Nick Park, the man behind one of Britain’s most beloved duos, Wallace and Gromit, has revealed the mystery behind one of the character’s most adorable traits.
On Christmas Day, the popular couple returns to screens in a new feature film, Vengeance Most Fowl, 35 years after they were first seen in A great day off.
The animated franchise, initially filmed with stop-motion clay models, has changed a lot over the years as technology has evolved, although the characters’ quirks, including Wallace’s love of cheese, have been changed. kept.
Park, founder of Aardman Animations, recently revealed to Metro the real reason Wallace can’t get enough of that Wensleydale.
Revealing the story behind the beloved plot, Nick, who first came up with the characters while at university in 1989, said: “When I was a student, I wanted him to go to the moon with Gromit, but I couldn’t think of a reason”. .’
“It was more in hindsight, because I did the first scene at the end and I just said, ‘Of course, the moon is made of cheese!’ And then it became an obsession in all the movies.”
Park also admitted that he now “shudders” to see the first attempts at stop-motion filming, a lengthy production that involves taking snapshots of every second of movement, back.
He said he laughs at “how dirty the clay and the shapes of the noses are” in the early incarnations of Wallace and Gromit.
The man behind Wallace and Gromit has revealed exactly how Wallace came to love cheese so much.
The animated series, first filmed with stop-motion clay models, has changed a lot since it first aired more than 35 years ago, but some things remain (Nick Park photographed next to the Wallace and Gromit models in November).
The animation genius recently revealed that he had to beg Peter Kay to come out of TV retirement and appear as Inspector Mackintosh in the long-awaited Christmas special.
Vengeance Most Fowl will premiere on Christmas Day on BBC iPlayer and BBC One, and is Peter’s first TV role in four years.
Wallace and Gromit will meet their archenemy Feathers McGraw, 16 years after their previous adventure.
Ahead of the film’s festive premiere, Nick revealed how the making of it came about, including how he begged Peter to be involved.
Speaking at the London premiere, he said: “I actually wrote to him, I wrote him a letter.
‘It was just to try to convince him to do this again, you know, because of how wonderful he was in Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
“We told him that we had expanded his character more in this one, that he has a bigger role in this one.
Park has admitted that he is now “embarrassed” by “how dirty the clay and the shapes of the noses are” in the first film.
The moon, which appeared in the first film, A Grand Day Out, explains Wallace’s love of cheese, says the character’s creator.
Fans of the show have long been obsessed with the character’s obsession with fromage, or to be more precise, Wensleydale.
“He was about to start his giant tour, which we didn’t know at the time, so he did it while he was doing that, between gigs.”
Elaborating on Inspector Mackintosh, the creator added: “This was a great opportunity for us to really explore the character, find the comedy in his exasperation and his rather misplaced, old-fashioned views on how policing should work.” .
“So it was really nice to expand the character with Peter and make him a little more well-rounded.”
Speaking to MailOnline at the event, director Merlin Crossingham revealed that the comedian and actor also “did some improvisations and some of them managed to appear”.
He gushed, “He has a good way of expressing himself, and we really leaned into that, his ability to do more than what’s written.” Peter is especially good at that.
Vengeance Most Fowl, a big comeback for the animated duo, will premiere on Christmas Day on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
The highly anticipated feature film shows Gromit’s growing concern as Wallace becomes overly dependent on his inventions, which is justified when Wallace creates an “intelligent gnome” who appears to develop an evil mind of his own.
As events begin to spiral out of control, it is up to Gromit to put aside his scruples and fight sinister forces, or Wallace will never be able to invent again.
But who could be behind such evil actions? No wonder behind bars all this time, Feathers McGraw is back with a vengeance.
The villain was last seen in the 1993 Bafta and Academy Award-winning short film The Wrong Pants.
The voice cast will feature Ben Whitehead as Wallace, the eccentric, cheese-loving inventor from northern England who lives with his best friend and loyal dog, Gromit.
The BBC will celebrate the premiere of Vengeance Most Fowl with three specially commissioned short videos.
Featuring Wallace, Gromit and new character Norbot in a variety of locations, the festive videos, created by Aardman, will play on BBC One between programs throughout December.
Ahead of the film’s holiday premiere, Park revealed how she convinced a famous face to return.
The new film will be 70 minutes long and will feature the return of the iconic penguin supervillain Feathers McGraw.
Fans were delighted in 2022 when it was announced that Wallace and Gromit would return for a 2024 Christmas feature film.
The new Wallace and Gromit feature film comes more than a decade after their last special, A Matter Of Loaf And Death.
The first short trailer showed Feathers breaking out of prison and preparing to wreak more havoc.
The film follows Shaun The Sheep’s latest adventure, The Flight Before Christmas, a Wallace & Gromit spin-off that aired on BBC One in 2021.
Parkv said: “I had had the idea of making a movie about garden gnomes turning bad for over a decade, but I could never figure out what made them bad.”
“It occurred to me that the question I get asked most when I meet fans is: will Feathers McGraw the penguin, Wallace and Gromit’s original antagonist in The Wrong Pants 30 years ago, ever return?
“We’ve had fun bringing him back as a cameo, but now, three decades later, it seemed like the right time.” Then it hit me: What if Feathers was involved with these gnomes?
“We hope this movie appeals to ‘Gnome Noir’ fans around the world and makes people feel satisfied when they see what Feathers has been up to since The Wrong Pants.”