''George the Hedgehog'' ( pl, Jeż Jerzy) is a 2011 Polish animated

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film directed by Wojciech Wawszczyk, Jakub Tarkowski and Tomasz Leśniak. Based on the

Jeż Jerzy ''Jeż Jerzy'' (''George the Hedgehog'') is a popular Polish comic book title created by two young artists, (script) and (drawings). The comic strip first appeared as part of a children's magazine called '' Świerszczyk''. Originally, the stri ...

comic books, it tells the story of two neo-Nazis and a mad scientist creating a clone of the title character in an attempt to defeat him.

Plot

The story began in the Professor's lab, where he and his assistant are conducting an experiment. As a result, the computer produced the image of a

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

. Professor sent his assistant to find one. The next day, Stefan and Zenek attacked Jerzy and his lover Yola, but they were defeated. They were approached by the assistant, who offered them a job. He took them to the Professor's lab and told them to acquire Jerzy's DNA, then kill him. They secured the DNA and created a clone, but Jerzy survived. The assistant explained that from their analysis it seemed Jerzy had the full potential to become a pop star, but there was a problem: he couldn't be contained. Jerzy met up with Yola, but the clone appeared and assaulted Yola. She became angry and left. As Jerzy tried to explain, he's captured by the assistant, who had mistaken him for the clone. He escaped, but he was seen by Stefan and Zenek, who collided with the clone and beat him, before being stopped by Yola. She drove the clone home, thinking he's the original Jerzy. However, as the clone abused her again, she threw him out of the taxi and drove home. The true Jerzy was waiting there, but Yola didn't listen to him. Zenek asked Jerzy to meet under the Poniatowskiego bridge by pretending to be Yola. There, Jerzy was knocked unconscious and thrown into the river. He was eventually rescued by the prostitute Lilka. The clone became an international celebrity. Yola wanted to come to terms with Jerzy. She met Lilka, who started to suspect the truth. Jerzy decided to regain his good name. He broke into a concert where the clone was performing and revealed the truth. A fight ensued, and a beam fell and crushed the clone. Yola witnessed the fight and tried to reach Jerzy, but she's captured by the assistant. Jerzy pursued them and the assistant was arrested. Yola finally came to terms with Jerzy. As they talked on the bridge, the Professor found out that the clone was still alive, but let him go, believing he'll manage without him. However, the clone was found by the two Vietnamese chefs and turned into a meal.

Cast

Borys Szyc Borys Michał Szyc-Michalak (; born Borys Michalak; 4 September 1978) is a Polish film and theatre actor and musician. Life and career He was born in Łódź, Poland. He graduated from High School No. 26 in Łódź. In 2001, he graduated from W ...

as George the Hedgehog *

Maria Peszek Maria Teresa Peszek (born September 9, 1973) is a Polish singer, songwriter and actress. She embarked on a professional acting career in the early 1990s and went on to appear in over 40 stage plays, as well as a number of feature films and tele ...

as Yola *

Sokół Sokół (, English: Falcon), or in full the Polskie Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne "Sokół" ( en, "Falcon" Polish Gymnastic Society), is the Poland, Polish offshoot of the Czech lands, Czech Sokol movement, and the oldest youth movement organization o ...

as Stefan * Michał Koterski as Zenek * Wojtek Wawszczyk as the clone * Marcin Hycnar as Krzyś *

Maciej Maleńczuk Mirosław Maciej Maleńczuk (born August 14, 1961 in Wojcieszów, Lower Silesian Voivodeship), also known as Vladimir, is a Polish vocalist, guitarist, poet, former leader of music groups Püdelsi and Homo Twist. He performed as a guest with ...

as Lilka * Krystyna Tkacz as Stefan's mother * Grzegorz Pawlak as the scientist *

Jarosław Boberek Jarosław Boberek (born 14 June 1963) is a Polish actor. He is the most popular voice actor in Poland for dubbing Donald Duck as well as King Julien in the Madagascar movies. Private life He is married to Ilona Kucińska, They have two sons, nam ...

as the assistant *

Leszek Teleszyński Leszek Teleszyński (born May 21, 1947) is a Polish actor. In 1974 he starred in the Academy Award-nominated film ''The Deluge'' under Jerzy Hoffman. Selected filmography * ''The Deluge The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Boo ...

as the politician

Production

The film project was initiated by Paisa Films in 2007 and co-produced with Produkcja which joined in 2009. The production received 1.6 million złoty from the Polish Film Institute and had a total budget of 2.6 million złoty. The film was digitally animated and combines cutout and 3D techniques. It took two years to make and involved a team of 14 people, although according to co-director Wojciech Wawszczyk, "everyone worked for six". After the script was finished the actors recorded their lines. In August 2010 the animation work was completed and editing began.

Release

The premiere was on 11 March 2011 in Poland through Monolith Films.

References

External links