About
Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Without a doubt, this was Wallace and Gromit's biggest adventure yet. The new writing team of Nick Park, Steve Box and Bob Baker started working on plot, with several other writing consultants joining before completion. The idea of a were-rabbit started when Nick and Bob were working on A Close Shave with questions like "what would it eat?" - giant vegetables of course! The were-rabbit idea was initially intended for a book, but was combined with a story called 'Vegicide' which originally featured Wendolene from A Close Shave. She had a garden and Wallace was her gardener. The idea then became Lord Wormold who owned the garden and Wallace worked as a gardener creating giant vegetables for a competition that he had to win. In fact, the original film title was "The Great Vegetable Plot", but this was later changed to appeal to a wider (non-UK) audience. Gradually the story began to evolve - Lady Tottington replaced Wendolene as a love interest, the giant vegetable competition was invented and 'Anti-Pesto' was born.
Ideas went through vast amounts of storyboarding with many scenes edited, scrapped, and new ones created. DreamWorks, Aardman's creative partner at the time, were involved throughout production with regular visits to the studio and input into the story, language and edit. The film took 5 years to develop from concept to premier and was shot entirely in Britain.
Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit was released in over 3,000 theatres worldwide on October 14, 2005 and remained number one at the boxoffice worldwide for three weeks in a row. The final production features an all-star cast: Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace) is joined in the film by Ralph Fiennes (as Victor Quartermaine), Helena Bonham Carter (as Lady Campanula Tottington) and Peter Kay (as PC Mackintosh).
Curse of the Were-Rabbit has been a great success with public and press across the world. Along with many other prestigious awards, it earned Nick Park a fourth Oscar and "Best Animated Feature" at the Academy Awards. Wallace & Gromit remain the most successful production team at Aardman and provide substantial funding for the development of new and innovative projects within the company. With this in mind, it's likely that it won't be long before the famous duo return in their next animated adventure.....