Tag: Gorillaz

Gorillaz is quite the musical phenomenon with their unique take on genre giving each new album something unique. Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn created the fictional band that would go on to leave its mark on the industry. With a new album set to release on February 24th titled Cracker Island, Albarn has been busy promoting the music group’s future. During an interview with the Belgian magazine Humo, it seems it was revealed that the Netflix film they have been working on is sadly currently in limbo.

What stands out is that the project never even left the script stages and seemingly never truly finalized to get any animation work done. The project has kind of been in existence since all the way back in 2002 but sadly nothing ever truly came together to give us a true story focused on 2-D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel. Interestingly enough though, this quasi-cancellation was seemingly what inspired the creation of the new album Cracker Island, which first premiered its solo by the same name starring Thundercat around six months ago.

The good thing is that each new music video does act as a continuing story for our favorite fictional band, and the same is true with the latest releases featuring a cult that was seemingly started by Murdoc. Perhaps elements from that original script made their way into these new videos and storylines that have been teased throughout new music videos. The band has been showcased in different animation styles in the past but it would’ve been amazing to see them in a live-action/animation hybrid style similar to the video from the single Cracker Island. Perhaps one day the project will come together.

Source: Pitchfork

The virtual band Gorillaz was created by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn back in 1998. The band has gone through many different genres since its inception. In a way, they never truly committed to any genre while even telling a story of its four fictional band members through music videos. There have been discussions about a potential cinematic adaptation for quite some time. Luckily, it seems that talks have started again as songwriter and co-creator Albarn is already in discussions with Netflix to bring the film to life. In an interview with Apple Music, he revealed the collaboration:

I’m at Netflix because we’re making a full-length Gorillaz film with Netflix. We’re having a writing session in Malibu this afternoon. It’s really exciting to do that. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a very long time. It’s been through so many incarnations…this Gorillaz doing a movie. Honestly.

Damon Albarn

The last sentence about the many incarnations once again highlights how long this project has been in development. There were hints that back in 2020 a new project was in development. It’s unclear if it’ll act as an origin story for the creation of the fictional band, or simply explore their current life. There’s a chance it might expand where the last album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez‘s story left us off. Of course, it could tell a completely unique story with references to what has happened in the past.

There’s also the question of whether the series will act more like an extended music video. Gorillaz might create a new album for the film, similar to what Jack Black did with the Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny film. We’ll see how long the wait will be, but if they’re going down the animated route it’s likely something that’ll take a few years before it sees the light of day.

Source: Collider