9 (2009 film)


 This article is about an upcoming film. Details are likely to change as the release date approaches and more information becomes available.
For the original short film, see 9 (film).
For the unrelated, musical film of the same name, see Nine (film).
9

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Shane Acker
Produced by Tim Burton
Timur Bekmambetov
Jim Lemley
Written by Shane Acker
Pamela Pettler
Ben Gluck
Starring Elijah Wood
John C. Reilly
Jennifer Connelly
Christopher Plummer
Crispin Glover
Martin Landau
Music by Danny Elfman
Editing by Nick Kenway
Distributed by Focus Features
Release date(s) September 9, 2009
Country United States
Language English

9 is an upcoming animated action/alternate history/post-apocalyptic/fantasy film directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, director of Wanted. It is based on Acker's Academy Award-nominated short film of the same name. Although CGI, the movie will have a stylized look resembling stop motion which Tim Burton called "hauntingly beautiful".[1] Casting for this film was done by Mindy Main, production design by Robert St. Pierre and Fred Warter, and art direction by Christophe Vacher. The film has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violence and scary images.[2][3]

Contents

Plot

9 takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened by machines. The machines, built by a scientist to help the world recover from a previous war, rebelled and began to manufacture an army to wipe out humanity. So the same scientist creates a group of sapient rag dolls. These rag dolls, or "stitch punks" as Shane Acker calls them, live a post-apocalyptic existence and one day they find 9, one of their own.

This group of rag dolls includes 1 (Christopher Plummer) their gruff self-proclaimed leader, 2 (Martin Landau) a kindly old inventor, the silent hooded twins 3 and 4, 5 (John C. Reilly) 2's loyal apprentice, 6 (Crispin Glover) a wild, visionary artist, 7 (Jennifer Connelly) a brave female warrior, 8 (Fred Tatasciore), 1's tough but dim-witted bodyguard, and finally 9 (Elijah Wood) a brave and loyal friend who displays leadership qualities that can help them survive against the machines that mercilessly hunt them down.

Characters

The characters 1 through 9 are officially known as stitch-punks, as named by Shane Acker.

  • Elijah Wood as 9, the main character. Good-hearted, thoughtful, and sincere, he is always willing to risk his life to save others. Despite being a newcomer to the group, he displays leadership qualities that can help the others survive. He seeks truth in the history of the world and the dolls, and wishes to know the meaning of life.
  • John C. Reilly as 5, a healer, tutor, and skilled mechanic. He is the journeyman of 2, the great engineer and inventor. He is a diligent worker, a meek spirit, and a devoted friend. He is missing his left eye, which he presumably lost in a previous monster attack.
  • Jennifer Connelly as 7, a female warrior. A rebel and a loner, she is fearless and brave. She is impatient and can be reckless and stubborn, but makes up for it with mobility and grace, caution of her surroundings, and calmness in dangerous situations.
  • Christopher Plummer as 1, the oldest of the dolls, and their self-proclaimed leader. He is clever and sly, but also domineering, irritable, quick-tempered, and slow, if not unwilling, to trust 9.
  • Crispin Glover as 6, a wild and impulsive artist. He has visions of the past and future, channeling his visions through drawings to interpret them, which are accurate in predicting events and help solve mysteries that puzzle 9.
  • Martin Landau as 2, a kind, delicate old inventor. He is fascinated by garbage, and loves to explore the wastelands and look for parts for his inventions. He is not in very good shape, always walking with a cane, and can only see with a lorgnette.
Animation director Joe Ksander and Elijah Wood, the voice of the title character, talk about the film at a panel discussion at WonderCon 2009.
  • Fred Tatasciore as 8, a giant, cumbersome brute. He is 1's personal bodyguard and would die for him, though he is crude and mocking towards everyone else. He is strong and fierce, wielding two masterful weapons, but isn't very clever and is easily deceived.
  • 3 and 4, curious but shy twin dolls. They are unable to speak, using flickering lights to communicate with each other, but when they need to explain things to someone else, their eyes turn into film projectors. They instinctively run and hide at the sight of danger.
  • The Scientist, a former toy-maker and the creator of the nine dolls and the B.R.A.I.N. He transferred his life force into them via an invention.
  • The B.R.A.I.N., an artificial intelligence created by the scientist for Germany after World War I as a display of the country's wealth and science.

Marketing

On December 25 2008, a trailer was released on Apple.com, featuring The Knife's "The Captain" and Coheed and Cambria's "Welcome Home".[4]

In the trailer there were several machines up against the rag doll group: the cat-skull machine that appeared in the short film; a flying machine with movable blades coming from its body; a long multi-legged machine with a doll's head which traps the ragdoll beings within its long snake like body; large two legged machines armed with a machine gun and poison gas missiles which can kill in a matter of seconds; a pod shaped machine with several multi-jointed arms; and several flying blimp-like machines with searchlights.[4]

Part of the film's marketing strategy is its planned release date of 9 September 2009 ("9/9/09").

9 is the second animated feature film to be released by Focus Features, the first being Coraline, based on the book by Neil Gaiman. The trailer for 9 preceded the film Coraline when it was shown in theaters.

A second trailer for 9 first appeared on G4 Attack of the Show. It is an extensive trailer which includes a bit of the background story behind the dolls' existence.

In April of 2009, the movie's Scientist began making journal entries on a Facebook page called '9 Scientist'. Daily thoughts and images of his inventions are updated frequently. The '9 Scientist' Facebook page seemingly references events leading up to the release of the movie 9.[5]

Most recently, a new promotional website for 9 has been launched. It sheds some light upon the background of the 9 world.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dennis Michael (2005-07-26). "Burton Votes for 9". filmstew. http://www.filmstew.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ContentID=11979. Retrieved on 2008-12-26. 
  2. ^ http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/movies/9Trailer-9Movie-ShaneAcker.php
  3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472033/fullcredits
  4. ^ a b "Apple - Trailers - 9". Apple. http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/9/. Retrieved on 2008-12-27. 
  5. ^ "9 Scientist Facebook Page". Focus Features. http://www.facebook.com/9scientist/. Retrieved on 2009-5-27. 
  6. ^ "9 Experiment Page". Focus Features. http://www.9experiment.com/. Retrieved on 2009-5-27. 

External links

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