Key and Peele have teamed up with The Nightmare Before Christmas director for the Netflix stop-motion Claymation Wendell & Wild.
This new stop-motion ‘claymation’ feature about two scheming demon brothers will be premiering on Netflix in October 2022. The brothers must face off against their archenemy to earn their way out of hell. Jordan Peele will be voicing Wendell and Keegan-Michael Key will be voicing Wild.
Academy Award-nominated director Henry Selick, who directed Coraline, James and the Giant Peach and most famously, The Nightmare Before Christmas will be directing the new Wendell & Wild. Although not very well-known, Henry Selick also made contributions to non-claymation films such as The Fox and the Hound, Monkeybone, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Coraline was nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe, all for Best Animated Feature, and is acclaimed to be the favourite movie of children and adults alike to this day. Much as he was on Coraline, Henry Selick will be Writer, Director, and Producer on the new film, Wendell & Wild.
Selick has been working on Wendell & Wild since 2015, whereafter the concept was picked up by Netflix in 2018, and the film is now set to air in October 2022. While one project is exciting enough in its own right, there are also claims that he will direct the pilot and subsequent episodes of a Little Nightmares TV adaptation that will be produced by the Russo Brothers, Anthony, and Joseph Russo.
Synopsis
In Wendell & Wild, the scheming demon brothers of the same name enlist the help of a thirteen-year-old human girl, Kat Elliot. Kat is a tough teen with a lot of guilt, making her a great target for the brothers. They enlist her help to summon them into the land of the living, however, what Kat demands in return for her service leads to a brilliantly bizarre and comedic adventure for the three of them, one that is like no other.
This animated fantasy defies the laws of life and death and is told through the hand-made artistry of stop motion (which director Henry Selick is famous for).
The Cast Reveal Trailer
The art-paper style key cards of the trailer introduce images of the actors who will be voicing each character, as well as the characters which are rendered mostly in their voice actor’s likeness, but as clay, stop-motion figures. Unfortunately, the trailer does not show us any of the actual imagery from the film, but it does give us insight into who will be starring in it.
Aside from Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key voicing the main characters, we also have Lyric Ross voicing Kat Elliot, Angela Bassett voicing Sister Helley, James Hong voicing Father Bests, Sam Zelaya voicing Raul, Seema Virdi, Tamara Smart and Romona Young voicing Sloane, Siobhan and Sweety respectively, and finally Ving Rhames voicing Buffalo Belzer. That’s not all as with their roles yet to be released, the cast will also include Natalie Martinez, Tantoo Cardinal, Gabrielle Dennis, Igal Noar, David Harewood, Maxine Peake, and Gary Gatewood.
Some may call it dated, but there is an undeniable element to stop-motion animation that makes it classic. One would hope that the art would never be lost to the ages.
