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| Wallace and Gromit: a smash hit on both sides of the
Atlantic |
British films are rarely successful in the United States.
However, the animated adventures of a cheese-loving, eccentric
inventor and his canine companion are proving to be a
surprise hit in America, having taken the number one position in the US box
office on the weekend of its release.
In a year which has seen poor ticket sales for
big-budget, action movies it seems that the gentle, quirky
humour of ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ has
captured the American public’s imagination.
Although Wallace and Gromit have been stars in the UK for a
number of years, they are less well-known abroad. For those who don’t know,
Wallace is a hare-brained inventor with a passion for Wensleydale cheese. Gromit
is his wily dog. Both are clay models brought
to life through the painstaking process of stop-motion
animation .
Their creator, Nick Park, dreamed them up
whilst still a student at the National Film and Television School in the 1980s.
Their first film ‘A Grand Day Out’ began as his graduation film and was
completed whilst working for his first employers, Aardman Animations.
Since then their rise has been steady but slow. Because the
technique of stop-motion animation is so labour intensive,
typically producing two seconds of film per day’s work, Wallace and Gromit films
are few and far between . They have appeared in only three
half-hour films for television and ten one-minute films specially made for the
Internet.
Nevertheless, they have received a great deal of
critical acclaim. Their first film was nominated for an Oscar
whilst their second and third outings ‘The Wrong Trousers’ and
‘A Close Shave’ both won Oscars.
Hollywood came calling in 2000 when Aardman
Animations made a five-movie deal with Steven Spielberg’s film studio
Dreamworks. ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’has taken four years and a reported
$30 million to make, and features the voices of international stars Helena
Bonham-Carter and Ralph Fiennes.
Despite hitting the big time, one thing hasn’t
changed since their earliest days. Wallace’s voice remains that of veteran,
sit-com actor Peter Sallis. Sallis first agreed to take the role after receiving
a letter from then student Nick Park and an offer of a ￡50
donation to the charity of his choice.
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