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We spoke with Allers about awards season, women in animation, and why we still don't see enough anthology animation at the multiplex.

The post Stitching Together an Animated Leap of Faith: An Interview With ‘The Prophet’ Director Roger Allers appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

GKIDS will release the film in the U.S. in August.

GKIDS will launch the film in New York City and Los Angeles in August.

GKIDS will release the mixed-media film "The Prophet" in the U.S. this summer.

The producer of this year's most intriguing and visually eclectic animated feature may well end up being the Mexican/Arabic actress Salma Hayek, who screened a work-in-progress version of her pet project, "The Prophet," last week in Cannes.

Roger Allers, the co-director of Disney’s The Lion King is moving forward with his production of Kahlil Gibran’s classic 1923 poetry book The Prophet. Casting updates were reported earlier this week by Deadline Hollywood. The film, which we first reported on last year, is being produced by Salma Hayek, Clark Peterson, and Ron Senkowski, and funded by Participant Media and Doha Film Institute.

The films animated segments will be produced by Joan Gratz (Mona Lisa Descending A Staircase), Joann Sfar (The Rabbi’s Cat), Paul and Gaetan Brizzi (Fantasia 2000), Michal Socha (Chick) and Mohammed Harib (Freej), who have been added to the already announced directors Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells), Nina Paley (Sita Sings The Blues) and Bill Plympton (Guard Dog). Also, Liam Neeson, John Krasinski, Frank Langella, Alfred Molina and Quvenzhané Wallis have all signed as voice talent, along with Hayek.

While Allers will be in charge of the film’s central narrative and supervise the film as a whole, the above-mentioned directors will helm individual chapters within the storyline. The animated film is set to be completed in spring 2014.

Roger Allers, the co-director of Disney’s The Lion King is moving forward with his production of Kahlil Gibran’s classic 1923 poetry book The Prophet. Casting updates were reported earlier this week by Deadline Hollywood. The film, which we first reported on last year, is being produced by Salma Hayek, Clark Peterson, and Ron Senkowski, and funded by Participant Media and Doha Film Institute.

The film’s animated segments will be produced by Joan Gratz (Mona Lisa Descending A Staircase), Joann Sfar (The Rabbi’s Cat), Paul and Gaetan Brizzi (Fantasia 2000), Michal Socha (Chick) and Mohammed Harib (Freej), who have been added to the already announced directors Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells), Nina Paley (Sita Sings The Blues) and Bill Plympton (Guard Dog). Also, Liam Neeson, John Krasinski, Frank Langella, Alfred Molina and Quvenzhané Wallis have all signed as voice talent, along with Hayek.

While Allers will be in charge of the film’s central narrative and supervise the film as a whole, the above-mentioned directors will helm individual chapters within the storyline. The animated film is set to be completed in spring 2014.

Sony Pictures Animation has released a trailer for The Pirates! Band Of Misfits. We’ve embedded the video for the adaptation of Gideon Defoe‘s books above–what do you think?

Here’s more from Deadline: “Directed by Peter Lord and co-directed by Jeff Newitt, the stop-motion 3D adventure is based on books by Gideon Defoe, who also scripted. With the voices of Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Piven, Imelda Staunton and David Tennant, it opens March 30.”

According to Defoe’s website, the movie had a budget of $60 million. Defoe, a British author, has published four books in The Pirates! series. Book five, The Pirates! In an Adventure with the Romantics, will be released by Bloomsbury in June 2012.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

http://www.blogs.com/topten/cat-bauers-top-10-venice-blogs/index.html

Since there are so many blogs about Venice these days, I tried to find blogs that were pretty much up-front and without hidden agendas. (I spend way too much time fending off attacks against my blog feed and other annoyances -- right now Google reports that I have 379 URLS restricted by robots.txt, which, apparently have been attached to all of my labels. If the Internet had been around during Shakespeare's time, he probably would have had robots.txt restrictions attached to The Merchant of Venice! )

In any event, I am happy to see most of you intrepid readers keep finding your way over to Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog. I am free to update my Top 10 list at Blogs.com, so if anyone has stumbled upon any interesting blogs that feature Venice, please drop me a line.

I suppose these shenanigans can only be expected, since Venice is teeming with celebrities these days, and competition is growing fierce. Salma Hayek just had her big second-wedding bash with husband François-Henri Pinault, and we were packed with stars -- even Bono made an appearance (that image you see is by Luigi Costantini). Other celebs to arrive in our little Magic Kingdom were actor Woody Harrelson, Ed Norton, French president Jacques Chirac, Olivier Martinez, the designer Philippe Starck, Valeria Golino, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and, of course, Francois Pinault himself, among many others. The rehearsal dinner was at the Punta Della Dogana, which Pinault owns; the wedding was at Palazzo Grassi, which Pinault owns; and there was a big bash last night at La Fenice -- which, last I heard, Pinault does not own:) To read the People article click here:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20274683,00.html

I've had a conversation with Francois Pinault, and I was impressed. It was at the opening of Palazzo Grassi, and even though he was surrounded by VIPs clamoring for his attention, he gave me his full attention, made direct eye contact with me, and had a very firm handshake. Someone pulled him away in the middle of our conversation, and he came back within moments to finish it. I found him polite and respectful -- simple human qualities that I greatly appreciate.

Not to be outdone by the French, Prince Charles himself and his wife, Camilla are scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday, up from Rome where The Prince is meeting with The Pope (wouldn't you like to be a fly on that wall?). They, too, are scheduled to visit La Fenice for a tour, and then enjoy an evening concert. In the afternoon, Prince Charles is supposed to attend a conference about our Beloved Lagoon, while Camilla heads over to the Guggenheim. I've heard some gossip through the Venetian grapevine that The Prince is thinking about "living like a Venetian" for a time. Now that is ONLY GOSSIP, not fact! Imagine how much the real estate would skyrocket in Venice if the Prince began living like a Venetian! When I lived in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, Madonna (who I think is cool) moved into the neighborhood and the prices of houses increased by about $200,000 just by her "presence!"

With all this international commotion, I think it's time for a little American anecdote, featuring Benjamin Franklin, my greatest hero, and the man who captured lightning. Having been hit by lightning myself as an infant, I have a bit of an affinity with electricity. (I would credit that image if I could figure out who shot it; I think it's someone in Texas.) Ben Franklin wore an old blue suit to sign the French Alliance, the same suit he had worn four years earlier when he had been ridiculed by the British:

On Feb. 6, 1778 he and Silas Deane went over to the French palace to sign the Treaty of Alliance with the King of France. Instead of his usual brown suit, Franklin was wearing a faded blue one, and Deane questioned why he wore old clothes to such an important ceremony. "To give it a little revenge," was the answer. "I wore this suit on the day Wedderburn abused me at Whitehall." The true depth of Franklin's feelings would never have been known if Deane had not asked.

To read more about a fascinating moment in history, head on over to Philadelphia Reflections, "The musings of a Philadelphia Physician who has served the community for nearly six decades:

http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/626.htm

In this Story-That-Never-Ends, I like to remember another one of my favorite Ben Franklin quotes:

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."

Ciao from Venice,

Cat
Venetian Cat - Venice Blog

http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/