New Line Cinema has signed Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Jessica Biel, Seann William Scott and Justin Long to the voice cast of its upcoming CG-animated feature Planet 51, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Late last year, the studio acquired North American distribution rights to the $60 million toon from Madrid-based Ilion Animation Studios. The deal was struck with Handmade Films Int’l., which co-financed and co-produced the pic with llion.
Planet 51 is an invasion story with a twist takes place on an alien world that bares a striking resemblance to suburban American in the 1950s. In this tale, the invader from outer space Earthling astronaut Capt. Chuck Baker (Johnson), who causes panic when his spacecraft lands. In his efforts to avoid capture and get off the planet, Baker is befriended by a local boy named Lem (Long) and his goofy sidekick, Skiff (Scott). Biel will lend her voice to Neera, Lem’s love interest.
The movie was Penned by Shrek writer Joe Stillman, and is directed by Jorge Blanco, the lead artist on the Commandos video game series created by Ilion’s parent company, Pyro Studios. Javier Abad and Marcos Martinez, who worked with Blanco on Commandos, are listed as co-directors on the film. Pyro has been simultaneously producing a video game based on the flick, which New Line plans to release sometime in 2009.
Planet 51 is produced by Ilion’s Ignacio Perez Dolest, with Handmade’s Guy Collins and Michael Ryan listed as co-producers, along with former Nickelodeon head Albie Hecht and Lola Film president Andres Vicente Gomez. Stillman, who collaborated on scripts for all three Shrek films, earned an Emmy nomination for his work on the Fox TV series King of the Hill, and also worked with Mike Judge on Beavis and Butthead.
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