Miramax (UK) Press Release on the new DVD
(Cover Sleeve see
)© Premier PR
TWENTY YEARS after his best-selling Rupert And The Frog Song animation, Paul McCartney is to release an enchanting follow-up film for a new generation of children.
Paul has teamed up with Miramax to release for the first time on DVD a collection packed with his acclaimed animations and introducing a new and endearing cast of all-animal characters in the short film "Tropic Island Hum".
The family package DVD - "Paul McCartney: The Music and Animation Collection" (The MAC) - is the culmination of Paul's lifelong love of animation, which grew out of his childhood love of classic Disney characters. It will be released in the UK on September 27th. Besides featuring "Tropic Island Hum", The MAC will also include the BAFTA award-winning "Rupert And The Frog Song" and "Tuesday", a surreal story of an invasion of flying frogs.
© Premier PR
"Tropic Island Hum" is set to be another children's fantasy favourite from Paul McCartney; this time the action follows Wirral, a squirrel with a Liverpool accent, who flees from huntsmen in a balloon that takes him to a tropical island sanctuary populated only by animals and where he falls in love with a shapely squirrel, Wilhelmina.
Like "Rupert And The Frog Song", which featured the UK No.3 hit single "We All Stand Together", "Tropic Island Hum" features an infectiously-catchy children's song written by Paul McCartney.
"Tuesday" is an imagination-stirring animation based on the book by David Wiesner that tells the bewitching tale of how frogs floating on lily pads take a twilight flight into a small town somewhere in America.
new release?
© Premier PR
Paul McCartney has actively followed his keen interest in the magic of animation since the Eighties. His first release, "Rupert And The Frog Song" won a BAFTA for best animated short film and became the biggest-selling video of the year after its release in 1984.
"Rupert And The Frog Song" was directed by Geoff Dunbar, who has also directed the new "Tropic Island Hum" and "Tuesday". Geoff Dunbar and Paul McCartney have achieved a successful animation partnership since they began working together in the early Eighties. Besides the BAFTA for "Rupert", they won another BAFTA in 1992 for an animated film on the work of French artist Honore Daumier and were nominated for a third two years ago for "Tuesday".
Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein praised Paul McCartney as "a master of animation" and said The MAC shared the standards and values of Disney's acclaimed heritage.
He added: "In keeping with the great Disney tradition, these three titles are breathtaking and will be a real treat for families to watch together".
Paul McCartney first fell in love with animation when he was a boy in Liverpool; later, as a father, he would read Rupert stories to his children when they were young. He said: "In animation it's good to have a bit of a childlike quality about yourself and I certainly have, it's just something that's in me."
garden, waiting for the sun to come
© Premier PR
"I'm still fascinated by things that fascinated me as a kid; the passion for adventure, humour or romance. Sometimes people grow out of them, or they sort of force themselves out of them. But I've been lucky; because I've been involved in music I've not had to lose those qualities."
"There's a childlike quality to the art of animation and, married with a bit of music, it seemed the perfect way to bring these magical stories to life".
The MAC DVD is a packed disc; besides the three films it will include an exclusive interview in which Paul McCartney explains his passion for animation. The 5.1 Surround Sound DVD will also include bonus features on the making of "Tuesday" and "Tropic Island Hum", line tests of "Rupert And The Frog Song" and "Tuesday" and storyboards.