Andy Serkis had a certain demographic in mind when making his animated adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian novel Animal Farm.
Andy Serkis wants to “engage young people” with his Animal Farm adaptation.
The Lord of the Rings star has directed the new animated film that is loosely based on George Orwell’s novella of the same name and explained that he hopes younger viewers can grasp the dystopian themes at the heart of the story that left a big impression on him growing up.
Asked why he was so determined to adapt Animal Farm for the big screen, Serkis told Collider: “It’s the subject matter. It’s the book that spoke to me, and really hit me hard as one of the first reads as a young adult. I carried it with me, and I still do. I still reread it.
“In fact, I’ve just found another audiobook recording of it, as well, which comes out on the same day as the film, bizarrely.
“So the book itself, the subject, Orwell as a writer, and what he talks about, the world that we’re living in now, needs a film like this for young people.”
The 62-year-old actor and filmmaker continued: “For me, it’s all about how do we engage young people, pull them away from their phone for a minute, and just start enjoying seeing a story that has pathos, meaning, where there’s something going on underneath it that really makes them want to have a debate with their parents and their grandparents about, ‘Why is it that we, as human beings, always make the same mistakes, that we keep going round in circles?’ That, for me, has been the driving force.”
Serkis explained that he changed the ending of the film – which features the voices of Seth Rogen, Kieran Culkin and Glenn Close – to make it slightly more hopeful than the conclusion to Orwell’s story.
He said: “Obviously, the book ends in a very dark place. There is no hope. There’s no moment of hope. There’s no third act in a way, one could say. But we did not want to offer not tying it up in a nice, neat bow and saying, ‘It’s okay, everybody. It’s going to be alright.’
“It’s sort of saying, ‘They’ve messed it up again. The wheel is going round. History repeats itself, but you cannot shy away from the fact that we have to keep trying.’
“And that’s why this film, again, speaks, hopefully, to young people. They’re the ones who are going to have to deal with the future. So, it is, ‘Okay, don’t shy away from it. It’s going to be your problem, but don’t be so despondent about it. You have to think that there is a way because there will be.'”
Who are the target audience for Andy Serkis’ Animal Farm adaptation?
