Film / News
Aardman founders spill the beans in new autobiography
Vying with the likes of Michelle Obama, Michael Caine, Eric Idle and supervet Noel Fitzpatrick for a place on the Christmas bestseller list this year is the remarkable story of how two Bristol-based plasticine wranglers with no business background managed to build a world-class animation studio. That’s right – Aardman: An Epic Journey Taken One Frame at a Time is the joint autobiography of Peter Lord and David Sproxton.
There have been several books about the pioneering, multiple Oscar-winning Bristol studio in the past, and Peter Lord previously co-authored Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3D Animation (Thames & Hudson, 1988). But this is the first time that the duo have told their own story. It promises to be a frank account, taking in the highs of filling their well-stocked trophy cabinet and the lows of having to lay off 90 staff after Aardman’s production of The Tortoise and the Hare fell apart back in 2001. We can also expect plenty of amusing anecdotage about the, ahem, cultural differences they experienced during their commercial alliances with US giants DreamWorks and Sony.
is needed now More than ever
Featuring a foreword by Matt Groening and an introduction by Nick Park, Aardman: An Epic Journey Taken One Frame at a Time is published in hardback by Simon & Schuster on November 29, price £20. The next features in the pipeline from Aardman are a pair of sequels: Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, now due for release on October 18 2019, and Chicken Run 2, which is currently in pre-production.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
