Giant blow-up polyurethane Gromit upstages stars at Cannes festival

Cannes, France-DreamWorks Animation SKG promoted its new film, Wallace & Gromit-The Curse of the Were-Rabbit at the Cannes film festival, 12 May, with a stunt featuring a 10-metre high inflatable Gromit, looming over the crowd on the Cannes Croissete. The two clay characters were created by Nick Parks, at the Aardman Animation studios in Bristol, UK. Gromit was turned into a giant inflatable by Rob Harries and his team at Air Artists in Suffolk, UK, said a Dreamworks statement. Harries is "the world leader in custom-made inflatable structures," according to Dreamworks: over the last 20 years he has produced inflatables for film, television, events and concerts all over the world. From a 10-cm high plasticene Gromit model, Harries sculpted a 1:10 scale polystyrene version, which he then took to Aardman's studios in Bristol for final touches. Harries' team then made the inflatable Gromit using fireproofed polyurethane-coated nylon fabric. The final, painted, 10-metre high version sits on a 60-cm high plinth, which contains the fan and also acts as the ballast. Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is the first feature-length comedy featuring the popular "cheese-loving Wallace and his faithful canine companion Gromit," said Dreamworks. The film, which opens in the US in October, has the clay duo "cashing in with their new humane pest-control outfit, Anti-Pesto, to protect the town's Giant Vegetable Competition from hungry rabbits." But "a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging beast begins terrorising the neighborhood, attacking the town's prized plots at night, destroying everything in its path." "