Nick Park is most known for his Wallace & Gromit series, but in 2000, he teamed up with DreamWorks to make the film Chicken Run. Chicken Run is one of Park's three feature-length films that he has directed in his career, the other two being Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Early Man.
Chicken Run is a stop-motion animation that involves a rooster flying into a chicken farm, only to help the chickens escape the evil farmers. The film has a lot of voice talent, but the two main characters, Rocky and Ginger, are voiced by Mel Gibson and Julia Sawalha. Despite the movie being out for nearly 20 years, there are some things you still might not know about it. Here are 10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Chicken Run.
There’s A Reason We Don’t See Ginger And Rocky Kiss Beaks
Early on in the film, it is made clear that Ginger and Rocky have feelings for each other. Several times throughout the movie, the characters are about to kiss, but they are always interrupted. While it may just seem like a recurring joke in the film, there is actually a reason why the characters never kiss on screen.
The animators of the film thought it would be off-putting to see two birds kissing on screen since they have beaks, which is why they went with a running gag instead. By the end of the film when they do actually kiss, the angle purposefully hides their beaks.
Ginger Almost Had A Brother
There are several chickens and hens in Chicken Run, but one of the leaders in the group is Ginger. Ginger had tried many times to escape the coop, but was always stopped by Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy and their dogs. Ginger cares for all of her neighbors, but she also almost had a brother.
In the first draft of the script, Ginger had a brother named Nobby, who ultimately got cut from the script to make the movie less cute. Several other characters were deleted as well, including Sage, Onion, and Paxo, the latter of which would have been the coop’s best egg producer.
Chicken Run Helped Introduce A New Oscar Category
Nick Park has won a total of four Oscars in his career, three of which have been for animated shorts. When Chicken Run came out in 2000, it was completely snubbed by the Academy and didn’t get nominated for a single award. People were shocked, since Chicken Run was actually a fan favorite to win the Best Picture award at the 73rd Academy Awards, an award that ultimately went to Gladiator.
That being said, Chicken Run is credited with helping create the category of Best Animated Feature. DreamWorks missed out on the Academy Awards with Chicken Run, but a year later, Shrek would win the first Oscar in the new category.
Nick Park Had Pet Chickens Growing Up
From a young age, Nick Park enjoyed drawing cartoons. When he started to get older, he decided to attend Sheffield Hallam University and eventually found himself at the National Film and Television School. There, Aardman Animations discovered him when he was working on A Grand Day Out, and Park has been a part of their animation team ever since.
Park has had many notable characters in his film, including Wallace from Wallace & Gromit, who were based on his father. Ginger and Rocky were also based on animals from his childhood, as he had pet chickens when he was younger.
One Of The Animators Was A Taekwondo Instructor
Before Nick Park had made a name for himself as an animator, he didn’t really have a lot of people there to help animate his movies. Even on the third Wallace & Gromit short film A Close Shave, Park only had 2-3 animators at his disposal. On Chicken Run however, there were dozens of people working to build characters, costumes, and sets.
One of the animators was also a taekwondo instructor, which he was able to include in the film. When the chickens and hens are training for their escape, they have a workout routine which includes taekwondo moves.
Mel Gibson Was The Only One To Record His Lines In America
Mel Gibson has starred in some hit movies like Braveheart and the Lethal Weapon series. he has won two Oscars in his career, both for his film Braveheart which won the Best Picture and Best Director awards. In Chicken Run, Gibson lent his voice for the character Rocky, but most of the other voice actors are English.
The film has an impressive cast with Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Jane Horrocks, and Julia Sawalha all voicing characters. Since all of them are from the UK, they all recorded their lines in Bristol, England. Gibson was actually the only person in the cast to record lines in the United States.
Nick Park And Peter Lord Stayed In Wensleydale To Write The Script
Nick Park and Peter Lord have both made a career for themselves with stop-motion animation. Lord is the co-founder of Aardman Animations and he co-directed Chicken Run with Park. The pair also wrote the original script together, which they wrote at a bed and breakfast in Wensleydale, UK.
Wensleydale is famous for their cheese, which coincidentally, Wallace & Gromit helped popularize. Before Wallace announced that Wensleydale was his favorite type of cheese, the Wensleydale Creamery almost went out of business. However, after Wallace & Gromit became popular, their sales skyrocketed.
Several Famous Actors Almost Voiced Rocky And Ginger
Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson voiced Ginger and Rocky respectively, but the characters were almost voiced by different famous actors. Eddie Murphy, David Arquette, and Ethan Hawke were all considered for the role of Rocky, while the character Ginger could have been voiced by Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder, or Linda Cardellini.
While Rocky had an American accent, Ginger had an English accent, so having any of these three actresses would have been a big change for the movie. Eddie Murphy may have missed out on the role, but he would of course get cast as Donkey in the Shrek franchise soon after.
It Was A Lot Of Work To Bring A Chicken To Life
Anybody who is familiar with how stop-motion animation works knows that it takes a long time to put a feature-length film together. For example, sometimes a whole day’s work will result in only a few seconds of usable footage. When it came to animating chickens for Chicken Run, the animators had a complex process for bringing them to life.
Since plasticine isn’t the strongest material to make characters, the animators made several chickens for the film. Only 3-4 chickens could be made in a single week and to animate a second of film, the puppet had to be moved and photographed 24 times.
Chicken Run 2 Is Coming
As mentioned above, Chicken Run came out nearly 20 years ago, but the film is finally getting a sequel. It was announced last year that Chicken Run 2 was being developed by Aardman Animations, which was supposed to begin work after they concluded production on A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.
Nothing has been heard about the film since it was announced, so it will likely be a while before the film even starts pre-production. Chicken Run will be the second-ever film to get a sequel by Aardman Animations, the first being A Shaun the Sheep Movie.