MIRRORMASK
Year: 2005
USA: Destination Films / Jim Henson Co / Samuel Goldwyn Films
UK: Tartan Films
UK DVD: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast: Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, Gina McKee, Dora Bryan, Stephen Fry, Andy Hamilton, Simon Harvey, Lenny Henry, Robert Llewellyn, Eryl Maynard, Eve Pearce, Nik Robinson, Victoria Williams
Circus Performers: Rick Allen, Gina D'Angelo, Simon Schofield, Silvia Fratelli, Lina Johansson, Emma Norin, Peachi Pangea, Mark Tate, Richard Thompson, Robin Thompson, Shaena Brandel, Nikki Lucas, Anton Mackman
Circus Performers Co-ordinator: Jane Ballamy
Circus band: Iain Ballamy, Chris Batchelor, Stian Carstensen, Martin France, Stuart Hall, Dave Powell, Trifon Trifanov
Other cast: Peter Borroughs, Rusty Goffe, Kerry Jay, Fiona Reynard, Nick Dainton, Nick Jackson, Mark Perry, Kate Robbins
Director: Dave McKean
Country: UK / USA
USA & UK: 101 mins
USA Rated: PG for some mild thematic elements and scary images
UK Certificate: PG contains mild peril and scary moments
USA Release Date: 30 September 2005 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 3 March 2006
UK DVD Release Date: 5 June 2006
Synopsis
MIRRORMASK is the story of Helena (Stephanie Leonidas), a fifteen-year-old girl working for her family circus, who wishes—quite ironically—that she could run away from the circus and join real life. But such is not to be the case, as she finds herself on a strange journey into the Dark Lands, a fantastic landscape filled with giants, Monkeybirds and dangerous sphinxes. Helena searches for the Mirrormask, an object of enormous power that is her only hope of escaping the Dark Lands, waking the Queen of Light and returning home.
A production from The Jim Henson Company, MIRRORMASK combines live action with digital animation, set in a spectacular computer generated landscape. A "visually rich" and "creative" environment and an achievement that is all the more dazzling given the limits imposed by their independent film budget. After shooting on location in London and Brighton, England for two weeks, followed by four weeks in a blue screen studio, the film entered its arduous post-production phase.
MIRRORMASK is a groundbreaking effort to take the stunning authorship and artistry of creators Neil Gaiman, the award-winning author of 'Sandman', 'American Gods' and 'Neverwhere', and director/designer and multimedia artist David McKean off the pages of the graphic novel for the first time and put that vision on the screen. The result is a visually and emotionally compelling story that is sweeping and powerful, yet with the intimate, handcrafted feel of an independent film.
