Andy Serkis has been developing an adaptation of George Orwell‘s famed 1945 novel Animal Farm since at least way back in 2012. Fortunately, those six years of struggle finally look like they will be worth it, as Netflix has acquired the rights to Serkis’ motion-captured adaptation, which also has his Planet Of The Apes director Matt Reeves on board to produce.
The premise of Orwell’s novel famously involves a group of animals who rebel against the humans who own the farm, winning their independence and creating an ostensible utopia based on equality.
However, a pig named Napoleon twists the original intent of the rebellion and begins to eliminate his rivals, before finally creating the famous slogan: “all animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.
Animal Farm will mark the second collaboration between Serkis and Netflix after last week’s surprising news regarding Mowgli. The darker Jungle Book adaptation had been developed for Warner Bros. and was originally planned to be released in October, before the studio sold the rights to Netflix, who now plan to release the film in 2019 as one of their first blockbusters.
Serkis said in a statement: “We are incredibly excited to have finally found the perfect creative home in Netflix, for this extraordinarily zeitgeist work by George Orwell. On top of that, to be re-united with my great friend Matt Reeves, with his acute sensitivity, storytelling intelligence and honesty, and command in this realm, is to have the very best scenario for our long held passion to bring this fable alive”.
No other details regarding the adaptation have been announced, but considering the kind of A-list cast Serkis was able to put together for Mowgli, and the depressing relevancy of Orwell’s work today, he should be able to find similar big names for this.
#Peace.Love.AnimalFarm
