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Heart of Darkness animated film coming, with Michael Sheen, Matthew Rhys and Andrew Scott to star

The film will be presented at the European Film Market in Berlin

Jack Saddler
Thursday 17 January 2019 11:12 GMT
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Andrew Scott, Michael Sheen and Matthew Rhys have been cast in 'Heart of Darkness'
Andrew Scott, Michael Sheen and Matthew Rhys have been cast in 'Heart of Darkness'

Joseph Conrad’s classic novella Heart of Darkness is being adapted into an animated feature-length film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Michael Sheen, Matthew Rhys and Andrew Scott have joined the voice cast, with Gerald Conn, who won a 1998 Welsh BAFTA for his animated short film The Comet’s Tale, directing.

The film is set to debut at the European Film Market in Berlin next month. Production is taking place in Wales, Ireland and Belgium.

Heart of Darkness, a sinister and highly studied tale touching on themes of colonialism, was first published by Conrad in 1898.

It tells the story of the sailor Marlow, who embarks on a trail up the Belgian ruled river Congo in search of the figure Kurtz, an almost mystical figure who had created a kingdom of loyal subjects in the wilderness.

The book has been frequently revisited in other cultural works, most significantly in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 classic Apocalypse Now. The film, which set the story in a Vietnam War setting, starred Martin Sheen as Marlow and Marlon Brando as Kurtz .

Michael Sheen (unrelated to Martin) will voice of Kurtz, while Scott will voice a Russian sailor named Harlequin and Rhys a relative that Marlow meets on his journey. No actor has been cast for the central role of Marlow

The animated adaptation was co-written by Mark Jenkins and Mary Kate O Flanagan, with Sheen also executive producing.

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