bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Tribune News Service

The cheese-loving English inventor Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit have been stars since the beginning.
In the 35 years since Nick Park introduced the world to his stop-motion creations and their eccentric, unapologetically British existence, they have won Oscars and appeared in commercials, video games, animated series and even the occasional bit of unofficial protest art.
Feature films, however, have been few and far between. Part of the reason is the difficulty: even a 30-minute short can take upwards of two years. Besides, why mess with a formula that has produced only classics?
After working on the pair’s first feature, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which was released in 2005 and won an Oscar, and Early Man, Park even doubted that he would dabble in the form again.


But sometimes inspiration requires a little more breathing room: that is how the second Wallace & Gromit feature film, Vengeance Most Fowl, came to be.
It debuts on Netflix worldwide, except in the UK, on January 3.
Gnomes have always been part of Wallace and Gromit’s world. After The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Park started kicking around an idea about a smart gnome, Norbot, built to help Gromit in the garden.
“There was something a bit missing,” Park says. “We tinkered around with the story on and off for years and it seemed to be lacking the more sinister element that’s often in Wallace & Gromit. Why do the gnomes go wrong? Who was the motivated villain?”
Five years ago, the solution came to them: Feathers McGraw, the conniving penguin with a penchant for heists and simple disguises, who turned their lives to chaos in The Wrong Trousers.

“He was the answer to everything,” Park says. “The story got bigger and more exciting. Suddenly it became a feature-length film.”
Over the years, Park and his co-director Merlin Crossingham often heard fan requests to bring Feathers back.
“We’d been very non-committal about it because characters haven’t in the past come back,” Crossingham says. “But when we did drop a little teaser trailer, we were completely bowled over by the response.
“At that point, we were still making the film and it kind of gave us a boost and that confidence that it was the right thing to do.”

They needed it too since Feathers McGraw, like a true diva, was by far the most difficult puppet to animate, direct and light – this in a movie that has chase sequences, special effects and an army of evil gnomes.
The simplicity of his design, and the fact that he doesn’t speak, gave them no room to hide. In fact, in their world-class group of animators at Aardman animation studio, Park said only five volunteered to work on Feathers.
“All the filmmaking tricks have to come together very well to make Feathers have that screen presence that we needed from him,” Crossingham says.
Part of the charm of the Wallace & Gromit films is their unabashed Britishness, which the filmmakers have had to fight to preserve as their audience has become more global.
There’s something that resonates with audiences with stop-motion ... they can tell that’s the human touch
Merlin Crossingham, co-director of Vengeance Most Fowl
While Netflix was largely supportive, they did have a bit of a back and forth over the turn of phrase “Flippin’ Nora!”. They ultimately kept it.
“A lot of the stuff in the films is inspired by stuff we grew up with, the design of things, little products,” Park says.
He was particularly happy to include a “high-speed” barge chase on the canals and a joke about police at the Yorkshire border – melding uniquely British references with big Hollywood movie tropes.
“I think all of it is a sort of a lovely homage to Britishness and not in a patriotic way, just kind of laughing at ourselves culturally,” Crossingham says.
The starting point for all scenes was always the traditional: in camera, stop-motion animation like they have been using since 1989. It is, Crossingham says, fundamentally vital to the films to see the thumbprints on the characters and know that they’re hand-made.

There have always been limitations, and the option to use more digital assistance, but it has only been in recent years that computer graphics have caught up enough to blend in.
Effects like fog and steam are possible in stop-motion, but, they explain, they never look quite right.
“The main thing we required was that if we were going to use a digital technique, could we force it to look right for our film rather than it just being bolted on and feeling like an accessory that was a bit of an unwelcome guest,” Crossingham says.
“The visual effects department at Aardman worked very hard to get that stylising so that it felt right in Wallace & Gromit, in which the sets and the props are characters in themselves.”

The tension between embracing technological innovation like artificial intelligence and preserving the old ways that still work was not just something they were thinking about off camera.
It is at the heart of the film too, as Wallace’s well-intentioned invention turns against him and wreaks havoc on the town.
“It’s a bit meta,” Crossingham says. “I think there’s something that resonates with audiences with stop-motion that they can tell it’s handcrafted, they can tell that’s the human touch.”
Park says he used to worry about the future of stop-motion, wondering how much time they had left. Recently, though, he has seen a resurgence.
“As long as we’re telling good stories, entertaining and compelling stories with compelling characters, we’ll keep going,” he says.


Can Better Man help Robbie Williams get Trump on speed dial? Star on fame, family and more

Award-winning migrant actor who faced deportation from France gets a work permit

A ‘comeback’? Demi Moore ‘has always been here’, says The Substance director

Emilia Perez, The Brutalist win best films, Shogun wins big – Golden Globes as they happened

European cinema

Wallace & Gromit creators talk reviving a familiar foe in latest film, now on Netflix

Wallace and Gromit in a still from Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, on Netflix from January 3, 2025. Photo: Netflix via Reuters

Wallace, Gromit and Norbot the smart gnome in a still from Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Photo: AP

Feathers McGraw in a still from Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. The villainous penguin proved the hardest character to animate in the movie. Photo: Netflix via AP

From the beginning, Wallace & Gromit creators Nick Park (left) and Merlin Crossingham have made their series unabashedly British. Photo: AFP

One of the sets used in the filming of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. The creators resisted using computer graphics in their productions until recently, when it became advanced enough to blend in. Photo: Netflix via Reuters

What to expect from Hollywood in 2025, including James Bond casting, James Gunn’s Superman

David Corenswet as Superman in a still from James Gunn’s Superman, one of nine things for fans of Hollywood to look forward to in 2025. Photo: Warner Bros Pictures

Disney’s Inside Out 2 was a resounding box office success. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Blake Lively (above) has accused her It “Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment. Photo: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP

Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas in a still from No Time to Die, the 2021 film that marked James Bond’s last outing to date. Photo: Nicola Dove

Christopher Nolan (centre, pointing) on the set of Oppenheimer with an IMAX camera. Photo: Universal Pictures

7 of the best new K-dramas to watch in January 2025, including When the Stars Gossip

Lee Min-ho in a still from When the Stars Gossip, one of our seven Korean drama picks to watch in January 2025. Photo: Netflix

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions video game review – fast-paced chaos in the air

Light on story but heavy on chaotic fun, video game Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions brings the fictional sport of quidditch to life. Photo: Warner Bros

How the Erotic Ghost Story films shocked and seduced Hong Kong

(From left) Amy Yip, Man Siu and Kudo Hitomi in a still from Erotic Ghost Story.

Pal Sinn (left) and Amy Yip in a still from Erotic Ghost Story (1990). Yip made the first Erotic Ghost Story a success, mainly because of her buxom physique.

Joey Wong and Leslie Cheung in a still from A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). Photo: Film Workshop

A promotional image for Erotic Ghost Story (1990).

Charine Chan (bottom right) in a promotional image for Erotic Ghost Story 2 (1991).

A promotional image for Erotic Ghost Story 3 (1992).

(From left) Pauline Chan, Kenny Wong and Chik King-man in a still from Erotic Ghost Story 3 (1992).

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

As Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl hits Netflix, its British creators talk technology and tying things together with a wicked penguin


As Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl hits Netflix, its British creators talk technology and tying things together with a wicked penguin.


Cinema

Britain

Netflix

TV shows and streaming video