A BOOK created by a Reading author is currently being turned into a movie due to be released this time next year.
AF Harrold wrote The Imaginary back in 2014. Illustrated by Emily Gravett, the novel won awards and created fans across the globe.
Now, Japanese-based Studio Ponoc is creating an animation that will do the story justice.
It is the story of Rudger, a boy no one can see, from a world where imaginations can live – and be eaten by others.
He has to team up with friends from The Imaginaries Town to go on an adventure at the risk of the fates and futures of those they love, and stop a mysterious man from destroying them.
And the story will be told not with hand-drawn illustrations forming the basis of the animation.
It will be directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, who worked with Isao Takahata on several animations including 1991’s Only Yesterday, and 2001’s Spirited Away.
Mr Takahata described Mr Momose as “The one who will evolve animation”.
The film will be released in Japanese first, and an English language version will follow.
AF Harrold is a University of Reading graduate who has written a host of famous collections of poetry and novels including Fizzlebert Stump: The Boy Who Ran Away from the Circus (and Joined the Library), and is a regular guest at schools in the town, as well as appearing at Fourbears Books in Caversham.
“It’s a real thrill and an honour to have Studio Ponoc pick this story of mine to make into a movie,” he said.
“Knowing the pedigree of the filmmakers involved and having read the script and been gifted a glimpse of some early snippets of animation… I’m wholly confident that Rudger and Amanda and Zinzan and Mr Bunting and the rest of the characters in the book are in safe hands.”
Animation is a long, intensive process, and Mr Harrold has had to sit on the news for a while.
“This was a secret we had to keep for a long time, so when the existence of the film was finally announced to the public, it was like being able to breathe properly again – I’m no good at knowing secrets, they make me feel uncomfortable,” he said.
Mr Momose is looking forward to sharing the story,
“It is a very difficult task to materialize ‘imagination’, to portray ‘something that has never been seen’ in a film, and this is why I find it interesting – and at the same time challenging – to present it in animation,” he said.
“Rather than depict a world seen from the perspective of ‘the Imaginaries’ with only a sense of entrapment, I am creating a film full of abundance and opportunities for liberation, offering strength to those of us living in our era.”
The studio’s previous work was Mary and the Witch’s Flower, based on The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart. The English language version featured the vocal talents of Jim Broadbent and Reading-born Kate Winslet.
Producer Yoshiaki Nishimura said: “It was right after I finished making Mary and The Witch’s Flower that I picked up the original novel ‘The Imaginary’ by A.F. Harrold and Emily Gravett. It offered a glimpse of life that we all have experienced. It was funny and a bit scary. Most of all, it moved me.”
