A couple of years ago it would have seemed reasonable to dub Tim Minchin a "musical comedian", but he's diversified so much recently that that now seems inappropriately reductive. He's acted, most significantly in a recurring role on Californication; he's been involved in short films; and he's written the music and lyrics for the Olivier award-winning stage adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda that's currently running in London. And next up is a DreamWorks animation. Minchin will "lend his creative energy" to the animated animal adventure **Larrikins.
What that certainly means is that he'll be crafting the songs for the film, but there's also talk of a much larger creative role. He isn't directing, but the suggestion is he'll be involved in far more than just the film's music.
A "larrikin" is Australian slang for something like "mischievous scamp", but our Aussie readers can put us straight on that in the comments selection below. The film's story, we're told, takes place in the Australian outback, and centers on a neurotic bilby who has never before left home, but finds himself on a colourful odyssey when he learns a dangerous secret. Harry Cripps (TV's Supernova) came up with the idea, and Christina Steinberg (Rise Of The Guardians) will be producing. DreamWorks' Greg Taylor and Amie Karp will be project managing.
"I was lucky enough to grow-up in Western Australia", says Minchin, "and know that the Australian outback is vast and spell-binding and heart-stoppingly beautiful, and the characters that inhabit it are unique and hilarious and tough and cheeky. I am hugely excited to be working with Harry and the DreamWorks Animation team in their mission to capture some of this unique aesthetic and quirky, iconoclastic culture on film. It's going to be bloody good fun!"