Watership Down
Directed by Martin Rosen • 1978 • United Kingdom
Starring John Hurt, Richard Briers, Michael Graham-Cox
With this passion project, screenwriter-producer-director Martin Rosen brilliantly achieved what had been thought nearly impossible: a faithful big-screen adaptation of Richard Adams’s classic British dystopian novel about a community of rabbits under terrible threat from modern forces. With its naturalistic hand-drawn animation, dreamily expressionistic touches, gorgeously bucolic background design, and elegant voice work from such superb English actors as John Hurt, Ralph Richardson, Richard Briers, and Denholm Elliott, WATERSHIP DOWN is an emotionally arresting, dark-toned allegory about freedom amid political turmoil.
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Watership Down
Directed by Martin Rosen • 1978 • United Kingdom
Starring John Hurt, Richard Briers, Michael Graham-CoxWith this passion project, screenwriter-producer-director Martin Rosen brilliantly achieved what had been thought nearly impossible: a faithful big-screen adaptation of Richard Adams’s classic...
Extras
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WATERSHIP DOWN Edition Intro
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Guillermo del Toro on WATERSHIP DOWN
In this 2014 interview, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro talks about what makes WATERSHIP DOWN a unique work of animation art.
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Passion Project: Martin Rosen on WATERSHIP DOWN
Conducted in 2014, this interview with WATERSHIP DOWN writer, producer, and director Martin Rosen chronicles the difficult process of bringing Richard Adams’s celebrated novel to cinematic life.
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Defining a Style
In this 2005 featurette, many key WATERSHIP DOWN animators and background artists recall their painstaking work on this landmark adaptation.
