Maybe you don’t know who Sylvain Chomet is, and maybe that’s too bad for you. He directed two of the best animated films of the last fifteen years (The Triplets of Belville and The Illusionist) and recently lent his supremely French style to The Simpsons for one of their strangest/best couch gags since that one by Banksy. Take a look.
Chomet’s last animated film, The Illusionist, was an adaptation of an unproduced script by fellow genius and countryman, Jacques Tati and according to Variety, he’s looking to do something similar with the “various works and unpublished writings/drawings” of Federico Fellini. If that last sentence doesn’t make any sense to you, go to your local art theater and ask the man wearing this shirt to explain:
Cred.
This is wonderful news, but it gets better. Apparently, the Italian Prince of Venice and Piedmont is set to star in the film (he’s a fucking TV actor!), which will be a hybrid of live-action and animation. Yeah. Here’s the synopsis:
Italian prince Emanuele Filiberto will topline as a middle-aged count who takes part in Le Mille Miglia (the thousand mile), one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious car races. The journey transforms into a magical odyssey during which the count reminisces on his youth and life experiences.
The film, which is titled “The Thousand Mile” won’t start production until early 2015, but that gives you plenty of time to catch up on Chomet, Tati, Fellini and any other artsy motherfucker with whom you may need schooling. And lucky you, because The Triplets of Belville is streaming on Netflix as we speak.