Chicken Run sequel director on why some roles were recast and not others
Julia Sawalha is among the stars from the first film to have been replaced in the sequel.
Much has been said about some of the changes made to the cast for the new Chicken Run sequel, Dawn of the Nugget – with the original voice of Ginger, Julia Sawalha, revealing in 2020 that she was left "furious" after being told she sounded "too old" for the role.
The Absolutely Fabulous star has been replaced by Thandiwe Newton for the new film – one of several roles to have changed hands – and so, when RadioTimes.com spoke to director Sam Fell, we asked him about the changes, and whether he'd spoken to Sawalha after her aforementioned comments.
"I really love the casting of the first film, it's really brilliant and I love the first film," he responded.
"But it's that long ago... like, when I came to this project, I knew that I wanted to respect the first one, but I also wanted to evolve and make a film for now, for this era, for a new audience, and I'm a new director."
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He added: "I've got my own kind of, like, particular tastes, so there has been a journey to kind of figure out the balance of the two, of the first film into the new world, if you like. So, yeah, it's been a process."
Pressed on why some of the other roles – including Jane Horrocks as Babs and Lynn Ferguson as Mac – had not also been recast, he explained that he felt that certain characters "hadn't really changed".
"It's all to do with that evolution," he said. "I think, the main characters have changed the most – you know, Ginger, Rocky, bringing in Molly (their daughter, voiced by The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey).
"It's kind of a new dynamic. And I think that's where it evolved most."
Read more:
- Chicken Run star Julia Sawalha "furious" as she's axed from sequel for sounding "too old"
- Chicken Run 2 director says Mrs Tweedy wasn't always returning as villain
He continued: "But there's some characters... [like] Babs is what she is, you know, Jane is still a perfect fit. We did consider the whole cast and thought of new ideas, but some just stick, and Jane's incredibly funny and just brilliant and clever.
"And Lynn is a stand-up, so she's just so quick-witted and just improvises, and she wrote some of Mac's lines – she's a writer. And Imelda Staunton. Yeah, just forever one of the all-time great British actors.”
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is now playing in select UK cinemas and arrives on Netflix on 15th December 2023, while the first film is available now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
