Why Animal Farm?  Well, first and foremost, for a book about animals, this novel is chilling.  I mean, Steadman does not normally illustrate children's books, you ken?  The very ending, where the pigs are walking around, scared the crap out of me the first time I read it.  That's Orwell.  And well, it's happening anyway for TNT.  I found out they were doing the film but couldn't find out the vocal casting.  So, being the cinematic vigilantes, we kicked it around for a bit and present this, our own shot.

What's the scoop?   Mr. Jones is seen by the animals on his farm as a very cruel owner.  He forgets to feed them, he comes home drunk all the time, and he forces the animals to work like, well, dogs, and they never see a scrap of the profits.  Spurred on by the words of the sage pig, Old Major, the animals stage a successful rebellion to drive Mr. Jones off his own farm.  They rename it "Animal Farm" and set about proving they can do a better job of governing than the humans.

This is a purely vocal cast.  We want Dreamworks to do the feature film project with photorealistic CGI.  We'd give it to Pixar but Disney would be more likely than DW to put some sillyass singing in it.

Directed by Shekhar Kapur:  When I first addressed this question in my mind, I went wild.  Peter Greenaway!  David Fincher!  David Lynch!  Then I sucked down several Surges and began to think rationally.  While those are nice daydreams, we want to have a film that is true to the original novel.  We don't want them to have dancers representing pigs, or Snowball's head being delivered in a box, or even Mr. Jones being a midget who talks backwards.  Not that those wouldn't be cool for a lark.  We want a very strong visual interpretation of the government corruption Orwell provides us.  After seeing what Kapur did for the dawn of the Elizabethan age, I'd like to see him work with something a little more...earthy.  I think it would work beautifully.

James Cromwell as Mr. Jones:   Yes, that's right.  Farmer Hoggett from Babe.  Why do I want him as the evil Mr. Jones?  Because I'm perverse.  Go from nice Farmer Hoggett to drunk and disturbed Mr. Jones.  It would be great.  In fact, if you wouldn't know who voiced Jones that would be even better.  The shock of "That was nice Farmer Hoggett?"  What can I say?  Cromwell's a great actor with a great voice and I'm a sicko.

Peter Vaughan as Old Major:  For Old Major's voice, the pig who starts everything with his philosophy, I wanted someone who sounded like a grandfather type, but with a really strong voice.  He'd have to have one to help him convince the animals of what needed to be done.  After seeing Vaughan in films like Remains of the Day and The Crucible , I think he's got what we need.

Ian Holm as Napoleon:  Trying to think of a worthy despot, I first thought that SDI fave Alan Rickman would be a good choice.  However, vocally, Alan may have a great sneer, but if you heard Rickman in villain mode, would you follow him?  I mean, unless you were evil or something.  And I felt Rickman was too obvious.  Casting him as Napoleon was too easy.  Instead, we went with Holm, who is one my favorite actors working today.  After seeing him in the Masterpiece Theatre presentation of King Lear...ouch.  We were sold.

Gabriel Byrne as Snowball:  As a strong leader who is simply outplayed, we wanted someone that could give Snowball the intensity that a pig who leads should have.  There were numerous names that we kicked around, including John Hurt, be we finally decided on Gabriel.  I kept remembering the sound of his voice in movies like Man in the Iron Mask and even the recent stinker The Spanish Prisoner and I could just, well, hear it coming out of a pig's mouth.

Simon Callow as Squealer:  We were trying to think of who would make a good voice to be the deliverer of much propaganda on Animal Farm.  One name that came to mind was SDI face Pete Postlethwaite, but I felt like I wanted to give someone else a go.  Having recently seen Shakespeare in Love and knowing him from his turn in Four Weddings , we figure he's our choice to mislead the animals.

Timothy Spall as Boxer:  Sometimes the way we go about casting is we have one particular line in mind that we need to hear the actor or actress say and have the voice match what we think it should.  The line with Boxer is obvious: "I will work harder."  We wanted a full voice, kind of weary-sounding, but very strong.  I was thinking of people and Alan Bates came up, but it still didn't seem to fit.  Then I started thinking about good actors I've seen over the past few years and who should come to mind but Spall?  Hamlet, Secrets & Lies, you know who I mean.  Excellent actor with a good voice.  Accent and everything seems to fit.  Timothy, consider yourself headed for the glue factory.

John Cleese as Moses:  Then we came around to the role of Mr. Jones' favorite pet, later to become the pet of the pigs.  We needed someone who could tell us of Sugarcandy Mountain.  Cleese was actually my first thought for the role.  Not the "Ministry of Silly Walks" Cleese, but the dramatic Cleese.  Same great voice but more controlled.  You remember that Cleese, from Frankenstein?  I remember.  Freaked me out to see him with that beard and long hair and being all dramatic and doing it...damn well, in fact!  We got ourselves a raven.

Kate Beckinsale as Mollie:  Casting the female voices in this film gave us some trouble.  We kept switching back and forth between actresses, but I think we finally got it right.  At first I was thinking an older actress such as the excellent Julie Christie, but I wanted Mollie to sound younger than the other two actresses.  She is the one who complains a lot and doesn't want freedom.  She wants bows in her hair and to be fed sugar and petted.  Now why this made me decide on Beckinsale, I have no idea, you just have to trust me.

Lynn Redgrave as Clover:  As the other carthorse who is easily convinced that all is well, I wanted a nice warm and caring voice but with plenty of strength to back it up.  After some consideration, I settled on Redgrave since with her and her sister you just can't go wrong.

Ian McKellen as Old Benjamin:  This bit of casting just came naturally.  Again, I needed to hear someone deliver a line just right.  The line this time?  "Donkeys live a long time.  None of you has ever seen a dead donkey."  McKellen's older and amused voice delivering it, almost like an even more broken version of Richard III.  That wise, "I've been here before, oh well, whatever" voice.  Kind of like Eeyore but completely different.

Joan Plowright as Muriel:  For our literate goat, we needed someone who could bring off the character--educated enough to know sort of what's going on, but not a leader who could spark revolution or anything like that.  I also heard Muriel with a kind of motherly voice, which I think would be served by Plowright most definitely.

Disagree?  Did we miss something?  Well, email us for Ah-Pook's sake and tell us all about it!  And while you're here--Would you like some coffee?