Nathaniel Clark – A&E Editor

nuc5002@psu.edu

Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn announced in a recent interview that the animated film they had been developing with Netflix was canned during the streaming giant’s animation purge. 

With the release of the band’s new album, “Cracker Island,” both members of the Gorillaz team have been recently doing a slew of press and interviews. This included an interview with the Belgian publication HUMO. 

When the interviewer asked about the new record’s creation, Albarn stated, “The new record came about because [Jamie Hewlett] and I were often in Los Angeles. We were working on a Gorillaz feature film, which will never happen.” As expected, this led the interviewer to ponder what had happened to the film, suggesting it had been “permanently suspended.” Albarn responded:

“Yes. That is to say, and without naming names because the whole matter has not yet been settled: the streaming platform for which we were making the film has withdrawn. They started to panic because they were making too much content and decided to cut back on their movie offerings. And, as has been classic Hollywood practice for decades, the guy we were working with has moved on to another company. From then on you have lost your guardian angel, and there seems to be a bad smell hanging on you. Hollywood is quite territorial: if a new guy comes along, he must and will have a different opinion, even if he secretly agrees with his predecessor.”

The Gorillaz feature film is just another casualty of Netflix’s recent animation purge. This purge came as the streaming service dismantled its animation department, canceling acclaimed shows like “Inside Job” and shutting down other long-planned projects.

After over twenty years of Gorillaz, it is a shock that the band, which is so closely connected to Jamie Hewlett’s visual language, has never received a full animated adaptation.