First Netflix animation Over the Moon is a gift from a dying mother to help her daughter deal with loss
- Over the Moon tells the story of a girl who builds a rocket to go to the moon in memory of her late mother
- Audrey Wells was dying from cancer when she wrote the script as a gift to her husband and daughter
Beneath the spirited fantasy, big musical numbers and uplifting story, Over The Moon – Netflix’s first foray into animation – is actually the sad and heartbreaking gift from a dying writer to her husband and daughter.
The project was commissioned by producer Peilin Chou of Shanghai’s Pearl Studios in 2017 and Audrey Wells was brought in as the screenwriter before long-time Disney animator and Oscar winner Glen Keane came on board as director.
A prolific writer, Wells died from cancer in 2018 just as production on Over The Moon began.
“At that time, I did not know that she had cancer and that she would not survive,” Keane recalls. “One day she invited me to dinner and shared that information. I was hit with the importance of taking on this responsibility. She was communicating something for her daughter, that this was designed to give her a means for dealing with the pain and loss.
“We took it incredibly seriously, what we were given and how important this was going to be. Audrey wrote this message dealing with such deep issues, but she wrote it with humour and joy.”
