Hasta La Motion!

Chennai-based film producer and director Prabhakaran Hari Haran and California-based producer and director Kevin Richardson, have inked a deal to put Richardson’s animated adaptation of ‘The Bremen Town Musicians’ into pre-production.

“It’s been seven years in development,” smiles Richardson, “which seems to be the magic number.” Hari and Richardson begin animatic production in August with an India and USA team. “After productive meetings and positive feedback, we’re looking forward to this important step,” he added.  The deal locks in $ 1.5 million for pre-production and a guarantee of $ 45 million for production.

“We’ve been looking for an international project to get behind,” says Hari who belongs to a prominent family of the Indian cinema, and is building an animation unit for this movie.  “Richardson’s script is a warm-hearted adaptation that preserves the original story, and blows it out in surprising ways.” Hari’s great grandfather veteran actor, M R Radha, was one of the defining faces of Indian cinema. Building from this legacy, Hari always wanted to take his company global and this movie is the first step towards it.

Haricane Studios business head Dhivya Venugopal adds: “Universal stories with extraordinary outcomes always connect with global audiences. Our meetings with studios in Hollywood confirm this. We are very excited at the potential of this venture.”

Richardson, a California Institute of the Arts Animation Alum worked in the USA and abroad on productions of Hanna-Barbera, Industrial Light and Magic, and Disney’s Brave Little Toaster. In Europe, Richardson partnered on productions with French partners Didier Brunner (The Secret of Kells) and British partner John Coates (The Snowman) under the MEDIA program of the European community before returning to the USA to produce games for Mattel, EA and Nickelodeon.

“After a ton of games I wanted to jump back into film. I’m passionate about stories with a large musical component and a strong ensemble. The Bremen Town Musicians is exactly that recipe. There is no denying the magic when east meets west,” adds Hari. “It has always yielded great results. I’m sure this collaboration will be one such affair, which we feel will be etched forever in people’s hearts.”