Will Vinton Set to Direct CGI Film “The Quest”

It was announced last week that animation director Will Vinton, creator of the term Claymation and recipient of an Academy Award for his 1974 short film Closed Mondays, has a new film in the works called The Quest, an absurdist outer space adventure written by himself, Andrew Weise and Peter Crabbe. Vinton, who was forced out of Will Vinton Studios in 2002, the company that eventually became LAIKA, has previously directed one animated feature—The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985).

Names attached to The Quest, which will be computer animated, are production designer Bruce Zick (The Lion King, Prince of Egypt, WALL-E) and Monty Python alum John Cleese, who will provide the lead voice. The film will be produced by Will Vinton’s Vinton Entertainment and Gnosis Moving Pictures, a new production company founded by Darius A. Kamali, human rights advocate and associate producer on the 2008 MGM/Weinstein Company animated film Igor.

According to their website, Gnosis “aim[s] to explore the human condition, propagate communal understanding and reflect the creative potential of individual consciousness.” In addition to regular live action and 3D film projects, Kamali has aligned Gnosis with West coast game developers IPFranchise for the creation and distribution of apps, social media games and digital intellectual properties.