UPDATE: I added larger versions of each piece of art to the gallery here.
After Cars 2, Pixar’s next film is the Scottish set tale Brave, which is set to hit theaters on June 22, 2012. And today I have for you three pieces of concept art from the film as well as news from Entertainment Weekly that Reese Witherspoon will no longer be voicing the lead character, Merida, due to scheduling conflicts. Instead, she has been replaced by “Boardwalk Empire’s” Kelly Macdonald.
Co-directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman the film centers on Merida (Macdonald), a daughter of royalty, who would prefer to make her mark as a great archer. A clash of wills with her mother (Emma Thompson) compels Merida to make a reckless choice, which unleashes unintended peril on her father’s (Billy Connolly) kingdom and her mother’s life. Merida struggles with the unpredictable forces of nature, magic and a dark, ancient curse to set things right.
EW also tells give us word on a few other new cast members and their characters. Julie Walters will play a Wise Woman, and voicing the kingdom’s three lords are Kevin McKidd (Topsy-Turvy) as the enormous Lord MacGuffin, Craig Ferguson (How to Train Your Dragon) as the surly Lord Macintosh and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid from the Harry Potter films) as the disagreeable Lord Dingwall.
The re-emergence of Chapman’s name as co-director is also a bit of news as she was previously expected to be the first female director at Pixar, but last October it was announced she was being replaced by Andrews. Chapman came up with the idea for the film when it was titled The Bear and the Bow and now EW says “although Andrews is presently in charge of guiding Brave across the finish line, both Andrews and Chapman will be credited as the movie’s directors, according to a Disney spokesman.”
You can check out two more pieces of concept art directly below.
