Actor-director Andy Serkis (Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle) is helming an animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic dystopian fable Animal Farm at Cinesite.

The VFX and Animation Studio will collaborate with production company Aniventure, and will be working through Serkis’ London-headquartered company The Imaginarium. The long-gestating project has been in the works since 2012 and was previously set up at Netflix in 2018, though the streamer is no longer attached.

Serkis directs Animal Farm from a screenplay by Nicholas Stoller (Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Zoolander 2). First published in 1945, the novella follows a group of farm animals who rebel against their human owner in hopes of creating a utopian society, only to be betrayed by one of their own. The satirical allegorical tale reflected the events leading up to the Russian Revolution and into the Stalinist period.

“The challenging journey to bring this extraordinary story to the screen has been finally rewarded by the opportunity to partner with the brilliant team at Aniventure and Cinesite,” wrote Serkis. “Together we hope to make our version of Orwell’s ever relevant masterpiece, emotionally powerful, humorous, and relatable for all ages. A tale not only for our times, but for generations to come.”

Production on Animal Farm is currently underway.