EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has set FernGully as a live-action film based on the beloved 1992 animated FernGully: The Last Rainforest. Marielle Heller is set to direct her own script.
Stacey Sher will produce through Shiny Penny along with Susan Ursitti‑Sheinberg, Jon Sheinberg, and Matt Feige through Sheinberg Feige Organization (SFO Entertainment), and Defiant by Nature’s Heller and Leah Holzer. Moonli Singha will executive produce.
The original FernGully featured the voices of Robin Williams, Tim Curry, Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis and is remembered for the tug of war over Williams voicing another character in an animated film, since he was the signature Genie in Disney’s 1992 hit Aladdin. The original is set in an Australian rainforest populated by fairies, one of whom accidentally shrinks a logger to fairy size. They band together to protect the rainforest from the logging business and an evil pollution entity named Hexxus.
The film featured songs and performances by Elton John, Raffi, Sheena Easton, Curry, Williams – whose “Batty Rap” number still stands out — Johnny Clegg and a song written by Jimmy Buffett.
This marks back-to-back film deals for writer-director Heller, who will reunite in October with her A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood star Tom Hanks in baseball film The Comebacker, which Sony Pictures just won at auction. Playtone and Heller’s Defiant by Nature are producing that one. Heller most recently wrote and directed the Amy Adams starrer Nightbitch, which she adapted from the Rachel Yoder novel.
Heller is repped by UTA, P.J. Shapiro and Erin Einstein of Johnson Shapiro Slewett. Shout! Factory continues to distribute the original FernGully film. The Amazon MGM Studios deal was negotiated by Verve Talent and Fischbach, Perlstein, Lieberman & Almond.
