Jim Capobianco, the gifted writer of the cult 1994 animated film ‘The Lion King’ and the immensely admirable ‘Ratatouille’ (2007), is reportedly set to helm his directorial debut stop-motion film ‘The Inventor’. Capobianco will also write the screenplay for the film.
‘The Inventor’ is being touted as a unique amalgamation of puppet animation and 2D sequences. The animated film will reportedly revolve around the life of one of the most successful and inventive painters ever born – Leonardo da Vinci.
Apparently following Leonardo da Vinci’s life a few years before his death in the year 1519, the film will likely focus on the times when the inventor entered King Francis’ service in the year 1516. The inventor had planned to build a castle town for the king at that time.
During this time, in his quest for meaningful inventions that could do justice to his genius intellect and exceptional imagination, Leonardo da Vinci experimented with novel ideas like flying machines, innovative mechanical devices (He had actually built a working mechanical lion for the king for an event, which opened its chest to reveal a bunch of lilies) and the analysis of the human body. In this enterprising quest, he will ostensibly be helped by the intrepid – Princess Marguerite.
The ambitious animated film will be voiced by veterans Stephen Fry (Leonardo Da Vinci) and Daisy Ridley (Marguerite).
For good measure, Tomm Moore, the man behind the critically acclaimed animated film ‘Wolfwalkers’, has been roped for Capobianco’s ambitious multi-million-dollar project.
Moore has been nominated for the Academy Awards three times for his directorial animated ventures ‘The Secret of Kells’ (2009), ‘Song of the Sea’ (2014), and the most recent ‘Wolfwalkers’ (2020).
Besides Moore, Jim Capobianco was also nominated for the coveted sword-yielding statue for ‘Ratatouille’ in the ‘Best Writing, Original Screenplay’ category.
So, naturally, it will be quite interesting to behold the creative synergies consequent to the association between the two eminent figures of the animation industry – Jim Capobianco and Tomm Moore.
Regarding his collaboration with Tomm Moore, Jim Capobianco had stated “Tomm and I have been looking to work together ever since The Secret of Kells and my short film Leonardo played together at film festivals. It is only fitting to collaborate on The Inventor, a film that combines both puppet animation and 2D drawn animation, and will require an exceptional talent like Tomm. The grand vision being to make an animated film as if it were helmed by Leonardo da Vinci himself.”
Incidentally, Jim Capobianco had also written and directed the 2009 short film titled ‘Leonardo’. The short film centered around Leonardo da Vinci’s fascination for the phenomenon of flight, which he imagined via a unique blend of art and science. Whether his upcoming film is an extension or elaboration of his above-mentioned short film is not yet known.
Another recently released historical drama television series titled ‘Leonardo’ was also based on the life of Leonardo da Vinci. You can watch the show (which consists of eight episodes) on the SonyLIV streaming platform in India.
Currently in the pre-production stage, ‘The Inventor’ is being targeted for a 2023 release.