Shubhabrata Dutta
Jimmy Hayward has locked in his next directorial venture after a long wait of over a decade! The Cinemaholic can confirm that the seasoned animator-filmmaker will helm the historical drama film ‘Operation: Fortitude.’ Simon Afram and Joshua Levine wrote the screenplay. The cast and filming details for the project have not yet been announced.
The plot revolves around the titular operation led by the Allied Nations during World War II. The narrative follows the individuals who set a trap of deception for Adolf Hitler and his army during the lead-up to the 1944 Normandy landings. Together, they fulfill, beyond all expectations, an extraordinary assignment that decisively changes the course of the war. In reality, the trap was set up using strategic deception elements of a fictitious army, fake tanks, aircraft, and ships, set designers and actors, false radio and wireless messages, and a network of double agents cooperating with the British Army and Allied Nations.
Hayward’s previous directorial credits are the animated adventure movies ‘Free Birds,’ which centers on a couple of turkeys (Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson) who go back in time to take themselves off the Thanksgiving menu, and ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ which follows Horton the Elephant (Jim Carrey) as he struggles to protect the microscopic community of Whoville that resides within a dust speck.
Hayward also directed the Josh Brolin-starrer fantasy action movie ‘Jonah Hex,’ which follows the titular supernatural bounty hunter tasked with tracking down a nefarious man named Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) before the latter unleashes hell on Earth. The filmmaker’s credits include additional scenes from the animated comedy film ‘Robots.’ As an animator, Hayward has contributed to globally renowned animated movies like ‘Toy Story,’ ‘Toy Story 2,’ ‘Monsters, Inc.,’ and ‘Finding Nemo.’
‘Operation: Fortitude’ marks the writing debut of Simon Afram and Joshua Levine. Afram is an executive producer of the biographical drama ‘Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness,’ directed by Johnny Depp. Levine served as a historical consultant in Christopher Nolan’s war drama ‘Dunkirk‘ and Steve McQueen’s World War II film ‘Blitz.’
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