Director Richard Linklater’s next film, “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure,” will stream worldwide on Netflix.
Linklater, known for “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?,” “Waking Life and “A Scanner Darkly,” wrote and directed this space odyssey, which blends hybrid live-action and CGI animation, and incorporates 3D graphics.
The film is set in Houston and documents the famous 1969 flight to the moon, which is celebrating its 51st anniversary today. Jack Black and Zachary Levi star.
There are dual perspectives in “Apollo 10 1/2.” First, the viewpoint of astronauts and mission control, the second captures the excitement of a child.
Other in the cast include Glen Powell, Josh Wiggins, Milo Coy, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux and Jessica Brynn Cohen.
The live-action elements wrapped in March, while animation work will be completed in Austin at animation facility Minnow Mountain and at Submarine’s animation studio in the Netherlands.
For Linklater, the film had a strongly personal element, as it was inspired by his childhood in Texas.
“It struck me years ago that this was my film to make, from both a chronological and proximity level – I was there, going into third grade. Our unique animation style allows both the conjuring of a world long gone, and the flowing, playful expression of memory and imagination,” he stated.
A second animated show, “Bombay Rose,” has been slated at the streamer for this fall. The hand-painted feature, inspired by real-life events, explores how a red rose unites three tales of impossible love, including a Hindu dancer and a Muslim boy and two women. Underscoring the chasm between a romanticized Bollywood and reality, “Bombay Rose” is directed by Gitanjali Rao (“True Love Story.”)
“Bombay Rose” was the first Indian animated movie selected to open Venice Critics Week.