Delgo is an upcoming animated feature film by the independent Atlanta-based Fathom Studios. Delgo's release has been postponed several times (pre-production began in 1998) in part due to the death of Anne Bancroft (one of the lead voices).http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2802&page=4
The movie's official website showed dailies. Fans could see the scenes completed through every step of the process.
Anne Bancroft (I)'s final film.
The production spanned more than six years.
Fathom Studios initially expected to complete production by the end of 2002. There were fewer than 50 full-time employees dedicated to the movie at the start of production, but as the film ran over its deadline and extra employees were then hired with a plethora of outside contractors and consultants to complete the work.
The film was announced in 1998 by Fathom Studios.
Laura Citron, spokeswoman for Macquarium and Fathom Studios, stated that Melissa McBride served as a voice double for the late Ms. Bancroft in limited sequences to ensure completion of the film.
Artists who opt to participate in the Digital Dailies on the official website use their titles as pseudonyms to obscure their names.
Fathom Studios made a highly progressive move by opening themselves up to scrutiny from the outside. They posted their progress on-line over a number of years, and not in the form of sanitized press releases or occasional images. They were actually using their site to post dailies, rough footage, fragments of animation as they were being scrutinized, polished, and reworked. This was a first for any active studio production.
One of the reasons the production was extended was to complete rendering of the rich and highly detailed alien ecosystem that serves as a backdrop for Delgo.
Fathom Studios produced animation for broadcast and industrial clients starting in 1994. One of the reasons Delgo became possible was because of its work for these clients akin to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy because of the similar warm-up work WETA did on the Hercules and Xena series. Fathom Studios then took two years creating a proof-of-concept test, ninety seconds of animation that gave Marc Adler and his team the confidence and the financial muscle to take on the challenge of making a movie completely outside the Hollywood system.
Michael Clarke Duncan was the first cast member announced. His part was recorded in Los Angeles approximately 3,000 miles from the studio where Delgo was produced.
Fathom Studios signed only recognizable, bankable actors for principle parts as part for their production master plan. They then rolled out their cast announcements gradually, thus maximizing the PR impact and addressing potential distribution concerns of the companies they needed to get the film into theaters.
This film was fully financed via private equity.
The movie was scripted as the first film of a potential trilogy.
