Corona | Coming Attractions

What happens when you mix bits of Jules Verne, H.P. Lovecraft, the Uncanny X-Men, Harry Potter and The X-Files? You get Zeppelin, a dynamic fusion of pulp adventure and dark fantasy moviemaking. News about this project first broke early this past summer when it was revealed the Jim Henson Company (Muppets From Space) had teamed up with Vanguard Films (Shrek) to try and make this feature a reality. Now, thanks to one of our own spies working deep in the labyrinths under Hollywood (betcha didn't know they were there, huh?) we've uncovered a ton of information that beefs up the coolness factor on this project -- plus some conceptual pieces of artwork done by the creator of the Zeppelin concept, Igor-Alban Chevalier.

Chevalier is a freelancer working for Henson Creature Workshop in London, England. He's also got one helluva cool imagination in our opinion; his treatment for Zeppelin blends together a diverse assortment of heroes from around the world with unique "superpowers" that they use to fight the Banished and their followers. Along with some background about the film's concept, we were sent four pieces of artwork done by Chevalier showing us two of the heroes, their floating airship and some of the villains they'll be going up against. Check them out in our Zeppelin gallery.

Image #1: This is Otto Reinhardt, a fifteen year old boy who is one of the six youngsters Clothilde finds and recruits to battle the minions of the Banished. Each of the six have a special ability, some kind of mysterious power that allows them to do fantastic feats. For example, Otto's gift allows him to construct incredible machines which are decades ahead of the current state of engineering in 1912. However, while that steampowered exo-skeleton that Otto wears in the artwork gives him the strength of ten men, if you remove it from him he wouldn't be able to stand on his own feet. That's because Otto suffers from poliomyelitis, a disease that while is virtually extinct today robbed many children of the use of their bodies one hundred years ago. While his body may be fragile, the mind of young Otto remains his strongest weapon.

Image #2: Meet Nusrat, a sixteen-year-old Rajastani fakir from India. Nusrat was born with the ability to feel no pain as well as have incredible auto-regenerative capabilities. Unfortunately, Nusrat's unusual powers were discovered by those who saw the boy as nothing more than a means to aquire wealth by a horrifying method: wealthy Indian nobles would pay handsomely to see the boy put on display at lavish receptions and watch as his entire body was put under extreme forms of suffering. To the fakirs who would carry out these deeds, Nusrat was simply the pinnacle of their profession. Now, as a part of Clothilde's team, Nusrat is able to live a more satisfying and noble life.

Image #3: The Leviathan, Clothilde Faraday's mighty zeppelin, serves as her fortress and headquarters. From her mobile sky home Clothilde is able to plan out her strategies for besting the servants of the Banished, keep her new wards safety out of harm's way and to provide them with shelter and schooling. A fantastic feat of engineering enables the zeppelin to pump out a continuous stream of condensation, allowing the zeppelin to create a massive thundercloud that surrounds the vessel and hides it from spectators on the ground -- and from the eyes of the Banished's followers.

Image #4: Just because Clothilde rescued Nasrat from his life as a human pincushion doesn't mean it's over for him. The Indian Guild of Fakirs will stop at nothing to get the boy back, and it has sent three of its most skilled assassins to track him down. Each of the trio are seemingly unstoppable; everyone who has ever faced them has never survived to tell of their tale. To them, it's only a matter of time before they find the hiding place the English woman has taken Nasrat, and then it will be swiftly over.

As well as Nasrat and Otto, there are four other children who also have special powers and their own unique background stories. Perhaps we'll get lucky and our source will be able to get their hands on details about the remaining quartet.

Zeppelin is still in the early stages of its development. While both Vanguard and Henson will act as producers on the project (and Henson will act as creature designer), the search for a screenwriter has just begun. We can only hope it's someone worthy of crafting a tale as exciting as the possibilities for Zeppelin are at this raw stage.