Miles Teller to lend his voice to a Noah’s Ark cartoon

Miles Teller to lend his voice to a Noah’s Ark cartoon October 4, 2016

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Various sites are reporting that Miles Teller, of Whiplash and Divergent fame, will be voicing the main character in an animated film about Noah’s Ark.

Teller will not, however, be providing the voice of Noah himself. The lead character in this film is an aardvark, and the film, which was called Noah’s Ark when it was first announced nine years ago, is now being called The Ark and the Aardvark.

Teller will be voicing the part of Gilbert the aardvark. Here is the film’s synopsis:

The story follows an outcast aardvark by the name of Gilbert, who becomes the reluctant leader of a ragtag group of misfit animals that need to be led to the mighty ark before the impending flood. Along their journey, they band together to conquer unforeseen obstacles, and ultimately, Gilbert discovers within himself the inner strength and ingenuity to prove that in a world of “twos,” he was truly destined to be “the one.”

The film is being produced by Unified Pictures, which first announced its intention to make a Noah’s Ark cartoon, written by Philip LaZebnik (The Prince of Egypt), back in 2007. In 2013, they announced that the film would be directed by John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda), and that it would revolve around a groundhog or meerkat named Gilbert. And then, in 2014, they revealed that Gilbert will be an aardvark instead.

Every previous announcement about this film has included a statement to the effect that the filmmakers were hoping to release it in two years (so, in 2007 they were hoping to release it in 2009, in 2009 they were hoping to release it in 2011, in 2014 they were hoping to release it in 2016, and so on). This week’s announcement had no projected release date, however; it simply noted that the film is “in production”.

Curiously, Casey Affleck was once attached to an animated Noah’s Ark movie called Aardvark Art’s Ark back in 2008, but as far as I can tell there is no connection between that film and this one. It seems that two different groups of people simply figured out on their own that “aardvark” rhymes with “ark”, and they ran with it.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a couple of overdue updates on two other Noah’s Ark cartoons:

Variety reported two weeks ago that the Brazilian Noah’s Ark cartoon being produced by Walter Salles has “concluded development”. Does that it mean it has finished pre-production, or actual production? I’ll be keeping an eye out for it, either way.

And apparently Ooops! Noah is Gone, which came out in European theatres last year, was given two different titles for its American video release: All Creatures Big and Small for iTunes etc., and Two by Two: God’s Little Creatures for DVD.


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