4 of 9 speak

I don’t know what the characters in animator Shane Acker’s surreal computer-generated feature 9 will ultimately sound like, but at least we know who’ll be making some of the noises — Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau and John C. Reilly have reportedly agreed to throw their vocals for the burlap men and other denizens of Acker’s abstract world.

Tim Burton is producing 9 along with Russian import Timur Bekmambetov (NIGHT WATCH), and the film’s style is being made to resemble stop-motion animation. Which is an oddly circuitous way to get an old-fashioned appearance from a cutting-edge technology, but after dealing with actual stop-motion on three movies already, Burton probably doesn’t want to deal with the excruciating process for a while…

The story seems to involve magical miniature doll-men battling creepy mechanical monsters… but whatever it is, the freaky visuals are fantastic. Hey, I’m really just thrilled that it’s not about more goddamn talking and dancing animals or vehicles. You can catch a glimpse of what’s ultimately in store over at Shane Acker’s site RIGHT HERE! Ginchy!