When George Orwell sat down in 1947 to prepare a preface to the first Ukrainian edition of Animal Farm, he produced a concise masterclass in personal and political biography. He whisks through his upbringing in British India; his education at Eton, “the most costly and snobbish of the English Public Schools”; his miserable service in the Burma Police; his living “mostly from hand to mouth” in Paris; and his drift toward socialism.
He then describes his major political awakening during the Spanish Civil War, during which he was wounded by a fascist bullet and then, having joined a Trotskyist militia on the side of the left-wing Republican government, caught up in the infighting as the Soviet communist-aligned forces gained ascendancy. His friends were killed, imprisoned, or “simply disappeared.” He and his wife were “very lucky to get out of Spain alive.”
It was this experience that inspired him to write Animal Farm, with the goal of “exposing the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood by almost anyone.” And he did, giving the world the immortal tale that has since sold millions of copies and been translated into dozens of languages. But to understand the story is to understand the contradictions within its author. He came from a world of great privilege but lived much of his adult life in near-poverty. He served the cause of British imperialism but came to hate it. He championed socialism but participated in the capitalist system and feared the tyranny of the far Left as much as that of the far Right.
FEDERAL JUDGES CITE ORWELL, BIBLE, BOB DYLAN IN RULINGS AGAINST TRUMP
Orwell’s wrestling with these forces within himself was evident throughout his life and growth as an artist. This is part of the reason that his work is still vigorously debated. Today, Orwell is claimed by both the political Left and Right. Each side can be relied upon to regularly tar the other as “Orwellian” — but neither has a monopoly on his ideas. These complications must be grappled with by anyone who engages with his writing, and all the more so by anyone who takes on the task of adapting one of his most famous stories.
When we first set out to make a film of Animal Farm more than 15 years ago, the world was a very different place. We aimed to tell this story examining contemporary themes and references without being in any way partisan. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, no matter who is in charge. I first read Animal Farm in school. It’s one of those books that carries us from childhood into adulthood without realizing it. Then as now, I found the story of Boxer the carthorse absolutely devastating — an honest, hardworking soul mercilessly crushed in service of a corrupt project and hauled away to the glue factory.
As I grew into myself as an artist, I continued to study Orwell and nurtured this dream to adapt his work, developing it bit by bit between The Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, and other projects. I considered his contradictions and tried to drill down to the essentials of his worldview. He was against authoritarianism, no matter whose colors it wore, and he recognized the power of free expression, asking questions, and holding all leaders accountable to their people.
Orwell’s original subtitle for Animal Farm was A Fairy Story, and we made a conscious decision to be faithful to that conception. Working closely with the Orwell estate, we made a film that can serve as a parable in any environment, in any language. It has no ideology, but it does have idealism. Our characters enthusiastically embrace capitalism. What they rebel against is corruption.
Orwell’s genius in telling the story with animals helps bring serious ideas into the minds of young viewers. This was what inspired us to add a new character, Lucky, a piglet whose crises of conscience make real Orwell’s warning about the power of propaganda over enlightened, well-meaning souls. Younger viewers may laugh along with the animal antics and “fart jokes,” at which one early reviewer sniffed … but sniff a little deeper as Lucky does when later realizing the leader he’s followed is a pathological liar, and you’ll hear him say the “only truthful thing that came out of you was a bad smell.” Our hope is that these young, engaging minds will hopefully ask serious questions of their parents and grandparents after the credits roll.
STEPHEN COLBERT CO-WRITING NEW LORD OF THE RINGS FILM WITH HIS SON
We want this film to inspire those kinds of intergenerational conversations, between those who witnessed communism’s defeat in the Cold War and those who will carry the ideals of freedom forward in a changing world, that will make sure Orwell’s message endures.
As I hope he would have, I welcome the robust debate already touched off by the film’s trailer and encourage viewers to make up their own minds.
Andy Serkis is an actor and filmmaker best known for his roles as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Caesar in Planet of the Apes, King Kong in King Kong, and Snoke in Star Wars. He is the director of the 2026 film Animal Farm.