LONDON — Filmmaker Nick Park says he is in talks on the possible development of a theme park ride based around his cheese-loving Wallace and Gromit characters.
The Preston-born animator told Kirsty Young about the plan on Saturday's edition of the Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs.
"We are in the middle of discussions with Blackpool Pleasure Beach about a Wallace and Gromit ride," Park said.
"It's not a hair-raising terrifying ride, it's a family friendly ride."
Park, who has won four Oscars for his animated films, said some of his early inspiration came from his youthful reading of the Beano.
"I used to love being off school ill because I could just sit there in my bed and read a pile of old Beanos," he told Young.
He described how he started his career as a student trying to make films on the cheap and wrote to Last of the Summer Wine star Peter Sallis asking him to provide the voice for the absent-minded inventor Wallace.
"He was very kind and I only had 50 quid to pay an actor at the time so he was doing it as a favour for a student."
Success saw Park move to Hollywood to make the feature-length movie Chicken Run, but he said he had to dig his heels in to keep the film the way he wanted.
He said: "We were spending our time digging our heels in and that can get a bit tiresome".
The man-and-dog comic duo currently have their own BBC television series, Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention, and are featured on British stamps for the 2010 festive season.
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