Kenneth Branagh, Olivia Cooke, William Shatner Join The Animated Adventure Film FIREHEART
Kenneth Branagh (Death On The Nile), Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One), Laurie Holden (The Walking Dead), and William Shatner (Star Trek) have been cast as the lead voice actors in a new animated family adventure film being developed titled Fireheart.
The story is set in New York City in the middle of the roaring twenties and it follows “a young girl aspiring to be the world’s first female firefighter who, refusing to let others define her, heroically fights for her dream.” Here’s the full synopsis:
The film revolves around the sixteen-year-old Georgia Nolan (Olivia Cooke) who has the impossible dream of becoming a firefighter at a time when women are not allowed to serve. When a mysterious arsonist starts burning down Broadway, one by one all the firemen in the city disappear. Georgia’s beloved father, Shawn (Kenneth Branagh), is called out of retirement by the Mayor of NY (William Shatner) to lead the investigation as Captain in the FDNY. Desperate to help her father and save her city, Georgia resorts to disguising herself as a young man called “Joe” and joins the small group of misfit firefighters trying to stop the arsonist, risking everything she loves to do it.
This is said to be an ambitious animated film project and it sounds like it tells a great story. A story that I’m interested in seeing brought to life. The film is being developed by Main Journey (Leap!), Anton (Paddington, His Dark Materials) and Caramel Films and it’s scheduled to be completed in 2021.
Laurent Zeitoun and Yann Zenou (Leap!) are producing the project and overseeing the production from L’Atelier Animation studios in Montreal. Zeitoun is also co-directing the film with Ted Ty (How to Train Your Dragon 2, Leap!).
Fireheart will include an “original soundtrack including a re-orchestrated 1920’s style covers of modern pop songs.”
Cecile Gaget, president of international production and distribution, said in a statement:
“‘Fireheart’ is one of the most highly anticipated independent animated features amongst our buyers and the studio-level quality of L’Atelier Animation’s work is outstanding. This fun and joyful film with its themes of a young girl’s empowerment, and a community coming together to save the things they love, could not be more timely.”
Fireheart was written by Zeitoun, Daphne Ballon and Jennica Harper (Some Assembly Required) from an original idea by Zeitoun.
Source: Variety