Giant Ant To Adapt Graphic Novel ‘Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s’ As Animated Feature

Sarah Leavitt’s graphic novel Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me, is being adapted as an animated feature from Monarch Media, Point Grey Pictures, Lylas Pictures, and Giant Ant.

Film details:

• Giant Ant’s Leah Nelson will direct the feature, which will be animated at the Vancouver studio. The film is being produced by Vicky Patel, Steve Barnett, and Alan Powell at Monarch Media, Seth Rogen via his company Point Grey Pictures, and Lauren Miller Rogen for Lylas Pictures. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA have the film’s domestic rights.
• Published in 2010, the original novel is the story a young woman who returns to her hometown after her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As her mom’s personality begins to fade, the author battles with acceptance of the realities of the disease and must confront long-dormant issues that exist among her family.
• Patel, Rogen, and Miller Rogen are all longtime Alzheimer’s activists and have collectively raised millions in research funding. Patel was honored with the Alzheimer’s Foundation’s Jerome H. Stone Philanthropy Award earlier this year, and Miller Rogen and Rogen run Hilarity for Charity, a nonprofit that uses comedy to raise funds for research and awareness among young people.
• In a release, Nelson stated: “I’m overjoyed at the opportunity to make this unique and special film. When I read the graphic novel, I was blown away by Sarah Leavitt’s ability to tell her story with such honesty and bold creativity and I knew it needed to be brought to life on screen.”
• A Tangles feature has been in the works for years at Giant Ant, with Nelson at the helm. In fact, seven years ago the studio posted an announcement trailer, saying at the time: “Our first feature-length animation is in development! It’s based on the internationally acclaimed comic book memoir Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me by Sarah Leavitt.”