We have news today of a stop animation film based on the book The Witches by Roald Dahl. We get word of this project thanks to our friends over at MTV:
Guillermo del ToroTwo years ago, it was announced that Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro would be teaming up to remake Roald Dahl’s classic book, “The Witches.” Cuaron also says it won’t be anything like the 1990 film, because del Toro will “do it completely in stop-motion animation.”
Back in 2006, it was rumored that Cuaron would direct, and del Toro would produce. Well, time has passed, and the roles have changed. Cuaron tells Empire that he will stay behind the scenes, while the increasingly busy del Toro directs the film. The project came about as the two were discussing adapting another Dahl story, “Uncle Oswald,” when talk turned to “The Witches.” Inspired, Cuaron says, “Guillermo wrote this amazing screenplay really quickly.”
I enjoy stop motion animation and am pumped to see what sort of fairy tale land Guillermo will create for this film. The problem is, the guy is so busy, that I don’t expect to see this for quite some time. Del Toro is locked down for the next 10 odd years with work, and it looks like he is piling more on. IF a few of his projects run over time – he could start running into trouble.
Then again, idle hands do the Devil’s work and maybe Guillermo wants to make as many movies as possible while he still lives.
Have any of you read the book, and if so what are your thoughts on both Guilermo’s involvement and capturing the story with stop-motion animation?
I’ve read the book and seen the ’90 film as well. I’ll be very interested to see how the stop action filming makes this movie. As a kid, I always thought the original movie was very scary, so I hope he does this version justice (if it ever comes out!).
Also, I found a great post on Peterman’s Eye today about classic Hollywood films and I thought I’d share…
http://www.petermanseye.com/curiosities/notables-gossip/402-it-pays-to-recycle
Cheers!
I love Roald Dahl short stories. When I was a kid, my english teacher recommends them to me. like Coco said, It is dark and not for little kids but nevertheless entertaining for me. I like the way Dahl tell stories of familiar characters like cinderella. So far it’s my favourite. The Witches are cool and I would love to see that on the big screen.
Why don’t Tim Burton directs…he’s in any way are familiar with odd characters and dark tone movies….not that Del Toro is not good but he’s a very busy man.
Doug, true he’s signed on for movies for quite a long time, but we have yet to even hear about half those projects. What’s to say this isn’t one of those?
I’ve read the book. Roald Dahl has some great short stories too not so much for kids since they are a bit on the dark side but really a good read. I’ve also watched the movie based on the book and i think Del Toro will make it SO much darker and more gritty than that movie did. Those witches will be so grossly scary it’ll be awesome. I’m a big fan of stop motion animation, Dahl and Del Toro so this is like a triple whammy!
I wouldn’t worry about Del Toro not finishing on time. He is amazing and I’m sure he’ll be able to handle it all. Glad to see all of his success.
who doesnt love Del Torro’s work?!