Monday, October 10, 2005

Bad news for Wallace and Gromit fans

Props and sets from the Wallace and Gromit films are believed to have been destroyed in a warehouse blaze. Fire crews were called to Oscar-winning Aardman Animations' Bristol site, which contained the firm's "entire history", early on Monday October 10. Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park said it was "dreadful" for the company but comparatively "not a big deal". The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the new Wallace and Gromit film, has just gone to the top of the US box office chart. Company spokesman Arthur Sheriff said: "It couldn't have come on a worse day - we were supposed to be celebrating, but instead our history has disappeared in a couple of hours. "Everything has gone, from as far back as Morph and all the way through to Chicken Run, including all the Wallace and Gromit films, Creature Comforts, it's all there. Everyone is devastated." Mr Park, who won Oscars for animations such as The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, said: "Even though its precious stuff and nostalgic - and its dreadful news for the company, in the light of other tragedies it's not a big deal." Fire crews were called to the building near the city's Temple Meads station at about 6 am on Monday. They were unable to stop all three floors inside collapsing.

Avon Fire Service Divisional Officer Geoff Cater said: "All three floors inside have collapsed and the exterior walls are unstable. "We couldn't commit people inside, so we are fighting the fire from the outside which is more time consuming." At the height of the blaze, flames were reaching 100ft, he added. Nobody was in the building when the fire broke out. The area has been sealed off and crews are expected to remain at the scene for the rest of the day.


Personally, I don't know how Nick Park can be so philosophical. I know that on a scale of disasters, it doesn't compare to hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunami, but I feel pretty devastated myself, and it's not even several years of my work that's gone up in flames !

6 comments:

Kelly said...

This is terrible news. I can't believe it happened right when the film came out. What a tragedy.

Film is brilliant, by the way.

Michele said...

I know ! 30 years of work gone up in flames in one morning... A nightmare...


But of course the film is "Cracking" Kelly ! How could it be otherwise ? :-D

Mrs. Coulter said...

Very upsetting.

I adored the shorts and the whole family loved Chicken Run...my mom still quotes it to me from time to time: "me whole life flashed before me eyes...and it was booooooring."

I can't wait to see the new one, but it will probably be on video. We don't get out much these days.

Michele said...

I love The Wrong Trousers - and I sat down to watch the three short films this afternoon, by way of a memorial...

I'm going to go and see the new film on the big screen - it'll look so much better than on my little portable !

Anonymous said...

I know, it's a real tragedy. All that money and they didn't learn not to put all their eggs in one basket. Fortunately we're all much cleverer than that.

Michele said...

Why the sarcasm ? What's having a lot of money got to do with where the archive was stored ? Space is at a premium in Bristol, as in any big city, and I expect they preferred to have all the materials in one place for the sake of not having to trek round the city through the heavy traffic every time they wanted anything.

Why don't you have the courage of your convictions and sign your name instead of just leaving snide, sarcastic remarks ? I was strongly inclined to just delete this message (this is *my* Blog after all).