Yesterday, the news broke that Carlos Saldanha, Blue Sky Studios vet. and director of Rio, might be the latest animation director to make the jump to live-action. Saldanha is apparently in talks to replace Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) at the helm of Fox's Rust, The Wrap reports.
Rust tells the story of "a family of farmers struggling in the wake of a devastating world war. Their lives are changed when Jet Jones, a young boy with a jetpack, crashes into their barn while being pursued by a giant decommissioned war robot. The family must then decide whether the secrets of Jet’s past holds the key to their survival." It sounds very E.T.-like, and certainly charming. It's being produced by Simon Kinberg's (X-Men: First Class) Genre Films company for Fox. No reason was given for Cornish's departure, but Saldanha is said to be in negotiations and has already met with the crew.
Saldanha would become just the latest big animation name to dabble in live-action (and why not?). The most notable examples of animation directors switching mediums are Pixarians Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol) and Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, John Carter), to varying degrees of success. Lion King co-director Rob Minkoff also directed Stuart Little and its sequel, and Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist) also recently announced his live-action directorial debut.
Saldanha is currently directing Rio 2, which hits worldwide cinemas starting on 20th March, next year, and arrives in the US on 11th April. The director was also previously reported to be directing Ferdinand, "based on the Munro Leaf book The Story of Ferdinand, about a pacifist bull in bullfighting territory," for Blue Sky. Ferdinand has a reported release date of 7th April, 2017; if Saldanha does take on Rust next, then it's possible that another director would take on Ferdinand, or the project be pushed back.
What do you think? Excited to see what Saldanha does? Or do you think too many animation directors are jumping ship? Conversely, which live-action directors would you like to see direct an animated film?
Via Cartoon Brew
Thanks for sharing information about RIO 2. I am waiting for its release but I have to wait a long time.
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