Chicken Run: Julia Sawalha claims she’s been ‘unfairly dismissed’ from sequel as her voice is ‘too old’

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey

Get our The Life Cinematic email for free

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Julia Sawalha has claimed she’s been dropped from the Chicken Run sequel after being told her voice is “too old”.

Sawalha voiced the main character of Ginger in the original Aardman animated film, who leads a band of chickens as they plot to escape the farm in which they’re kept. A belated sequel was announced in June.

However, Sawalha will not be involved in the film, after alleging that she was “informed out of the blue, via email” that her voice “now sounds ‘too old’ and they want a younger actress to reprise the role”.

In a statement posted to her social media, Sawalha said that she was baffled over the decision, especially as she claims not to have been asked to supply a “voice test” prior to the decision being made. She wrote that she went so far as to record her own voice test at home, which she then submitted to Aardman.

This made no difference, Sawalha claims. She alleges that she received a letter from “one of the creatives” that said: “Some of the voices (not yours, I agree) definitely sound older”. Mel Gibson, who voiced Rocky in the original film, will also be replaced, she claims to have been told.

“The reason given was that his voice is now too old,” Sawalha wrote. “I feel I have been fobbed off with the same excuse. I went to great lengths to prove to the production that my voice is nigh on the same as it was in the original film. If they will be using some of the original cast members… let’s be frank, I feel I have been unfairly dismissed.”

She continued: “To say I am devastated and furious would be an understatement. I feel totally powerless, something in all of this doesn’t quite ring true. I trust my instincts and they are waving red flags.”

“I am saddened that I have lost the chance to work with Nick Park and Peter Lord from whom I learnt so much. The three of us, together, created Ginger. Today I responded by wishing the production the best of luck and the greatest success with the sequel. There is nothing more I can do… I’m off for the chop now.”

Sawalha also uploaded her homemade voice test to Vimeo, and linked a campaign from her Twitter that calls for greater diversity in the arts.

Chicken Run 2, which is in production now, will be released via Netflix in 2021. It will see Ginger and Rocky living in a “human-free chicken utopia” but facing a new threat.

The Independent has reached out to Aardman Animation for comment.