Nick Park’s return to stop-motion animation has been a long, long time coming. Granted, the writer-director had a hand in last year’s Shaun the Sheep Movie, but you’d have to cast your mind back to 2005’s The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to locate the last time Park stepped behind the camera to direct. Early Man changes all that.
It’s the latest collaboration between StudioCanal and the creative minds at Aardman, and has already set Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne in the leading role of Dug, hero of the Stone Age. Now, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that both studios have zeroed in on his nemesis, Lord Nooth, who will be played by The Night Manager‘s Tom Hiddleston.
Who is Lord Nooth, exactly? THR’s report reveals that Hiddleston’s character is a “ridiculously pompous” governor/tyrant of the Bronze Age town who will be causing all sorts of headaches for Redmayne’s hero. “I have been a fan of Nick Park and Aardman for as long as I can remember, and am incredibly honored to be working with Nick and the team on this adventure,” said Hiddleston.
The official synopsis for Early Man reveals a prehistoric romp:
Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of how plucky caveman Dug, along with sidekick Hognob, unites his tribe against the mighty Bronze Age in a battle to beat them at their own game. It also marks Nick Park’s first feature film since the Academy Award-winning Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Early Man unleashes an unforgettable cast of hilarious new characters.
After firing up production earlier in the month, Studiocanal and Aardman’s Early Man has set sights on a January 26, 2018 release date in the UK. It’ll then open in France on January 31, 2018, before uprooting for Germany and Australia/NZ on March 29, 2018.
