Despite reportedly being the frontrunner to play the male lead in Netflix’s The Witcher spinoff Blood Origin, there was talk that Jason Momoa wouldn’t be able to accept the role due to scheduling conflicts, ironically caused by his involvement with the streaming service’s Slumberland.
This no doubt led a lot of people to investigate what the mysterious and strangely-titled project was, and it certainly doesn’t sound like your average family film. Based on a 1905 comic strip called Little Nemo in Slumberland, the story follows a young child who travels to a mystical land that exists within her dreams in search of her missing and presumed dead father with the help of a nine-foot tall half-man half-monster named Flip, played by Momoa.
The source material was previously adapted for 1989 anime Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, but the Netflix version comes packing a lot more star power. Constantine, I Am Legend and The Hunger Games‘ Francis Lawrence is directing, which at least promises some solid visuals and worldbuilding, even if the filmmaker’s strength has never been in storytelling.
To bring Flip to life, Jason Momoa will squeeze himself into a motion capture leotard, with actress Marlow Barkley portaying Nema, a gender-swapped spin on the title hero, while Kyle Chandler and Chris O’Dowd are also both signed on for Slumberland, although it hasn’t been made clear if the duo are playing human or more monstrous characters.
Shooting only kicked off last week and is expected to run until June, so the pic might not be arriving on Netflix until the first quarter of next year unless the post-production team put the pedal to the metal. Still, it certainly sounds like an interesting movie that could be well worth checking out whenever it arrives.