Wallace and Gromit win fourth Oscar
Wallace and Gromit scooped an Oscar today for their movie debut The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, winning the award for best animated feature film.
It is the fourth Oscar for creator Nick Park and Aardman Animations but the first for a full-length film.
Park and co-director Steve Box took to the stage wearing giant bow ties - and produced matching miniature versions for their Oscars to wear.
“We’ve brought bow ties for Oscar – for co-ordination,” they joked. “We just happened to bring them along.”
Veteran actor Peter Sallis (aged 85) who supplies the voice of madcap inventor Wallace, was in the audience, and Park paid tribute to him.
“Peter is here tonight,” he said. “He has been the voice of Wallace for the past 23 years and you have been an absolute gem, Peter. You have sparkled all the way.”
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit also featured the voices of Helena Bonham-Carter and Ralph Fiennes. It also scooped Outstanding British Film of the Year at the recent Baftas.
Aardman have won three previous Oscars for best animated short film – for A Close Shave (1996), The Wrong Trousers (1994) and Creature Comforts (1991).
The Oscar win comes four months after a devastating warehouse fire destroyed much of Bristol-based Aardman’s history.
