Netflix's Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl just had its world premiere, where the titular duo got to go on another hilarious and heartwarming adventure—and the series feels just as familiar as one would hope.
This new installment sees a small disconnect form between Wallace and Gromit as Wallace gets lost in his many inventions. Things get even worse when he creates a smart gnome robot helper that is more than they all bargained for.
To add to the excitement, Vengeance Most Fowl brings back the iconic villain Feathers McGraw, whose last substantial appearance was in 1993's The Wrong Trousers.
Wallace & Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl Filmmakers on Keeping That Classic Style
The Direct's Russ Milheim attended the AFI world premiere of Netflix's Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, where the filmmakers spoke about how they've kept the franchise's classic feel while updating it for a modern audience.
Co-director Merlin Crossingham explained that "there's a lovely feeling of familiarity" alongside these new stories that "have a slightly more contemporary edge:"
"I think it's very much that we have such good animators, art directors, and scenic artists who have worked with Nick and me over the years… We don't need to reinvent it. There's a lovely feeling of familiarity, but also, with the themes that we're looking at in the film, the stories have a slightly more contemporary edge. So it's not all about being old fashioned and being old. Yes, the technique that we use is as old as cinema itself. But as long as there's a joy and an enthusiasm, while we're making it, hopefully that comes out on the screen."
Nick Park, who directed alongside Crossingham, made it clear that "the heart of it is the handmade thing," something that "you can't replace… no matter what tech [they] use:"
"And the characters themselves have evolved. If you look at the earliest 'Wallace & Gromit' film, you can see that they've evolved. And we've tracked that over over the different films and decided what they should look like. Now, they're very small differences... No matter how much we embrace it, technology is so useful to us in so many ways. At the heart of it is the handmade thing, the charm, which you can't replace, and we will, no matter what tech we use, will always be about people putting themselves into these characters."
For director of photography Dave Alex Riddett, it's all about the storytelling and the relationship between the titular duo:
"I think it's all about storytelling, at the end of the day, and defining this relationship that they have. We strive to keep it nice and pure, as we did in the early days before we had all the special effects. However, we always wanted to take advantage of all those effects, and there are some pretty neat ones in here, a lot of extra things there, but at the heart of it, it is putting characters in front of the camera and animating them with love."
Executive producer Carla Shelley admitted that the world of the movies has "evolved a little," even though "it's still quite timeless:"
"Wallace's world has evolved a little. It's still quite timeless, though. He's got a computer, but it's very much of that sort of Wallace & Gromit world, and nothing too modern in there. So I think it just has its own language, I think, and rule book, The Wallace & Gromit world, and you just sort of go with it. I think it's just one of those things. So it evolves very slowly, but basically, at the heart of it, there are two characters that don't age, and it is all about that friendship and that love; I think that's what we all lean into."
Producer Richard Beek explained how the memo to the team was that they'd "make the film as [they] would have made it 30 years ago" up until they needed to employ new technologies, such as the movie's impressive last act:
"Nick and Merlin were always very clear with everybody on the crew that if we could, we'd make the film as we would have made it 30 years ago. But if we needed to do something which we couldn't do that way, like there's a sequence at the end of the film which are in sport for you all, but it needed all the tools in the toolbox to do it. So I think it knows when to use technology and new ideas, and when just to sit back and do it as we always would have done, and hopefully, that would give the feel of classic 'Wallace & Gromit,' but also see things that you haven't seen before."
Beek also teased how proud he was of all the VFX work in Vengeance Most Fowl, which included more waterwork than normal:
"There's a lot of water in the film. Normally, you just shy away from water for stop motion... But on this film, we've done a lot of water stuff and pulled it off as well. And I think hopefully it fits in the world of 'Wallace & Gromit,' and it'll be an exciting bit of a new one. Our VFX team really rose to the challenge. So it's good to do that."
The full red carpet conversations can be seen below:
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premiered on October 27, 2024, at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles and will begin streaming on Netflix on January 3, 2025.
