Who Hatched ‘Chicken’?

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s name is mentioned 31 times in Amy Wallace’s cover story about the production of Aardman Animations’ “Chicken Run” (“No Place for the Chicken-Hearted,” June 11). If you add in the “I’s,” “me’s” and “he’s” that also refer to Katzenberg, the total goes up to 62.

By contrast, the man who came up with the idea for the film, co-director Nick Park, is mentioned a mere eight times, the first time being in the sixth paragraph. Readers are left with the distinct impression that the film is Katzenberg’s baby, rather than Park’s and co-director Peter Lord’s.

Wallace even refers to Aardman as the “company that was making DreamWorks SKG’s clay-animated feature film,” when it would be far more accurate to refer to DreamWorks as the company that was financing and distributing Aardman’s clay-animated feature film. After all, Aardman is world-famous for clay animation. Is DreamWorks?

Katzenberg is a canny and talented executive who deserves much credit for not only assembling one of the finest 2-D animation studios in the world at DreamWorks, but also for being smart enough, persuasive enough and persistent enough to strike a deal with Park and Lord. But The Times would have us believe he supervised the production of “Chicken Run” from the other side of the planet.

After winning three Oscars, Park, Lord and Aardman don’t need “a coach,” nor do they need to feel in control of their film--they are in control. Katzenberg knows this better than anybody, since the issue of control is one of the reasons it took him so many years to strike a deal with Aardman. What Aardman does need is financial backing and persuasive marketing for their work.

Thanks to Katzenberg, they’ve got it, and for that he should take a well-deserved bow . . . then stand back, so that Park and Lord can take theirs.

BRAD BIRD

Hollywood

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While Katzenberg understandably protected the integrity of the original production, on a marketing level, this might well be a mistake. “Chicken Run” is not an art film, yet it has the art film trappings. It might not look or feel British, but it clearly sounds British. Art filmgoers appreciate that “The Full Monty” and “Trainspotting” need translation into American English. However, it seems that “Chicken Run” also needs a translator. You kindly provided a much-needed one.

While your translations might be welcomed by the “Trainspotting” crowd, I question whether parents would be willing to translate foreign lingo for their kids. Ironically, that is the audience DreamWorks depends upon for the near-term success of this film.

While I laud the decision to maintain artistic integrity, the marketability of “Chicken Run” will be limited by its Britishness. Strictly speaking, those bunch of sods are not down with it. This will hurt opening box-office results. Plain English.

DANIEL J. DEGNAN

Los Angeles

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I don’t know which English-to-American dictionary those chickens are using, but I have been married to an Englishman for 23 years, and when he’s “well chuffed” he’s bloody well angry! There’s no mistaking his definition!

JAN BUCHWALD MILLARD

Riverside