'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' Could Be Clooney

Oscar vets George Clooney and Cate Blanchett are reportedly at the table with 20th Century Fox Animation in Wes Anderson’s next helmer The Fantastic Mr. Fox, the director’s first foray into the world of animation. The project is based on Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book and will be the fourth major motion picture treatment of the author’s tomes; the previous leaps from paper to celluloid included Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and the more recent Tim Burton jaunt Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Clooney is discussing doing the voice of a wily and loveable fox whose sole goal is to provide for his family. As foxes do, he must raid the local farms for animals, but the farmers Bunce, Boggus and Bean, are all horribly mean. After surrounding Mr. Fox’s hill, the fox earns his title of “Fantastic” by tunneling under the farms and entering without the farmer’s knowledge. Further raids get Mr. Fox into the storeroom and cellar of the farms. Wendy Cooling, a British author and affiliate of the Dahl Museum explains that Dahl wanted to instill virtue and values in his tales and that “this story does so in a most entertaining way.”

The project will be a reuniting of the actors, whose last project together was Stephen Soderbergh’s The Good German for Warner Bros. Blanchett is said to be in talks to voice the wife of Clooney’s character. Anderson is said to be planning the project to work along the same concept as Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, utilizing stop action animation technique. The production will be set in London following Anderson’s completion of The Darjeeling, Ltd., which is editing in New York. Clooney is looking to the project after completion of his work on Leatherheads, a project for Universal, which he is directing and starring in. Blanchett is currently working on David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for Paramount.

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