Celebrity Harvest (lost production material of unfinished animated Gorillaz film; early 2000s): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:32, 14 December 2023

Concept art for Celebrity Harvest.

Status: Lost

Gorillaz is a British virtual band created by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett, which consists of four animated members: 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle. During its first incarnation, it also included the character Del, a spirit which possessed Russel and ocasionally made appearances in the group's music videos.

Shortly after the release of their self-titled debut album, Hewlett announced that a Gorillaz film with the working title of Celebrity Harvest was in its early stages of development, along with a second album that would serve as its soundtrack.^[1] The film was further teased in Blur's 2003 album Think Tank, which had the words "Celebrity Harvest" printed on a corner of the booklet.^[2]

Very little is known about the film itself. Hewlett initially described it as "a very dark film" with "cannibals and zombies", but didn't disclose any details of its proposed storyline until after it was cancelled. He and Cass Browne (a former contributor to Gorillaz's music and characterization) later revealed to have written a full script, which revolved around the theme of the world being trapped in an endless night and the sickness of celebrity culture.^[3]

Further details from its plot can be seen through Jamie's concept artwork, such as Del becoming evil after being exorcised from Russel and Murdoc leaving Gorillaz to form his own metal band.^[4] According to them, a lot of the ideas and themes originally intended for Celebrity Harvest were later implemented on their 2005 album Demon Days.

In a 2005 Trax Magazine interview with the band, it was revealed via the fictional characters that the film had been scrapped.^[5] Hewlett affirmed that big animation studios such as Dreamworks were unwilling to produce a film as dark as Celebrity Harvest was intended to be, and he wasn't happy with their idea of a film featuring the Gorillaz characters.^[6]

Gallery

Videos

Stay Up Late Productions' video on the subject.

ObscureMediaTV's video on the subject.

Images

References

[1] Article about the movie's announcement.

[2] An Eeggs.com thread about the "Celebrity Harvest" easter egg on Think Tank.

[3] An interview in which Jamie and Cass discuss their failed attempts at pitching the film, and how its themes eventually influenced Gorillaz's second album.

[4] A Gorillaz song analysis which mentions a Hewlett quote regarding the movie's plot.

[5] The translated Trax Magazine interview.

[6] Article about Gorillaz's 2017 album Humanz in which Jamie Hewlett briefly mentions the movie.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{InfoboxLost
-|title=<center>Gorillaz-Celebrity Harvest</center>
+|title=<center>Gorillaz - Celebrity Harvest</center>
 |image=Celebrity1.jpg
-|imagecaption=Concept art for Celebrity Harvest.
+|imagecaption=Concept art for ''Celebrity Harvest''.
 |status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
 }}
-Gorillaz is a british virtual band created by ''Blur'' frontman Damon Albarn and ''Tank Girl'' artist Jamie Hewlett, which consists of four animated members: 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle.
+Gorillaz is a British virtual band created by ''Blur'' frontman Damon Albarn and ''Tank Girl'' artist Jamie Hewlett, which consists of four animated members: 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle. During its first incarnation, it also included the character Del, a spirit which possessed Russel and ocasionally made appearances in the group's music videos.
-Shortly after the release of the self-titled album, Hewlett announced that a Gorillaz film with the working title of '''''Celebrity Harvest''''' was in its early stages of development, along with a second album that would serve as the film's soundtrack. It was further teased in Blur's 2003 album ''Think Tank'', which had the words "Celebrity Harvest" printed on a corner of the booklet.<ref>https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/76671/gorillaz-bust-a-move-on-new-album-movie Article about the movie's announcement.</ref><ref>http://www.eeggs.com/items/42060.html An Eeggs.com thread about the "Celebrity Harvest" easter egg on Think Tank. .</ref>
+Shortly after the release of their self-titled debut album, Hewlett announced that a Gorillaz film with the working title of '''''Celebrity Harvest''''' was in its early stages of development, along with a second album that would serve as its soundtrack.<ref>[https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/76671/gorillaz-bust-a-move-on-new-album-movie Article about the movie's announcement.]</ref> The film was further teased in Blur's 2003 album ''Think Tank'', which had the words "Celebrity Harvest" printed on a corner of the booklet.<ref>[http://www.eeggs.com/items/42060.html An Eeggs.com thread about the "Celebrity Harvest" easter egg on ''Think Tank''.]</ref>
+Very little is known about the film itself. Hewlett initially described it as "a very dark film" with "cannibals and zombies", but didn't disclose any details of its proposed storyline until after it was cancelled. He and Cass Browne (a former contributor to Gorillaz's music and characterization) later revealed to have written a full script, which revolved around the theme of the world being trapped in an endless night and the sickness of celebrity culture.<ref>[https://gorillaz-news.livejournal.com/178297.html An interview in which Jamie and Cass discuss their failed attempts at pitching the film, and how its themes eventually influenced Gorillaz's second album.]</ref>
+Further details from its plot can be seen through Jamie's concept artwork, such as Del becoming evil after being exorcised from Russel and Murdoc leaving Gorillaz to form his own metal band.<ref>[https://gorillazsongbysong.blogspot.com/2017/08/murdoc-is-god.html A Gorillaz song analysis which mentions a Hewlett quote regarding the movie's plot.]</ref> According to them, a lot of the ideas and themes originally intended for ''Celebrity Harvest'' were later implemented on their 2005 album ''Demon Days''.
+In a 2005 Trax Magazine interview with the band, it was revealed via the fictional characters that the film had been scrapped.<ref>[http://gorillaz-news.livejournal.com/44975.html The translated Trax Magazine interview.]</ref> Hewlett affirmed that big animation studios such as Dreamworks were unwilling to produce a film as dark as ''Celebrity Harvest'' was intended to be, and he wasn't happy with their idea of a film featuring the Gorillaz characters.<ref>[https://suerusselldj.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/gorillaz-morrissey-and-sade-turned-them-down-tv-series-in-the-works-more/ Article about Gorillaz's 2017 album ''Humanz'' in which Jamie Hewlett briefly mentions the movie.]</ref>
-Very little is known about the movie itself. Hewlett described it as "a very dark film", however, what is known about the plot resumes to various seemingly random ideas with no reliable sources to them. It was revealed in a 2005 Trax Magazine interview with the fictional band members that the movie had been scrapped.<ref>http://gorillaz-news.livejournal.com/44975.html The translated Trax Magazine interview.</ref> According to Hewlett, big animation studios such as Dreamworks were unwilling to produce the movie, likely because it would've been too mature for a child audience (though the Gorillaz, by themselves, were far from being child friendly).<ref>https://suerusselldj.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/gorillaz-morrissey-and-sade-turned-them-down-tv-series-in-the-works-more/ Article in which Jamie Hewlett briefly mentions the movie.</ref>
 ==Gallery==
+===Videos===
+{{Video|perrow  =2
+  |service1     =youtube
+  |id1          =EKRPbp61BK8
+  |description1 =Stay Up Late Productions' video on the subject.
+  |service2     =youtube
+  |id2          =Bwc2U_NAdtc
+  |description2 =ObscureMediaTV's video on the subject.
+}}
+===Images===
 <gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
 File:Celebrity3.png|
 File:Celebrity2.png|
 File:Celebrity4.png|
+File:murdoc.jpeg|
 </gallery>
 ==References==
-<references/>
+{{reflist}}
 [[Category:Lost animation]]
+[[Category:Lost films]]
+[[Category:Completely lost media]]