previous page
TOC
Features
A Toon Town Trailblazer The Gotham Group founder and award-winning producer Ellen Goldsmith-Vein speaks about her new movie Wendell & Wild and the changing animation business.
T
his month, we had the chance to catch up with animation veteran Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, the trailblazing founder of the influential management and production company The Gotham Group. The Emmy-nominated producer of acclaimed projects such as the Aardman TV series Creature Comforts, The Maze Runner movie trilogy and Stargirl is currently working on Henry Selick’s upcoming Netflix movie Wendell & Wild which is slated for a late 2022 release:
As you know, there’s a lot of early buzz surrounding Wendell & Wild. Can you tell us how you got involved with this movie and what makes it stand out in your mind? We’ve worked with the brilliant Henry Selick for over 20 years, but it took years to get him to return my phone call! I was leaving messages on his home phone and at his Colossal office when he was working on MTV spots. His auteur status was always apparent and it’s been a genuine highlight of my career to encourage and support his cinematic vision. His idea for Wendell & Wild, like Henry himself,
was a true original with the potential to attract a wide audience. That’s exactly the type of project that we as a company champion as dealmakers and producers. When Jordan Peele came on board as a producer, co-writer and star opposite Keegan-Michael Key, it just seemed as if this idea had reached its fullest expression. We brought the concept to Netflix, who saw this film as the perfect debut project for a creative partnership with Henry.
Ellen Goldsmith-Vein
What do you love about working with Henry Selick? The phrase “creative genius” is really overused these days, but honestly, Henry fits the bill. He is a singular artist with magnificent vision and a true master of the stop-motion medium. Henry also has the ability to attract brilliant artists and a great cast to his projects, and Wendell & Wild is a perfect example of that.
based on the sci-fi fantasy series of books of the same name by Tony DiTerlizzi. It tells the story of a young girl raised underground who is whisked into an adventure when she goes above-ground for the first time. In addition, we are working on a couple of stop-motion projects based on high profile literary material which we have optioned, and are rebooting a very special series, also stop motion! Trust me when I tell you that these projects will reunite some of the great artists, writers and actors who we’ve worked with in the past. Since we haven’t announced them yet, I need to keep the titles under wraps!
Can you tell us a bit about other animated projects that you’re working on? We are working on an animated series called The Search For WondLa for Apple TV+
How has The Gotham Group changed and evolved to meet with the specific demands and climate of creating entertainment in 2022? We have been very lucky to have deep relation-
www.animationmagazine.net 40
TOC
june|july 22
previous page
