Three-time César-winning actor-filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz (La Haine, Gothika, Babylon A.D.) is returning to the director’s chair for the first time in over a decade to tackle his ‘English-language passion project,’ a live-action/animation feature titled The Big War. Like the recently announced David Lynch project Snootworld, Kassovitz told Deadline he has been working on this concept for 20 years with The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride screenwriter Caroline Thompson.
The Big War will be an adaptation of the French graphic novel La bête est morte! (The Beast Is Dead), which was begun in secret by artist Edmond-François Calvo — “The French Walt Disney” — in the midst of World War II, and published in two parts following the liberation of France. The work retells the evens of WWII with each nationality/identity represented by different animals. The story centers on two rabbits who set out to rescue their family, taken by the Nazi wolves.
The project has attached animation producer Aton Soumache (The Little Prince, Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir – The Movie), President & Co-Founder, ON Entertainment. The estimated $30 million project will be produced with live-action locations and set pieces, with animal characters inserted later. The director says they are currently in the design phase and seeking financiers, with a goal of beginning production by the end of 2024. Kassovitz will have a role in the movie, and is in discussions with some yet-to-named American and British actors.
[Sources: Deadline, Stuart Ng Books, Encyclopedia Universalis]
