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Elijah Wood, Martin Landau join 9

part of all-star cast for Focus Features' animated movie

Mar 21, 2007 Dominic von Riedemann

Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover are also part of the cast of 9, Shane Acker's debut animated movie for Focus Features.

(Writer's note: I had seen a story on this movie in only one place on the Interweb, with no confirmation so I was holding off on reporting it. Now that Joblo.com, Hollywood Reporter and bcdb.com have all reported on it, this seems to be legit)

Focus Features has assembled an all-star cast for Shane Acker's animated movie 9, including Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), who has the title role, and Academy Award winners Jennifer Connelly and Martin Landau. Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer and John C. Reilly help fill out the cast.

This movie is a full-length adaptation of Acker's 2005 Oscar-nominated short film about nine rag dolls banding together to survive in a post-Apocalyptic world. They include the leader 9 (Wood), a warrior 7 (Connelly), a war veteran named 1 (Plummer), an inventor 2 (Landau), a mechanic 5 (Reilly) and 6 (Glover) an artist.

Pamela Pettler is writing the script for 9 while Tim Burton (Corpse Bride), Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch) and Jim Lemley (Red Eye) are producing. Focus Features, best known for bringing out the live-action Brokeback Mountain, are financing the flick and will hold worldwide copyright.

"This exciting and thought-provoking story has already drawn a strong filmmaking team together to work with Shane in bringing his visionary fantasy world to life," said Focus CEO James Schamus. "These splendid actors will provide compelling characterizations to go with the visual brilliance."

As yet, there's no word on when 9 will hit theatres, but look for a 2008 or 2009 release, depending on well production goes.

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