French and Saunders get animated

The comic duo will lend their vocal talents to Henry Selick's stop-motion feature 'Coraline'.

Jun 12 2006

Last summer we brought you news of 'Coraline', the first feature from Nike founder Phil Knight's film company Laika Entertainment, and we promised more information as and when it broke.

Nearly a year on we can make good on that promise, with the announcement that Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders will voice eccentric neighbours Miss Forcible and Miss Spink in the stop-motion feature.

Dakota Fanning has already been cast as the voice of the title character, a young girl who is transported to a parallel universe when she steps through a door in her new house.

Based on the Neil Gaiman book, Henry Selick ('The Nightmare Before Christmas') is directing, and he told Screen Daily this about the announcement: 'I'd like to say that casting [French and Saunders] was my idea, but the credit goes to Coraline's creative father, Neil Gaiman.

'Spink and Forcible are not the usual comic relief characters of animated films, but as performed by French and Saunders, they will be morbidly funny.'

'Coraline' is currently in production and should arrive in cinemas sometime in 2007.