Barry Sonnenfeld Developing The Animated Film Pig Scrolls For Dreamworks
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Barry Sonnenfeldwas low on the feature directorial radar for a while. In the last year, however, he’s frequently been in the trades with announcements of new projects, most of which are still in development. (Such asThe How-To Guide For Saving the WorldandSwift, both with writerBenDavid Grabinski, andMen in Black 3.) Add another one to the pile. Dreamworks Animation is reportedly assigning Sonnenfeld a film calledPig Scrolls, which would be yet another tale of ancient Greece. Is the Greek Revival now officially a mini-fad? And where does this putGil’s All Fright Diner,the last movie Sonnenfeld was developing for Dreamworks Animation?Pajibareports that Sonnenfeld is developingPig Scrollsas a film that he might direct. The logline is essentiallyKung Fu PandaplusClash of the Titans, or “the fate of the world and of the Gods will all rest on the hooves of [a] talking pig.” Not difficult at all to see how this would fit right into the Dreamworks mold. And, luck willing, maybe it will be more likePandaorHow to Train Your DragonthanShrek.
More specifically, Pajiba says the film would be based onPaul Shipton’s novel about Gryllus, a man who was a member of Odysseus' sea-going crew before being transformed into a pig by Circe. Want more detail? Here’s theBooklistrecap of the plot:
Transformed by Circe into a big, fat, talking pig, Gryllus, who once traveled with Odysseus, tells how he escaped rampaging monsters with the brave teen prophetess, Sybil, found himself, and saved the world. The cool teen talk about the heroic journey makes for a hilarious readaloud–for those who know the old myths and those who don’t–and the mockery of the contemporary scene is crude and funny. Gryllus has no time for lectures on the food chain and our place in it. He orders young Homer to buzz off and “Learn a proper trade. Like plumbing.” For the heroic pig, the glorious siren call is the smell of a delicious pie. And yet with all the puns and boorish jokes and fun, there is also an epic theme with contemporary meaning: the young heroes must stop an elderly scientist from detonating the Atomos Device that could destroy the entire Cosmos.
