George Orwell’s Animal Farm is one of those classic books that's often taught in middle and high schools, and Andy Serkis has gotten a hold of it. The actor and filmmaker was first attached to the adaptation in 2012, where he originally imagined it as another one of his performance capture projects before ultimately turning it into an animated movie. So, when one of his voice actors, Gaten Matarazzo got a hold of the project, he was understandably drawn in by the unlikely adaptation, as he explained to CinemaBlend.
When I chatted with the Stranger Things actor about Animal Farm, he spoke about his experience with the material. In his words:
It's such a jarring picture, the ending of the book and it really sticks with you, that final image. And, I was so curious how they were gonna adapt that into a children's movie, because that seems not very hopeful. But Andy has such a positive worldview and really inserted that into this film. And so, you get this really hopeful element and the movie's almost like an extension of the book.
In this new take on Animal Farm, Gaten Matarazzo plays Lucky, a piglet who wasn’t in the original book. The character was added in concert with the Orwell estate to add some innocent eyes to the storyline. Considering the complexities of Orwell's story, I can totally understand why Matarazzo would be curious as to how this adaptation of Animal Farm would conclude.
When we also talked to Andy Serkis, he told us that he wanted to make the story accessible to a younger audience. Naturally, that meant making some big changes to the ending that would be more “hopeful” than the original. As Matarazzo continued in our interview:
We get to see how power corrupts, and how it can twist the truth. But, we also get to see where you come in as someone who's living in that system. It's pretty brilliant. I also think what's interesting is that a lot of times the way tonally something can end can be a reflection on when they were created. And of course [Animal Farm] was published in 1945, which is I think famously not a great year for people. So I think it was a deep reflection of current events and that's why it was so jarring when it came out. And I think why it's such a staple and why it works so well and seeing it through that lens just reminds you of how horrifying things can get.
Book-to-screen adaptations have long been produced within Hollywood (and there are many on the 2026 movie schedule). With that, more than often than not, these adaptations cannot take every element from the source material. And, of course, the film and TV mediums are quite different from books, so some alterations need to be made for thematic reasons.
On that note, in addition to applauding the way that Andy Serkis’ Animal Farm translates to kids, Matarazzo also points out how in this modern day and age where everything is more accessible to kids at younger ages, perhaps it’s necessary to discuss something such as corruption earlier on. He also says:
I think that what's interesting about the time period in which this is being tackled is that it's throughout a time that is incredibly scary. And, a lot of these questions are being brought up I think a lot earlier than they always were. Information is so accessible that I think that introducing these questions in a context that is safe for younger audiences, I think it's basically essential. Because you can't just throw Orwell into the lap of somebody who's like seven years old and expect it really to kind of make much of a difference there yet. But by the time people now are entering high school, these events and these questions have already been kind of circulating for a very, very long time.
George Orwell’s book is inspired by the Russian Revolution that went on to the Stalin era of the Soviet Union. However, rather than taking a grounded approach to the material, Orwell made an allegorical satire focused on a group of animals at a farm creating their own society after rebelling against their human master. You can check out the Animal Farm trailer below:
Along with Gaten Matarazzo, the movie employs the voices of Seth Rogen, Kieran Culkin, Glenn Close, Steve Buscemi, Laverne Cox, Woody Harrelson, Jim Parsons, Kathleen Turner, Iman Vellani and Andy Serkis. The movie got its start at the box office this past weekend and remains in theaters. So those who want to see the film for themselves and form their opinions on the ending can do so by seeing it!
