Producers are pitching 'John Daniel' as the ultimate healing story for a divided world, promising a tearjerker about love and hope that transcends species.
Sources confirm the film is betting big on photoreal VFX for the gorilla, a high-risk move that could either deliver Oscar-bait realism or uncanny valley disaster.
Cooke's last film was 2020's 'The Courier'; 'John Daniel' starts filming mid-2027; based on 1918-1922 footage from Uley, Gloucestershire.
Cooke is betting his comeback on a photoreal gorilla. If the VFX land, it's Oscar bait. If they don't, it's a meme.
Dominic Cooke is finally breaking his directorial silence—and he's going weird. For the first time since 2020's spy thriller "The Courier," the "Game of Thrones: The Mad King" stage director is stepping back behind the camera. But leave the tense espionage at the door.
Cooke has signed on to helm "John Daniel," a true story so bizarre it sounds like fiction: an Englishwoman's unlikely friendship with a baby gorilla in post-WWI England. The project has Cornerstone acquiring worldwide sales rights ahead of the American Film Market, signaling serious industry confidence in this oddball period piece. But here is the real drama: the film is a massive technical gamble.
Filmmakers have confirmed they will use motion capture and visual effects to deliver a "photoreal performance" of the gorilla. It is a high-wire act blending historical grief with cutting-edge tech, led by VFX veterans Loris Mantello ("Avengers: Infinity War") and Maoris Creantor ("The Lion King"). The screenplay by Alexi Kaye Campbell follows Alyce Cunningham, a woman who built a solitary life behind a wall of wit and stoicism.
Her isolation shatters when her reckless nephew impulsively rescues a baby gorilla from a London department store window and dumps him on her doorstep. Despite her protests, Alyce is forced to take him in, naming him John Daniel. The story is grounded in reality, inspired by original home movie footage and photographs recorded by locals in Uley, Gloucestershire, between 1918 and 1922.
What starts as a nuisance transforms into a bond that brings joy back to a grieving village community, from the school classroom to the local pub. Producer Debbie Gray, a BAFTA nominee for "Good Luck to You Leo Grande," is framing this as the ultimate healing story. "At a time when the world can feel increasingly divided, this film reminds us of our capacity to heal, unite and find compassion again," Gray said.
She claims the script is "extraordinary," though the risk of the uncanny valley looms large over every frame. Cooke himself seems fully committed to the strange, necessary bonds between humans and animals explored in the script. "I am delighted to be attached to direct John Daniel – a beautiful, funny and profound story," Cooke said in a statement.
He emphasized how the narrative shows the need to "surrender control in order to feel fully alive." This marks Cooke's third feature film, following his 2017 debut "On Chesil Beach." With principal photography scheduled to begin in the U.K. in mid-2027, the project is currently in pre-production. It is a far cry from his recent theatrical work, but if Cooke can capture the heart of this true story without making the gorilla look like a bad CGI experiment, he might just have another critical darling on his hands. If not, the internet will never let him forget it.
