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And every few weeks, Jeffrey Katzenberg, whose DreamWorks paid for the film, flew in for moral support--"Support," he notes, "means underneath, lifting up, as opposed to on top, holding down"--and to debate the fine points. "Nick and I are English," Lord says. "We don't shout and scream. Whereas Jeffrey says what he thinks immediately and loudly. He wants everything to be argued." Lord finally figured out how to react to the American rooster: "We listen and nod and then go and do our own thing." One thing they did for Katzenberg: a TV spot for the fast-food tie-in with Burger King (you were expecting Kentucky Fried Chicken?). All the hens chorus, "Save the chickens! Eat more beef!"
In any format, live action or animation, good films are as scarce as--well, you know. Chicken Run is that rare film that advances the art while bathing the audience in smiles. All it took was three years of mind-bending labor to pullet together.
--Reported by Carole Buia/ New York and Elizabeth Lea/Bristol