Editorial Staff
Mel Gibson’s role in the upcoming “Chicken Run” sequel will reportedly be recast following accusations he made an anti-Semitic remark to actress Winona Ryder in 1995.
According to The Wrap, a new actor will be hired to reprise Gibson’s role of Rocky the Rooster in the sequel, which has been picked up for release by Netflix.
A representative for the “Lethal Weapon” actor called Ryder’s allegations “100% untrue”.
The cast of the original “Chicken Run” also included Julia Sawalha, Phil Daniels, Imelda Staunton and Timothy Spall. No word if any are reprising their roles in the long-awaited sequel.
“We’ve discussed it so many times over the years and come up with various ideas but never quite found one we loved enough,” said director Phil Lord of “Chicken Run 2”. “But it was always in the back of our minds,” he went on, explaining that every three to four years there would be a conversation at Aardman about how to do so.
“[Now] We’ve got the perfect story, and the relationship with Netflix is kind of perfect as well because they celebrate the filmmaker and are so filmmaker friendly,” he explained. “I feel now we can make the ‘Chicken Run’ sequel we want to, the one we really care about.”
Netflix’s “Chicken Run” sequel will turn on Ginger, now living in a human-free chicken paradise. There, Ginger and Rocky hatch an egg together and daughter Molly is born. The girl grows up quickly, “as children do,” Fell explained, and Molly begins to outgrow the island. At the same time, rumors start to float of a new and terrible threat on the mainland, forcing Ginger to rally her troops and put their own hard-won freedom at risk for the good of all chicken-kind.
Shooting on the sequel is set for next year.
