LAIKA fans rejoice! The beloved animation studio has found its next project inSusanna Clarke’s best-selling fantasy novel,Piranesi. Taking on the gargantuan task of bringing the story of the titular character and his home of many rooms to vibrant on-screen life is none other than LAIKA’s President and CEO,Travis Knight, who, after making his feature-length directorial debut with 2016’sKubo and the Two Strings, followed it up with his very first live-action production,Bumblebee.
Filled with magic, wonderment, mystery, and deception,Piranesi’s logline describes the tale as“an intoxicating, hypnotic novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality,”that follows the eponymous character on a journey of self-discovery through the endless rooms and corridors of his home.
“Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house―a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.”
‘Piranesi’ Is In Great Hands With LAIKA and Travis Knight
Piranesiwon’t be the only book-to-film adaptation that Knight currently has in the cards, as thefilmmaker is also staying busywith the darkly fantastical stop-motion flick,Wildwood, a feature-length production based on the novel of the same name byColin MeloyandCarson Ellis. In a statement released with the announcement thatPiranesiwould be getting the LAIKA treatment, Knight shared his excitement, saying,
“Piranesiis a treasure, and very dear to me. As a filmmaker, I can scarcely imagine a more joyful experience than wandering through the worlds Susanna dreamed into being. She’s one of my all-time favorite authors, and withPiranesi, Susanna has created a beautiful, devastating and ultimately life-affirming work of art. I’m humbled that she chose LAIKA as her home.”
WhileWildwoodmay be the newest LAIKA title coming to screens, the studio is also giving audiences another chance to catch the critically acclaimed stop-motion flickCoralineback in theaters for its 15th Anniversary later this summer. Stay tuned for more information aboutPiranesiand other titles coming from LAIKA.
