Legendary animation studio Laika is teaming up with Ozark’s creator Bill Dubuque for a new stop-motion feature named The Night Gardener. The film will be directed by Travis Knight, president and CEO of Laika Studios.
While little is known about The Night Gardener, the original story by Dubuque will center on a young man in rural Missouri who’s trying to keep his family together in the wake of a tragedy. Contrary to previous Laika films, the short description for The Night Gardener doesn’t tease any fantastic elements, which could mark a first for the studio that already gave us Coraline, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, Missing Link, and Kubo and the Two Strings. Besides that, Ozark is a brutal and gritty series focused on a family's descent into organized crime, so it’s hard to imagine a new script from Dubuque that is not a realistic drama.
Whatever The Night Gardener turns out to be, we can at least be sure that we’ll be seeing something unique. All five films Laika developed so far have been nominated for the Academy Award for Outstanding Animated Feature, with Kubo and the Two Strings winning the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, and Missing Link taking the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film. Thanks to Laika’s commitment to stop-motion art, the studio remains one of the most relevant voices in international cinema, and it’s great news they seem to be willing to tackle new and exciting projects.
Talking about The Night Gardener, Knight said:
“The Night Gardener is a beautiful and timeless story that quickens the pulse as often as it breaks the heart. Bill is a masterful storyteller. He’s crafted a lyrical world layered with complex characters, provocative ideas, and keenly felt emotion. It’s gonna be one helluva movie.”
Dubuque also added:
“I’m delighted that Travis Knight saw in The Night Gardener a story worthy of the time-intensive process and collective talent of Laika’s in-house artisans. Laika ’s creativity and dedication to detail is, in my opinion, as close as one can come to conjuring storytelling magic.”
Before helming The Night Gardener, Knight still needs to wrap up a film adaptation of Wildwood, the novel by The Decemberists lead singer and songwriter Colin Meloy. The story follows a young girl who adventures into the forest to rescue her young brother from the murder of crows, meeting talking animals and mystical creatures along the way. It’s been a while since we last heard about Wildwood, but with Laika already announcing another stop-motion film helmed by Knight, it shouldn’t take long to get a first look at it.
So far, neither Wildwood nor The Night Gardener have a release date.