Cot! The chickens are back for Chicken Run: The Nuggets Menace by Sam Fell, available from Friday on Netflix. These vitamin-filled adventures bring back Ginger the intrepid casserole and her husband the rooster Rocky for new adventures. This time they are accompanied by their daughter Molly, an adventurous teenager. A nugget factory threatens the chickens who are still not ready to be put in the pan. “We regularly announce the end of films in stop motion and studios Aardmanexplains their co-founder Peter Lord to 20 minutes. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are doing well and have no desire to stop. »
The reception of the first images of this sequel to Chicken Run at the Annecy festival and then the delightful finished film prove that the English firm still has it in its shell and not just a little! “The public likes our plasticine puppets because they have a warm side that this medium makes very visible,” emphasizes Peter Lord. These very English poultry have not lost a feather since the first part released in 2000.
Bringing chickens back to life
“It was complicated to bring them back to life,” explains director Sam Fell. We had to rely on photos and the pre-existing film to redo everything because a fire destroyed all our puppets in October 2005.” Never mind! The chickens have taken up their feathers for this very funny spy film which pays homage to Impossible mission and James Bond. The heroines are no longer looking to escape but to exfiltrate their peers before they are transformed into donuts.
“Of course, techniques have evolved since the start of Aardman in 1972,” explains Peter Lord, “and we sometimes use digital effects to make our lives easier. However, I believe that the artisanal aspect of our productions gives them a charm that makes them stand out in the world of current animation. »
We had a narrow escape
A more recent drama, however, almost put an end to the great adventure: the studio was going to be the victim of a shortage of modeling clay after the manufacturer closed. “Rest assured, we have enough to last four years and we have a technician working full time to find the exact formula because it is a very delicate mixture. We are therefore not going to go out of business,” declares Peter Lord. And all the less so since the new feature film featuring Wallace and Gromit is in production on their sets, near Bristol.