original ’s key formula , becoming a heist thriller instead of a war relief valve dramatic play .
in the first place this year , Screen Rantwas invite to the circle ofChicken Run : Dawn of the Nuggetto get a behind - the - scenes look at the forthcoming sequel , and some of the telling set and to verbalize with manager Sam Fell about the movie ’s 20 - plus - year development .
The animated sequel Chicken Run : Dawn of the Nugget follow Ginger and Rocky as they get more domestic fowl romp after escaping Tweedy ’s farm .
Chicken Run 2’s 20-Year Road To Being Made
Though still the highest - gross cease - motility moving picture of all - time , and hail from the house oftheWallace & Gromitfranchise , aChicken Runsequel would n’t properly set about development until about 10 years ago , when original film director Nick Park and Peter Lord landed on the construct of the chicken breaking in instead of unwrap out . Fell would take over the director ’s president from the duo , though Park and Lord would appease on as executive producers , often offering insight and idea for the sequel , whichthe manager cite as bringing " that authenticity " of outride true to the original .
Nick said earlier , because at some breaker point early on when we were doing the reel , I bumped into Nick in the tiffin waiting line . He ’d insure some stuff , he was like , " Oh , I ’m a bit jealous , in reality . You ’re doing Chicken Run 2 . " I was like , " Oh , sorry Nick . This is bad . " But he was like , " No , it ’s all right , Sam . You ’ve got it . " Which is the most generous affair , I have to say . Yeah , prosperous , but yeah , I do sense the responsibility .
While those at Aardman had been reflect on the subsequence since the original , their stress onWallace & Gromit : The Curse of the Were - RabbitandtheShaun of the Sheepfranchiseresulted inChicken Runbeing " put aside . " Interestingly , before Fell was work on board , the flick was say to be " more of a Rocky story " , with the music director wanting to bring the focus back to Ginger , having felt part of what made the original so successful was it being a " female - centrical " game .
Dawn of the Nugget’s New & Returning Characters
Said to start five long time after the original , Chicken Run : Dawn of the Nuggetwill see the return of the fan - favorite protagonists Ginger and Rocky and their friend , Mac , Babs , Bunty , Fowler , Nick , and Fetcher . While Jane Horrocks , Imelda Staunton and Lynn Ferguson are reprize their roles from the original , many of the original stars have been recast , withWestworld ’s Thandiwe Newton becoming Ginger , Shazam ! ’s Zachary Levitaking over as Rocky , Harry Potter ’s David Bradley replacing the late Benjamin Whitrow as Fowler , and Romesh Ranganathan and Daniel Mays playing the sneak rat duo Nick and Fetcher .
When asked about the recasting , Fell recognize a form of factor that went into this decisiveness , the primary one being he wanted " to make my own film " and " take a fresh looking at at it . " Another was the flavor the casting alternative for the original were better suited to the time it was made and where the role were in their life , tease " novel and interesting " dynamics for them get along into the sequel and an approach shot that was " almost as much a reboot , in a way , as a sequel . "
So yeah , I just thought , when I got into it , I just sort of opened up all the casting again . I involve the casting film director to make suggestions for everybody and just snuff it through it . Then I just sort of saw who stick and who kind of felt new and interesting to me , knowing what I require to do with the characters .
One of the boastful characters to return from the original is the villain , Mrs. Tweedy , who Fell describes as the enfranchisement ’s equivalent to iconic Disney antagonist Cruella De Vil . After being pushed aside by her husband , Tweedy has now conjoin the wealthy Dr. Fry , a " cunning scientist " whose money she used to get a makeover and reenact her new plan for mass - producing Gallus gallus nugget , with the director identify it as a " fantastic apocalyptical event for all chicken - sort . "
She ’s really become a Bond villain , essentially . Now , this is our young music genre we ’re take on in . If the first picture was a World War II escape picture show , then this is like a Bond movie , a deputation : Impossible - eccentric break - in . Dr. Fry , her doting husband , as I say , very healthy but not an ounce of usual good sense . wholly blind to the fact she ’s just using him .
In addition to the returning cast , a variety of novel characters are joining forChicken Run : Dawn of the Nugget , beginning with Ginger and Rocky ’s girl Molly , fiddle byThe Last of Usbreakout genius Bella Ramsey . Fell praised the young actor for their effort bringing Molly to life story , draw analog between the Modern character and Ellie through the " shade and pathos and humor " in their operation , while also humorously noting " with less curse " and changing the weapon from " a flick tongue " to a tablespoon .
to boot , Molly is being paired up with fellow teenaged chicken Frizzle , toy by Josie Sedgwick - Davies in her debut role . The character is from Liverpool and forms a quick alliance with Molly as they find themselves caught and taken to Fun - Land Farms , with their friendship represent as one of the main threads through the picture show . Though they share similarities in their adventuresome nature , Frizzle becomes easily keep in line by Tweedy ’s methods to keep the chicken felicitous before killing them .
Lastly , the cast will have the introduction of Reginald Smith , the coach of a chain of restaurants hump as Sir Eat - A - heap , which is nicknamed after his business . play by iconic British comedian Peter Serafinowicz ( Shaun of the Dead , Guardians of the Galaxy ) , Fell describes Smith as " really just a straight man " who finds himself envelop up in " the wacky world of Dr. Fry and Mrs. Tweedy . " Fry himself is being voiced by fellow British comic Nick Mohammed , well - hump for his role as Nate inTed Lasso , as well as being the Almighty and star of the drollery showIntelligence .
How Dawn of The Nugget’s Story Picks Up From Chicken Run
Having escape from Tweedy five years prior , the movie will unfold with the chickens now living peacefully in a shuttle sanctuary the crew has named Chicken Island , or as Fell describes , " a volaille Wakanda . " Now having devote birth to Molly , Ginger ’s mission in life has become to protect both her daughter and her family as a whole , require to stay hidden from the man , with the group having fabricate a camouflage net to hide their existence . Though the group has gotten their " happy termination " , as Fell identify , the peace will be break when the adventurous Molly decides she ’s old-hat of being cumber to the island and decide to venture out into the earthly concern , building a canoe and sneaking away .
After encounter herself on a highway road , Molly is introduce to Frizzle , only for them to shortly thereafter be picked up by an employee for Fun - Land Farms , with Ginger and Rocky catch up to them just in sentence to surveil the truck to the supposed happy business . Upon arrival , they expose it to be another prison - like structure for wimp , and have to convince their friends to help craft a program to break in and save both Molly and the rest of their kind being kept there .
They ’ve each got their own character . Rocky ’s the aeronaut , Mac ’s the brains , Bunty ’s the muscle , Nick and Fetcher are the pickpockets , Bab ’s the wall specialist , and Fowler is the getaway guy cable . So , they ’re all set to erupt in , which is by the end of act one .
Meanwhile , inside the facility , the chickens are treated to a seemingly idyllic aliveness with a vivid play area full of food and amusement for those living there , due to Dr. Fry make up one’s mind that a " wonderful mixture of behavioral scientific discipline and mind control " has made the poulet all the more tasty when turned into nuggets . Unlike her friend , Molly remains unfazed by the brainwash techniques , embark further into the facility to memorise more of their closed book while her family try out to break in and lay aside her .
How The Filmmaking Has Changed From First & Major Inspirations
With almost 25 age gone sincethe originalChicken Runwas produced , Fell and Aardman ’s overall process for cook the stop - motion sequel changed as well . To begin with , the literal production of the models changed drastically from the original , with the studio apartment alternatively utilizing 3D - publish Si figures rather of their traditional Lucius Clay . This in turn run to dissimilar steps in put them together , including crafting individual parts and painting them before put them together on the metal skeleton . Though a extended process , it really grant the squad more options for facial molds and expressions .
Another of the change made was the actual music genre inspiration for the movie as it shift the overall tone . Fell call back the original being for the most part breathe in by movies likeThe Great Escape , whereas for the ' 60s - define sequel , theChicken Rundirector look towards the likes of the originalMission : ImpossibleandThe humanity From U.N.C.L.E.shows for inspiration , as well as various " Euro undercover agent " literary genre show . Tweedy ’s den in Fun - Land farm itself was design after a Bond villain , which resulted in a lot of extra stratum to convey to sprightliness for Fell and his squad :
That ’s where we were really bringing in more visual upshot , matte painting , and miniature models so as to create and get a bigger setting world . luck of cloth from the ' LX and design discriminative stimulus from that time and that sort of lair , the central berth . And then , a lot of these kind of vicious concrete pep up by Jerry Anderson , a mint of it , in reality , as well , in the ' LX , British miniature manakin stuff . And the firstMission : ImpossibleTV series , The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , all of those kinds of things . And even Bond , but then sub - Bond , kind of Euro spy , thing like 077 and that kind of slightly tinny kind of Yugoslavian / Italian co - production .
Much of the actual reference animation are base on resilient - natural action character footage . One example , share by Animation Supervisor Ian Whitlock , is from a dance successiveness involve Rocky . Whitlock filmed himself to work out the timing and blocking of the chronological succession , which director Sam Fell saw and " liked the performance of " , yield him a few notes and subsequently resulting in the proper shooting with the models . One of the big things the team take in during the stop - movement animation cognitive operation was find a balance between the smoothness of computer living and original stoppage - question . Whitlock recalls making some changes to avoid going " a bit too soft in the movement " and retain the " energy " of the original flick .
One of the unique challenge in the production process was creating the Fun - Land Farms escalator chair to the " Chicken Heaven " , which is actually where they are turned into nuggets . supervise Art Director Matt Bay showed us a first - hand facial expression at the hardheaded version of the working escalator clause , including the various " trackers " and gears that they had to shoot on virtual plates before blend them in with VFX to match the stop - motion aliveness .
We ’ve played some deception for this one . We have n’t made a Brobdingnagian long distance of escalator . In some shots , as it comes up and over , we only need to head for the hills it all the way through in the plate , so that we did n’t need to make literally a whole one that goes back and come around again . We could just utilise that chemical element and comp in the whole run , if you like . So that ’s also gone on this set .
And the other thing is on these is , just for relief ’s sake , this has all been lit up . But we are not actually doing the take to the woods lights . We do n’t do the running sparkle , actually we leave that for comprehensive examination . We just do a plate with the lighting all on , plate ’s all off , and then they can have ascendance for the speed at the comping microscope stage of it .
So that ’s go on as well . So running sparkle … Although we have done that before , but it ’s quite complicated . You have to programme all the luminousness , and it ’s a stack of lights . And you necessitate to know at the beginning , how you ’re connecting them together to be the ones that are on all at the same clock time , what the spatial arrangement is . And sometimes , we ’ve just obtain to get on with shots . And then the lineal has n’t quite worked for that yet , so that can happen later . That gives them control at the end of the film . So yeah , in the post - production stage of things . I think in design was about three or four weeks . I think in building it was another , I think it was four weeks . And then there ’s all the painting and hooey and the electricity . Yeah , I ’d probably say all in all , it was probably 10 weeks .
Another impressively thought-provoking shot from the movie was the gap sequence reveal the Chicken Village on the island . Comprised of 22 houses on the hardened and single machine , the " massive " 30 - second shot claim 18 weeks in total calendar week to put together , partly due to the scale of the lot that itself took " two man - class " to construct as well as the animation team ’s deviate schedule :
Yeah , tiresome going all liveliness . But it was all so long , not just the animator was literally animating all of that period . It ’s like we had to take blocking away to get to this guy cable . We were doing it in sections . But the MoCo had the whole move in it set up out , but then we just had to cleave it away and do each little subdivision . Put the set back in , bear on the move . Yeah , it was monolithic . I think the fully grown injection I ’ve ever [ done ] .
Interestingly , Fell teased that there is a " really honorable " concept ready to go for a third movie afterChicken foot race : Dawn of the Nuggetwith " big ideas " behind it , though acknowledged that audience interest will be key to it being produced . As to whether he would return to direct it , Fell admit that while he is concerned in doing so , he want to take a break , namely with how long the development and production process has been on the coming sequel . The movie maker teased that the potentialChicken rivulet 3would revisit the father - son write up that was reworked fromDawn of the Nugget ’s original idea , admitting that he " did n’t quite have the through line " while developing the continuation .
Chicken Run : Dawn of the Nuggetbegins streaming on Netflix on December 15 .
