Sylvain Chomet‘s 2003 surprise hit Triplets of Belleville boosted new interest in hand-drawn animation, a subsect nearly forgotten in an area dominated by Pixar and DreamWorks these past few years. But its retro soundtrack was the real star of the film, which ignored dialogue in exchange for emotive music and sound effects; its Oscar-nominated song, “Belleville Rendez-vous,” was also responsible for a lively musical number at an otherwise sleepy awards show.
Now, after nearly a decade, there appears to be a prequel in the works. It’s reported by ScreenDaily that French animator Chomet (The Illusionist) is returning to this world and these characters with Swing Poppa Swing, which will explore the early lives of the original film’s titular chanteuses. It’s Chomet’s first feature since the aforementioned 2010 hit, his tribute to filmmaker and fellow Frenchman Jacques Tati; I had the pleasure of seeing this work when it debuted at TIFF in 2010, and I consider it one of the highlights of that festival. If the new project is anything like his last two films, it will prove nothing less than absolutely charming.
So far, Swing Poppa Swing has a treatment, and a script containing a “number of new characters” is expected for completion by this summer. The production company Les Armateurs is backing the film, which could be finished anywhere between 2014 and 2015.
Are you familiar with Chomet’s work? Do you think Triplets of Belleville is worthy of a prequel?