Hollywood producer Max Howard, Munich based Papa Löwe Filmproduktion together with Torsten Poeck and UK-based writer/producer Kirsty Peart announced the development of the animated family feature film, COW ON THE RUN, in collaboration with Gut Aiderbichl. The film is based on the true story of Germany’s most wanted cow, Yvonne, the bovine bandit from Bavaria. The film is made with the support of Gut Aiderbichl, Europe’s largest animal sanctuary and now the home of Yvonne, providing her with a peaceful place to recover from her months on the run.
Yvonne, the cow made newspaper headlines when she escaped from captivity to avoid the abattoir and spent around 90 days in the wild forest. This cow became popular on all the social networking sites and now its fame is making it a movie star or should I call it ‘Moo’vie star. An animation film is being made on the story of Yvonne that will try to tell her story from her perspective.
Talking to AnimationXpress.com about the project Max Howard, Founder, Max Howard Consulting Group said, “It was Kirsty Peart who first alerted me to the story and, in fact, Kirsty has been the key to bringing us together. Kirsty was working with German producer Torsten Poeck on another project and it seemed an important and natural fit to bring in German partners to help secure the rights to Yvonne’s remarkable story to make sure the film retained its local authenticity. Torsten was the key in bringing on board Papa Löwe Animation Studios and then, convincing Michael Aufhauser, who was originally responsible for securing Yvonne’s freedom, and in whose care she now remains, to allow us to bring Yvonne’s story to the screen. With this team, we are creating a heart warming adventure story inspired by true events, told from her point of view through the magic of animation”.
The team is developing this wonderful true story as a feature film, the exact animation style will be part of the development process as they adapt Yvonne’s quest for freedom into a ‘moovie!’ The IP is owned by the producing partnership.
According to Max, the film will have lot of twists and turns. “We know exactly what happened during her 90+ days on the run but that is only from the human perspective, which we have researched from the hundreds of news reports that captured the imagination of people all around the world. In our story, we will be telling it from Yvonne’s point of view. And that is the core of the idea, creating an interpretation on what might have motivated her to escape and furthermore, how she managed to evade capture until she was rescued by Michael Aufhauser, founder of the Gut Aiderbichl animal sanctuary in southern Germany”, Max added.
The feature film is targeted at the international marketplace. Interest in Yvonne’s escape from the jaws of death has already garnered tens of millions of hits on sites like Google; she has her own facebook page and soon, her own moovie! She already has millions of fans around the world. About the challenge in developing this feature film Max asserted, “We have a responsibility to provide a voice for her, and that is the greatest challenge for our writers: Jess Kedward and Kirsty Peart, as they develop the screenplay”.
The team is currently writing the screenplay and talking to distributors. A release date is yet to be set. Max Howard Consulting Group will oversee the creative development of the film and will garner interest from US distributors.
“This is a story that begs to be told. Based on actual events – a cow leaping to freedom to evade certain death in the abattoir and not only did she make a successful escape, she then evaded capture for over three months, and finally, was rescued by the team at Gut Aiderbichl. She was reunited with her son and now, lives the life we know she must have only dreamt about. Yvonne’s quest is one many people can relate to and why we believe our film will resonate with audiences from around the world”, Max concluded.