Welsh landmark inspires Wallace and Gromit finale
A Welsh landmark was the inspiration for the “gripping” finale in the new Wallace and Gromit film.
The final minutes of Vengeance Most Fowl shows a chase across an aqueduct bearing a striking resemblance to Pontcysyllte, near Wrexham.
But because the film is set in Lancashire, Aardman Animations art director Matt Perry said the team had to make some tweaks to its design.
He said: “We were after that Georgian/Victorian Age industrial period and it’s a very beautiful bridge – I do love all the steel work. We did keep the metal work similar at the top.”
Matt said the team created their own version, changing the stone piers to brick to mimic railway bridges of that era in north-west England.
There is no River Dee below either, and instead the valley is inspired by the “drama” of sheer rock-faced Avon and Cheddar gorges, a nod to Aardman’s studios in Bristol.
Is the Pontcysyllte aqueduct the highest in the world?
But Matt, who also worked on the Wallace and Gromit films A Matter of Loaf and Death and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, said there were “definite nods” to Thomas Telford’s engineering masterpiece in Trevor, which is 126ft (38m) high.
The “magnificent” structure – the tallest canal aqueduct in the world – was the starting point for the team when it was deciding what the scene would look like.
“There’s a huge gripping ending that is on this aqueduct, bridging a huge gorge. When you look at it from the top – it is very similar to Pontcysyllte. That was the inspiration, for sure.”
While Telford’s aqueduct took 10 years to design and build before being finished in 1805, Aardman’s 20ft (6m) long version for the film took about three months.
It started with basic carpentry, followed by “a lot” of brickwork panels, which all had to be individually painted.
“It’s quite lovingly, tenderly done, you know, ” said Matt.
“All the bricks need a slight variation in colour and then we’ve got all the dirting down. A lot goes into it.”
Matt said the film version was 12 arches long, compared to Pontcysyllte’s 18, but “when we play the action we make it extra long in one direction, then come the other end and make it extra long the other way. So actually, ours is the longest aqueduct in the world”!
How can I watch the new Wallace and Gromit movie?
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premieres on BBC One at 18:10 GMT on Christmas Day and will also be available on iPlayer from this time.
Those living outside the UK will be able to watch the film on Netflix this winter.
