By Travis Johnson
Australian comedian, composer and general renaissance man Tim Minchin has announced on his site that his long-gestating animated feature, Larrikins, will not be proceeding. In typical style, he coupled the bad news with a gig announcement, informing fans that he would be playing “getting drunk and playing ballads” at New York City’s 54 Below.
Here’s Minchin’s missive:
Hi everyone.
I’ve recently been working in 3 different continents, missing my kids a lot, sleeping too little and not playing piano enough.
And then a couple of days ago, the animated film to which I’ve dedicated the last 4 years of my life was shut down by the new studio execs.
The only way I know how to deal with my impotent fury and sadness is to subject members of the public to the spectacle of me getting drunk and playing ballads.
I suspect I won’t be very funny, I won’t be doing any stand-up, and I might act a bit bitter and spoilt. On the upside, the tickets are as cheap as I could make them, and I might be tempted to buy a round.
Come and drink with me, my friends, and we’ll see what happens.
Love, Tim
Larrikins, the story of a bilby who has an musical adventure across the Australian outback, was scheduled for a 2018 release. Hugh Jackman was set to lend his tonsils to the lead character, joined by Margot Robbie, Naomi Watts, Rose Byrne, and Ben Mendelsohn. No official explanation has been offered for the project’s demise.
Tim is such a creative genius, all that energy will have to go somewhere! But more fool them to shut it down! It will be their loss.