Laika Teams With ‘Ozark’ Creator Bill Dubuque for Stop-Motion Neo-Noir Film ‘The Night Gardener’
thewrap.comLaika is teaming with the creator of “Ozark” to create a new stop-motion animated feature described as a “gritty neo-noir folktale.” Bill Dubuque, who created the Netflix series “Ozark,” wrote the original screenplay for “The Night Gardener,” which will be directed by Laika’s CEO and President Travis Knight, who previously helmed the Laika feature “Kubo and the Two Strings.”Described as a gritty folktale, the new film follows a young man in rural Missouri fighting to keep his family together in the wake of a tragedy.
The film will paint an unflinching portrait of sacrifice, self-reliance and revenge, per an official description.“’The Night Gardener’ is a beautiful and timeless story that quickens the pulse as often as it breaks the heart,” said Knight in a statement. “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.”“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,” said Dubuque. “Laika’s creativity and dedication to detail is, in my opinion, as close as one can come to conjuring storytelling magic.”The studio is currently in production on ‘Wildwood,’ the first film set in Laika’s hometown of Portland, Oregon.
Knight is directing the animated film, based on the bestselling fantasy novel written by Colin Meloy, lead singer and songwriter for the rock group The Decemberists.
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