The last that we heard from stop-motion animation powerhouse Laika, the team was working on its latest film, the long-gestating Portland-set fantasy Wildwood. That's still the case, but the gang has an eye on their next gig, and it sounds like a winner: a neo-noir folk tale called The Night Gardener.
Written by Ozark creator Bill Dubuque, the movie focuses on a young man in rural Missouri fighting to keep his family together in the wake of a tragedy. According to Team Laika, "the film will paint an unflinching portrait of sacrifice, self-reliance and revenge."
Laika chief Travis Knight, who is busy directing Wildwood, will tackle this film next.
"The Night Gardener is a beautiful and timeless story that quickens the pulse as often as it breaks the heart,” Knight says in a statement. “Bill is a masterful storyteller. He’s crafted a lyrical world layered with complex characters, provocative ideas, and keenly felt emotion. It’s gonna be one helluva movie.”
"I’m delighted that Travis Knight saw in The Night Gardener a story worthy of the time-intensive process and collective talent of Laika in-house artisans," ads Dubuque. "Laika’s creativity and dedication to detail is, in my opinion, as close as one can come to conjuring storytelling magic."
There's naturally no word on a release date for this one (even Wildwood is staggeringly still seeking distribution), but we're excited to see Laika keep on pushing the stop-motion medium forward.