Draft:The Night Gardener (film)

The Night Gardener is an upcoming American stop-motion animated neo-noir film directed by Travis Knight and written by Ozark creator Bill Dubuque. It is produced by Laika. In the film, a young man in rural Missouri is trying to keep his family together in the wake of a tragedy.

Based on an original screenplay by Dubuque, development of the stop-motion neo-noir film from Laika started in April 2022, with Knight to direct. He says Dubuque is a masterful storyteller that crafted a provocative ideas.

Premise
The film follows a young man in rural Missouri who's trying to keep his family together in the wake of a tragedy.

Development
In April 2022, it was announced that Travis Knight would direct a new Laika stop-motion film titled The Night Gardener. It is based on an original screenplay by Ozark creator Bill Dubuque. In the announcement, Knight said: "The Night Gardener is a beautiful and timeless story that quickens the pulse as often as it breaks the heart. Bill is a masterful storyteller. He's crafted a lyrical world layered with complex characters, provocative ideas, and keenly felt emotion. It's gonna be one helluva movie." Dubuque also added: "I'm delighted that Travis Knight saw in The Night Gardener a story worthy of the time-intensive process and collective talent of Laika’s in-house artisans. Laika's creativity and dedication to detail is, in my opinion, as close as one can come to conjuring storytelling magic." Laika described it as "a gritty neo noir folktale and declared that they wanted to " paint an unflinching portrait of sacrifice, self-reliance, and revenge." On July 6, 2023 Knight declared that it was set to be a more mature film than Laika's previous films, stating that "There’s never been a film made like this in our medium. And that really excites me. It’s a beautiful story, it scares me, and it’s going to be an extraordinary piece of cinema". He added that "This film is not a family film, at all. There's never been a film made like this in our medium. And that really excites me. It's a beautiful story, it scares me, and it's going to be an extraordinary piece of cinema, I think. Or at least has the potential to be."