Free Jimmy (2006)

Four stoners, five vegans, three mobsters, four hunters and a million reasons to free one junkie elephant.

We follow the story of four low life anti-heroes Roy Arnie (Woody Harrelson), Odd (Simon Pegg), Gaz (Phil Daniels) and Flea (Jay Simpson), who are uprooted from the mean city streets to work with Ringmaster Stromowski (Jim Broadbent) in a touring Russian circus in terminal decline. The star attraction is Jimmy, an elephant kept ‘happy’ on a cocktail of drugs. But Roy Arnie has a dream that one day he will run his own circus and he tells the boys that the key to his dream is Jimmy. On the opening night a bungled attempt to give Jimmy his ‘fix’ causes widespread panic. Jimmy escapes and so begins a mad cap cross-country road-trip to find Jimmy before he goes cold turkey.

Suddenly everyone wants a piece of Jimmy. A deranged bunch of animal activists led by clean living, straight edged couple Marius (Kyle MacLachlan) and Bettina (Emilia Fox) are after Jimmy to front their cause. A trigger happy Scottish hunting party (James, Cosmo, David Tennant, Douglas Henshall, Russell Barr) think his head would look great mounted on their wall and The Lappish Mafia – the meanest men in the north (The League of Gentlemen – Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton) want to ‘hit’ him for a big payoff. Jimmy’s only chance is a benevolent moose who befriends him on the road. Can he help free Jimmy, release him from his addiction and save him from a million dollar secret…

Original title: Slipp Jimmy fri
Genre: Comedy, animation
Duration: 86 min
Production year: 2006

Written by: Christopher Nielsen, Simon Pegg (english screenplay)
Directed by: Christopher Nielsen
Produced by: Storm Films, Storm Studios
Co-producers: Modelink, Sarah Radclyffe Productions Ltd.

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Simon Pegg, Phil Daniels, Jay Simpson

Awards Cristal for Best Feature - Annecy International Animation Film Festival (2007), Award for Best Film of the Year - Amanda, Norway (2006), Audience Award & Best Musical Score - Kosmorama, Trondheim (2007)