“Chicken for Linda!” directors Sébastien Laudenbach and Chiara Malta will follow-up their multiple award-winning feature with a mortality-themed animal tale “My Stupid Intentions.”
Adapted from a 2023 book from Italian author Bernardo Zannoni, the decidedly adult novel reads as the autobiography of a beech marten born into poverty then raised into a harsh and uncaring world.
“This is a book of extraordinary cruelty,” Malta tells Variety. “It’s a very dark tale that deals with death and the emergence of consciousness in the animal kingdom. Because with consciousness comes nostalgia, memory, the fear of mortality, and the awareness of being finite. With it comes loss, grief and chaos – and this is the challenge [Sébastien Laudenbach and I] have set for ourselves.”
“By adapting a book with such intense cruelty for a young audience, the goal, essentially, is to talk to children about death,” Malta continues. “We want to take this beautiful book — one that deals with so many philosophical questions and high level concepts — and make it accessible for the most noble audience of all.”
Now in early development, the Franco-Italian production will reunite “Chicken for Linda!” outfits Miyu Productions and Dolce Vita Films, while filmmakers are currently testing out animation styles that mix 3D tools with a sensory, 2D aesthetic. With a pilot date set for 2026, the filmmakers hope to launch production shortly thereafter.
“Chicken for Linda!” won best feature at Annecy Intl. Animated Film Festival in 2023 and best animated film at the César Awards in 2024.
In the nearer term, the creative — and domestic — partners are busy with individual projects. As Laudenbach now oversees production on his Georges Bizet adaptation “Love Is a Gypsy Child: A Carmen Story,” Malta is set to shoot a live-action, Italian-language remake of the 2023 Belgian comedy “The (Ex)perience of Love,” with Rome-based Wildside producing.
“This kind of remake is a bit of a gamble,” Malta says. “But [original directors Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni] trust me because we all have very strong artistic visions. They have a lot of fantasy and imagination, and they trust me not to simply adapt it [in a superficial way].”
Malta is also lining up to adapt author Gianrico Carofiglio’s 1980s-set novel “Three O’Clock in the Morning,” which follows a father and his epileptic son over the course of 48 hours in Marseille, with production set begin in the South of France later this year.
