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Director Tim Burton Voices a Dog in Kami-Usagi Rope Anime

Director Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland, Batman, Edward Scissorhands) will make his anime voice-acting debut in Kami-Usagi Rope, a series of comedy shorts from creator Yūji Uchiyama and the Oscar-winning anime studio Robot. Burton voiced the dog character during his trip to Japan this month, and the short will air during Fuji TV's morning program Mezamashi Terebi early next year.

The anime's staff, which includes fans of Burton's works, showed Burton an illustration of the canine "Tim-Inu" and gave him an offer to voice the character. Burton reportedly said with joy that the dog looks just like him and agreed to play the role.

In this anime, a high school rabbit named Rope and his quick-tempered squirrel friend Akira have random conversations as they walk through their working-class neighborhood to the movie theater. Uchiyama, who directs, writes, and designs the anime himself, personally directed Buton's voice-recording session. Not only did Burton speak English lines, but also Japanese ones.

Robot also animated Kunio Katō's La Maison en Petits Cubes (Tsumiki no Ie), the short that won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2009. It then animated the 2009 Ring of Gundam short, the last Gundam anime that Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino created and directed.

Burton's latest film, Frankenweenie, will open in Japan this Saturday.

Thanks to Liam for the news tip.

Source: Cinema Today