Celine Dion, Paul McCartney and Himesh Patel. Photo: Ave Sandford/NHLI/Getty Images; Jim Dyson/Getty Images; Karwai Tang/WireImage
High in the Clouds, the animated film derived from Paul McCartney‘s children’s book, has enlisted a star-studded voice cast. Legendary singer Celine Dion, Himesh Patel, and Hannah Waddingham are leading the cast based on the book of the same name. Stars such as Idris Elba, Lionel Richie, Beatle bandmate Ringo Starr, Jimmy Fallon, Clémence Poésy, Pom Klementieff, and Alain Chabat will also contribute to the film.
The film is directed by Tony Genkel (of the Amazing Maurice), with a script co-crafted by Jon Crocker and Toby Genkel. The two adapted McCartney’s tale of Wirral, a teenage squirrel vying to set music free amid the ban of Gretsch, a domineering owl. McCartney and Michael Giachinno will contribute original music to the 3D animation.
The film has been in the works for years. In 2014, McCartney told Lewis Corner that “One of the first things in this film is a female rock star who runs this animal city – it sounds crazy – so I have to write her number. It had to be one in which she gets everyone in her power, so it needed to be a good soul number. I had fun doing that, and I’ll be recording that next year with a female singer.” The next year, he recorded a song for the soundtrack with Lady Gaga.
In 2018, the song’s producer Greg Kurstin told Rolling Stone, “We spent one day live in the studio with a full band, a brass section, background singers, and everything for this song that Paul had written for an animated film. I don’t know what the status of it is, but I think it was a trial for Paul and me. I think he wanted to see what it was like working with me. That was the first time.”
Variety reports that the film is produced by a slew of contributors, including Paul McCartney at MPL Communications, Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne at Unique Features, and Sidonie Dumas, Nicolas Atlan, and Terry Kalagian for Gaumont, in association with MPL Communications. The movie has been sold to distributors in many international regions, reflecting the film’s demand.
From Rolling Stone US.
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