Remember when Jordan Peelequit acting back in January? Well apparently voice-over work is still on the table. Peele and his comedic partner Keegan Michael-Key will provide the voices for two deceitful demon brothers in the new stop-motion animated feature Wendell and Wild, according to Deadline. The film will be financed and distributed by Netflix, and directed by James and the Giant Peach’s Henry Selick, who also helmed Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Wendell and Wild is an original feature by Selick, who will write the script alongside Peele and Clay McLeod Chapman, who’s worked on a few Spider-Man movies and The Avengers. In addition to the movie, Selick and Chapman are set to write a book that will publish around the time of the film’s release. Renowned Argentinian artist Pablo Lobato will design the characters.
This is only Netflix’s second stop-motion animated film. The first was Bubbles, a pic about Michael Jackson’s pet chimpanzee, which Netflix won at an auction at Cannes.
In January, Peele told CBS Sunday Morning, “Acting is just nowhere near as fun for me as directing.” Later he revealed that he quit acting after being offered the role of poop in The Emoji Movie. At the time, though, he was currently the voice of Duke Ellington’s ghost on the Netflix animated show Big Mouth.
Even though he’s new to directing, Peele has already found much success. He became the first African American to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay this year, for his directorial debut Get Out. He’ll be shooting the film’s follow-up this year.
