Voice role -- Blinky Bill

[adina]

Cuddly friend ... First image from the new, animated movie Blinky Bill.

www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/blinky-bill-movie-will-star-ryan-kwanten-toni-collette-barry-humphries-deborah-mailman-and-other-big-names/story-e6frfmw0-1227089090759

ONE of Australia’s best loved cartoon characters, Blinky Bill, is getting the big-screen treatment.

The CGI feature film, announced at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast this evening (Mon evening), will feature an all-star Aussie voice cast and will be released next year.

In a far cry from his over-sexed, dim-witted, Southern-drawling character from TV hit True Blood, former Home and Away star Ryan Kwanten will voice the mischievous koala, while Robin McLeavy (Hell On Wheels, Super Fun Night), will play his best friend Nutsy.

The supporting cast reads like a who’s who of Aussie film and TV, featuring Toni Collette, Barry Humphries, David Wenham, Richard Roxburgh, Deborah Mailman and Barry Otto. British actor Rufus Sewell (Dark City, Hercules), whose father was an Australian animator who has an Aussie passport, will also take part.

“The Blinky Bill Movie will introduce a whole new generation to Blinky Bill and his Australian bush friends,” says producer Barbara Stephen of local filmmakers Flying Bark Productions. “We are so excited that we’ve been able to attract such an impressive cast to the project.”

Created by New Zealand-born author Dorothy Ward, Blinky Bill first appeared in book form in 1933 and he and his friends Splodge, Flap, Marcia and Wombo have entertained generations of children. He has also appeared in comic strips, TV series, computer games, on stamps, as well as being the official mascot of the Australian Republican Movement in the 1990s. A 1992 animated feature film was also well received, making about $2 million at the box office.




A mischievous koala and his Australian bush friends are coming to cheer us up! Fun fun fun!

P.S.
www.screenaustralia.gov.au/find-a-film/detail.aspx?tid=30910&
SYNOPSIS:
Blinky Bill is a little koala with a big imagination. An adventurer at heart, he dreams of leaving the little town of Green Patch and following in his missing father’s footsteps. When Blinky discovers a mysterious marker that hints at his Dad’s whereabouts, he embarks on a journey that takes him beyond the boundary of Green Patch and into the wild and dangerous Outback. He quickly makes friends with Nutsy, a zoo koala, and Jacko, a nervous frill-necked lizard. Pursued relentlessly by a vengeful Cat who has a personal score to settle with Blinky, the trio must learn to work together if they ever want to survive the rugged Australian landscape and find Blinky’s father!

Hmm, so the British guy will be the villain, or this is not a general rule? Vengeful Cat? Meow. Maybe Rufus plays the nervous frill-necked lizard. Or did he fall into the pidgeon-hole of the missing father?
So, Rufus, who are you?

[kygal]

Thanks Adina. Will be interesting to see what role he plays.

[kissmekate]

Oh, cute! With his family background, this sounds like the perfect thing. Only downside is that we won't get to see him.

I'm sort of hoping for the nervous frill-necked lizard.

[rueful]

Cool find!  Thanks for the info, Adina!

Oct 13, 2014 9:23:27 GMT adina said:

Hmm, so the British guy will be the villain, or this is not a general rule? Vengeful Cat? Meow. 

Here I am again, "dark-eyed Count on a horse, No 7"...

[lassie]

Adina for finding and posting . I'm curious to know the character he will play. Details please Rufus

[kissmekate]

rueful, I love your interpretation of the smooth dark baddie on a horse!

[nell]

Great find Adina! Thanks for posting. I found this article suggesting Rufus is the cat...I'm guessing he'll have it licked!

By Don Groves

An Australian movie featuring Ryan Kwanten, Toni Collette, Robin McLeavy, David Wenham, Rufus Sewell, Richard Roxburgh, Deborah Mailman, Barry Otto and Barry Humphries sounds like a casting director’s dream.

All are lending their voices to The Blinky Bill Movie, Flying Bark Productions’ CGI feature now in production in Sydney.

The script is by Fin Edquist, whose Maya the Bee Movie opens here on November 1. The co-directors are Deane Taylor (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and Maya’s Alexs Stadermann.

Kwanten voices the title character with McLeavy as the koala’s best friend Nutsy. The plot sees the duo racing across the outback to find Blinky’s missing father and save his hometown.

Collette will voice emus Beryl and Cheryl with Sewell as The Cat, Humphries as Wombo the wombat, Wenham as Jacko the frill-necked lizard, Mailman as Blinky’s mother and Otto as the mayor of Green Patch.

“The Blinky Bill Movie will introduce a whole new generation to Blinky Bill and his Australian bush friends,‘ said producer Barbara Stephen. ‘We are so excited that we’ve been able to attract such an impressive cast to the project.”

Casting director Kirsty McGregor concurs,"This is our dream cast."

Yoram Gross Film Studios – now Flying Bark Productions - produced the first Blinky Bill feature in 1992, based on the Australian classic book by Dorothy Wall.

Studiocanal will distribute the family movie in 2015.


if.com.au/2014/10/13/article/All--star-cast-for-Aussie-movie/BVNITTGHQK.html

What fun! Antonio Banderas eat your heart out!

[midoro]

Thanks Adina and Nell for the news! Looking forward to hearing Rufus as the cat!

[germanlady]

Thank you, Adina, for finding this treasure. Thank you, nell, for the update.

What a lovely idea: Rufus as a cat.

Off to caress my cat...

[kissmekate]

I've always said Rufus was the perfect name for a cat

[kygal]

LOL Rueful. I love it!

Thanks for the update Nell. The villain again. Oh well, it should be fun.

[rueful]

Thanks for finding that extra info, Nell! I hope Rufus will be a sexy cat like Puss in Boots, but somehow I doubt it.

[nell]

I read there was a frill-necked lizard called called Ruf in Blinky Bill - a pale imitation I expect

I hope Rufus will be a sexy cat like Puss in Boots, but somehow I doubt it.

Oh ye of little faith! It'll have a sexy voice at least I didn't think your "count" was knightly enough Rueful - maybe more like this fella

[GreenEyesToo]

More fabulous news ( Adina!) and more work for Rufus - he's such a busy man these days, lucky for us!

Thanks for the extra news, Nell, and I'm loving the pics! That Cat'll have the sexiest voice of the lot - purrrrrrrrrr.....

[walt]

Adina and Nell for

all the promising info [sw00nthvd]

and the illustration!