Early Man

Early Man is a 2018 British stop-motion animated film directed by Nick Park (who also created the Wallace and Gromit franchise), written by Mark Burton and James Higginson. The film's genres are historical sports and comedy.

Summary
A plucky cave man named Dug, his sidekick Hognob and the rest of their tribe face a grave threat to their simple existence. Lord Nooth plans to take over their land and transform it into a giant mine, forcing Dug and his clan to dig for precious metals. Not ready to go down without a fight, Dug and Hognob must unite their people in an epic quest to defeat a mighty enemy -- the Bronze Age.

Cast and Characters

 * Eddie Redmayne as Dug
 * Tom Hiddleston as Lord Nooth
 * Maisie Williams as Goona
 * Nick Park as Hognob
 * Timothy Spall as Chief Bobnar
 * Miriam Margolyes as the Queen Oofeefa
 * Kayvan Novak as Dino & Jurgend
 * Rob Brydon as Brian and Bryan, Message Bird
 * Richard Ayoade as Treebor
 * Selina Griffiths as Magma
 * Johnny Vegas as Asbo
 * Mark Williams as Barry
 * Gina Yashere as Gravelle
 * Richard Webber as Grubup
 * Simon Greenall as Eemak, Thongo

Other Characters

 * Rabbit

Production
In June 2007, two new films were announced by Aardman, one of them being appropriately joked as an "untitled Nick Park film, which is not another Wallace & Gromit feature film." In May 2015, it was announced that the title of the film would be Early Man, and it would be financed by the British Film Institute for $50 million.

As with previous stop motion films created by Aardman, the characters in Early Man were developed over time with the voice actors to determine the way the characters look, move, and speak. The results were turned over to the film's 35 animators to work on individualizing the characters. A crowd of people took part in an audio recording at the Memorial Stadium Home of Bristol Rovers.

Principal photography began in May 2016 and wrapped on 5 October 2017.

Trivia

 * The scene where Brian and Bryan refers Dug's team as "Early Man Utd" was a reference to the Manchester United Football Club, commonly known as Man Utd.
 * The uniforms that Dug's team were wearing for the match are the colours of the uniforms that Manchester United F.C. wears when they played in matches at their home ground at the Old Trafford in the Old Trafford area of Great Manchester.
 * The Bronze City football team, Real Bronzio is a reference to the Spanish football club, Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, commonly known as Real Madrid.
 * The scene where Nooth was caught by a giant duck, Brian and Bryan stated that he was "caught by the Old Bill", the "Old Bill" is the British slang term for the police.
 * Goona's name is a reference to the word Gooner. "Gooner" is the slang term for the fans of Man Utd's long standing rival, the Arsenal Football Club.
 * Real Bronzio captain, Jurgend and his characteristics are a reference to the former German footballer, Jürgen Klinsmann who would wear a sweatband around his head during the matches he played. While playing for the Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club from 1994 to 1995, Klinsmann was known for having a theatrical way of falling after being fouled.
 * The scene where Brian and Bryan says, "They think it's all over now, it is now" in reference to Dug's team winning the final game, is the iconic line that the late commentator, Kenneth Wolstenholme had said when the England National Football Team had won the 1966 World Cup Final with the score 4-2 against the West Germany National Football Team at the Old Wembley Stadium on the 30th July 1966.

Gallery
See Early Man/Gallery