Cinema icon “reporting for duty” to animated WWI film, debuting in theaters April 2018
With over 200 screen credits spanning over five decades, Depardieu is the most iconic French actor alive today. His filmography includes Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for 1990’s Cyrano de Bergerac, winning the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Depardieu will voice the character of Gaston Baptiste, mentor and protector of Stubby and his American handler, Robert Conroy. Despite his time in the trenches, Gaston’s joie de vivre cannot be extinguished – a characteristic he shares with Gérard Depardieu, who refers to Gaston as “a man after my own heart.”
“I am very happy to be a part of Sgt. Stubby, the first animated, family war movie ever to come to the U.S. box office,” says Depardieu. “It is a wonderful, sensitive script that still gives the viewer a feeling of this terrible war, a war which ravaged my country and most of the world.”
THE HISTORY
It was the first time U.S. forces were deployed to another continent and the doughboys of the American Expeditionary Force – many of them volunteers, many of them voluntold to go to war – had no idea what to expect when they arrived in France. Their initial survival was directly due to the French poilu, battle-hardened Infantrymen who had been locked in trench warfare for years to protect their homes and families.
Gaston Baptiste is a tribute to the brave men Sgt. Stubby and Robert Conroy fought alongside: courageous, quick-witted, a bon vivant of the highest order who fighting to protect his homeland and retain his humanity in the midst of chaos.
THE FILM
Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero is the incredible true story of a stray bull terrier mutt and the lasting bond he forged with the doughboys of the 26th “Yankee” Division at the onset of America’s entry into World War I. For his valorous actions, Stubby was the first dog promoted to the rank of Sergeant in U.S. Army history. The film has been selected as an official project of the United States World War I Centennial Commission and is the first animated feature for Fun Academy™ Motion Pictures and Labyrinth Media & Publishing, producers of motion pictures that entertain, innovate, and inspire audiences of all ages.
Starring Gérard Depardieu and Helena Bonham Carter
Music by Patrick Doyle
Animation by Mikros Image
The film is slated to theatrically debut in April 2018. For exclusive production updates, follow Stubby’s big screen adventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest!
