Wallace and Gromit Trouble at Mill
New Aardman Half-Hour Short Will Air on BBC-One in Late 2008
Wallace and Gromit get a new half-hour short, called "Trouble at Mill." The new film is "a matter of loaf and death" and airs on BBC-One in late 2008.
Wallace and Gromit are returning, but this time they're only getting a half-hour.
The multiple award-winning Claymation duo, who have virtually become the public face of Aardman Animation, will star in the new half-hour special "Trouble at Mill." The special will begin production in January of 2008, and will finish by July or August of that year. This will be the fastest production time for a Wallace and Gromit short.
"Trouble at Mill" will eventually air in late 2008 on BBC One, the government-owned network's flagship channel.
Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park has written the script, along with "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave" co-writer Bob Baker.
Trouble at Mill Synopsis
Park says that, in the new short, Wallace and Gromit start up a baking business in a town where at least 12 other bakers have mysteriously disappeared. For the cheese-obsessed inventor and his brainiac dog, it soon becomes a "matter of loaf and death," according to Park. There is also a new love interest for Wallace, in the guise of comely bread enthusiast Piella Bakewell.
For Park, the half-hour format of "Trouble at Mill" means a quicker turn-around time, and less pressure on the animators.
"I love making films for the cinema, but the production of Chicken Run and Curse of the Were-Rabbit were virtually back to back, and each film took five years to complete," he says.
Park was also happy to get back onto Wallace and Gromit's old stomping grounds at the BBC, telling the BBC News, "I don't feel like I'm making a film for a kid in some suburb of America — and being told they're not going to understand a joke, or a northern (English) saying."
Nick Park has added a video blog at www.wallaceandgromit.com, which will enable fans to follow the progress of the production. As with virtually every other Aardman Animation production, Wallace and Gromit: Trouble at Mill will shoot at Aardman Studios in Bristol.
Wallace and Gromit: Aardman's Award Winning Duo
Wallace and Gromit have been extremely successful for Aardman Animation since "A Grand Day Out," their 1989 debut. "A Grand Day Out" won the BAFTA award (the British film industry's equivalent to the Oscars) and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film. Their 1993 follow-up, "The Wrong Trousers," took home both the BAFTA and the Oscar, a feat which their 1995 short "A Close Shave" repeated.
In 2005, Aardman Animation released Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, their feature film debut. The flick was distributed in North America by DreamWorks Animation.
Curse of the Were-Rabbit was a troubled collaboration between Aardman and DreamWorks, which started with DreamWorks trying to replace Wallace voice actor Peter Sallis and culminated in a fire at Aardman Studio that destroyed most of the film's props. Despite that, Curse of the Were-Rabbit won the 2005 BAFTA Award for Outstanding Feature Film and also took home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.
It's unknown what Park plans to do with Wallace and Gromit after "Trouble at Mill." However, Aardman's new North American partner, Sony Picture Classics, has made it clear that they would love to distribute another Wallace and Gromit feature film.
