Framestore's inaugural animation feature film is a Universal Pictures presentation in association with Relativity Media a Larger Than Life production.
DIRECTORS Gary Ross, Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen
PRODUCERS Allison Thomas and Gary Ross
CO-PRODUCER Tracy Shaw
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS David Lipman, William Sargent, Ryan Kavanaugh and Robin Bissell
MOUSE PROUD
"The Tale of Despereaux is one of the most beautifully drawn animated films I've seen, rendered in enchanting detail and painterly colors by an art department headed by Oliver Adam...it is a joy to look at frame by frame, and it would be worth getting the Blu-ray to do that."
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
THE FILM
The Tale of Despereaux opens in the US and UK on 19th December 2008.
Directed by Sam Fell, Gary Ross and Robert Stevenhagen, and produced by Ross and Allison Thomas, the film has been created by Framestore in partnership with Universal Studios. The Tale of Despereaux is based on Kate DiCamillo's novel of the same name, a Newbery Medal-winner for children’s literature.
Created by an animation team led by Executive Producer David Lipman, (Producer of Shrek 2), the film is Framestore's first ever feature animation, and was created in the company's London premises using a largely European talent-base. Despereaux does not look like anything else out there, employing a palette and lighting drawn from the Dutch Masters rather than the primary colour splashes that most modern CG films use. It is strikingly beautiful and refreshingly different.
THE CAST
The film has attracted an astonishing array of actors to voice the characters, offering a depth of casting rarely seen in feature animation. The all-star line-up includes Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, Frank Langella, Kevin Kline, Robbie Coltrane, Ciaran Hinds, Christopher Lloyd, William H. Macy, Stanley Tucci, Tracey Ullman and Sigourney Weaver as the story's narrator.
THE STORY
The Tale of Despereaux tells the story of several unlikely heroes: Despereaux Tilling (Matthew Broderick), a brave mouse banished to the dungeon for speaking with a human; Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), a good-hearted rat who loves light and soup, but is exiled to darkness; Pea (Emma Watson), a Princess in a gloomy castle who is prisoner to her father's grief; and Mig (Tracey Ullman), a servant girl who longs to be a Princess, but is forced to serve the jailer (Robbie Coltrane).
Tiny and graced with oversized ears, Despereaux was born too big for his little world. Refusing to live his life cowering, he befriends a Princess named Pea and learns to read (rather than eat) books—revelling in stories of knights, dragons and fair maidens. Banished from Mouseworld for being more man than mouse, Despereaux is rescued by another outcast, Roscuro, who also wants to hear the tales. But when the Princess dismisses Roscuro's friendship, he becomes the ultimate rat and plots revenge with fellow outsider Mig. After Pea is kidnapped, Despereaux discovers he is the only one who can rescue her…
NUMBER CRUNCHING
FRAMESTORE & DESPEREAUX
Framestore commenced preproduction on Despereaux in 2006, although the creation of a feature length animated film had been a long nurtured aim for company CEOs William Sargent and Sharon Reed. The company initiated an unprecedented recruitment drive in order to staff the Despereaux team, attracting artists and technicians from both the UK and from all over the world to their specially created London studio in Wells Mews. In addition, people already in the company moved over to join the Despereaux team, bringing a unique array of insight, experience and expertise to the project.