\tIdris Elba (via his 22Summers production company) and Chiwetel Ejiofor have signed on as executive producers for \u201cThe Brown Dog,\u201d a short animated film commissioned by WeTransfer. The film stars the late Michael K. Williams (\u201cThe Wire,\u201d \u201cBoardwalk Empire\u201d) in his last featured performance.<\/p>\n
\tWilliams, who memorably portrayed Omar Little in \u201cThe Wire\u201d and Chalky White in \u201cBoardwalk Empire,\u201d died in 2021. He was 54. In honor of Williams\u2019 birthday (the actor would have turned 58 on Nov. 22), \u201cThe Brown Dog\u201d is now available to stream on WeTransfer\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhen I was approached to come on board as an executive producer for The Brown Dog, it felt like a natural, emotional connection to Michael K. Williams, my dear friend and co-star,\u201d Elba said in a statement about his involvement. \t<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMichael had such a unique gift \u2014 he brought soul, depth, and honesty to every role he played, and it\u2019s an honor to continue his legacy through this film,\u201d Elba continued. \u201c\u2018The Brown Dog\u2019 is not just a story about survival and friendship; it\u2019s a tribute to Michael\u2019s spirit, his artistry, and the lasting impact he had on all of us. I\u2019m proud to help bring this beautiful, poignant story to life and ensure that Michael\u2019s voice is heard, even after he\u2019s gone.\u201d <\/p>\n
\t\t\t \t\t\tPopular on Variety\t\t \t \t\t \t \tWilliams voices the film\u2019s main character, Nobody, the night watchman for an upscale apartment complex, whose feelings of isolation spark an existential crisis. \u201cCold and alone, Nobody goes in search of a mysterious brown dog, taking us on a riveting tour of an unraveling mind at work,\u201d the film\u2019s synopsis explains. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cMichael K. Williams understood that bringing truth to a character was real work. That\u2019s how talented of an actor he was,\u201d Ejofor, who starred opposite Williams in \u201c12 Years a Slave,\u201d said in a statement. \u201cIt is this same depth of his spirit that you experience onscreen in \u2018The Brown Dog.\u2019 Michael\u2019s Nobody speaks to our times. He conveys a deep sense of isolation and frustration with the world, but matched with a real human need for connection. You hear Michael as soon as you hear Nobody\u2019s voice. \u2018The Brown Dog\u2019 is such a beautiful tribute to Michael\u2019s talent, and I\u2019m glad to be a part of a team that is continuing his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe Brown Dog\u201d is co-directed by award-winning documentarian Nadia Hallgren (\u201cBecoming\u201d) and creative director Jamie-James Medina (The xx, FKA twigs, Sampha), with animator Fons Schiedon (\u201cMickey: The Story of a Mouse\u201d) and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tyshawn Sorey. Steve Buscemi voices a supporting role in the film, reuniting with his \u201cBoardwalk Empire\u201d co-star Williams, and also executive produced the project. \t<\/p>\n
\tThe film was produced by Hallgren and Medina for Soundview projects with Michael Stirton. Executive producers are Holly Fraser, Damian Bradfield, Alex Mattinson and Phil van der Krogt at WeTransfer; Buscemi and Wren Arthur for Olive Productions; Elba for 22Summers; and Ejiofor. WeTransfer, through its arts platform WePresent, has a history of commissioning short films, which have earned critical acclaim. In 2022, \u201cThe Long Goodbye\u201d with Riz Ahmed became the first brand film to win an Academy Award in the best live action short film category.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe Brown Dog\u201d made its world premiere at the American Black Film Festival as a finalist for the HBO Short Film Award. The short has also screened at the Tribeca Festival, the Raindance Festival in London and at the Indy Shorts International Film Festival in Indianapolis, where it qualified for the Academy Awards by winning the grand prize for animated shorts.<\/p>\n
\tWatch the short below: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Idris Elba (via his 22Summers production company) and Chiwetel Ejiofor have signed on as executive producers for \u201cThe Brown Dog,\u201d a short animated film commissioned by WeTransfer. The film stars the late Michael K. Williams (\u201cThe Wire,\u201d \u201cBoardwalk Empire\u201d) in his last featured performance. Williams, who memorably portrayed Omar Little in \u201cThe Wire\u201d and Chalky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieetv.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}