40 Fun Facts About Early Man (2018 Film)

Which Wallace & Gromit creator directed Early Man, his first feature film since 2005?

Nick Park also performs in the film, supplying the grunts and snorts of the hero's pet boar.

In Early Man's prehistoric opening, the dinosaur-killing asteroid strikes Earth near which English city?

Manchester is the film's joke birthplace of football: survivors of the impact start kicking a chunk of the space rock around.

Which oversized creature bursts the cavemen's only ball in Early Man, then later carries them to the match?

A giant duck chases the tribe and destroys their ball; once tamed, it delivers the whole team to the stadium just as Dug is about to forfeit.

Which small animals does Dug's tribe hunt every day in Early Man, never daring to chase bigger prey?

Rabbits are all the clumsy tribe can manage, and Chief Bobnar brushes off Dug's plea to hunt something bigger because they are too uncoordinated.

Which actor gives the villainous Bronze Age governor in Early Man an outrageous French accent?

Tom Hiddleston, best known as Marvel's Loki, plays the greedy governor with a comedy French accent that one critic compared to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Who goes in goal and saves a penalty in Early Man after Chief Bobnar is knocked out?

Hognob is Dug's loyal sidekick, a scene-stealer one critic called as close to Gromit as it is possible to get; his save sets up the winning goal.

With which acrobatic move does Dug score the winning goal in Early Man's deciding match?

A bicycle kick from Dug wins the valley back, moments after the villain had seized the whistle and started giving biased decisions.

Which DreamWorks hit began as an Aardman project announced in 2005, years before Early Man?

The Croods began in 2005 as an Aardman project called Crood Awakening; DreamWorks kept the story when the two studios parted ways.

Early Man's weak American opening was blamed on arriving the same weekend as which Marvel blockbuster?

Black Panther swallowed the February 2018 box office, leaving the caveman comedy seventh in the US chart with an opening of about $3 million.

Critics read Early Man's Stone Age tribe facing slick continental rivals as an allegory for which political event?

Brexit was fresh news when the film arrived in 2018, and reviewers could not resist reading the plucky locals versus Euro-style invaders that way.

Which Fantastic Beasts actor voices Dug, the young caveman hero of Early Man?

Eddie Redmayne, an Oscar winner for playing Stephen Hawking, pitched Dug so young that one critic said he sounded like a small child.

Which Game of Thrones star voices the football-mad Bronze Age trader who coaches the cavemen in Early Man?

Maisie Williams, television's Arya Stark, called herself a huge Aardman fan and said working on the film was a dream come true.

Which Bronze Age trader secretly practises in the empty stadium and agrees to coach Dug's team in Early Man?

Goona catches Dug sneaking in to steal footballs, then helps him take them and turns his bumbling tribe into a team.

Which actor, Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter films, voices Chief Bobnar in Early Man?

Timothy Spall was an Aardman veteran, having voiced Nick the rat in Chicken Run; here he plays the tribe's cautious leader and Dug's father figure.

Which greedy Bronze Age governor drives Dug's tribe out of their valley in Early Man?

Nooth accepts Dug's challenge only because he sees a chance to profit from the match, and later cheats by taking over as referee.

Which actress, a BAFTA winner for The Age of Innocence, voices Queen Oofeefa in Early Man?

Miriam Margolyes plays the demanding ruler of the Bronze Age world, who piles pressure on her governor to win the match.

Which Gavin & Stacey star voices both match commentators and a talking message bird in Early Man?

Rob Brydon is all over the film: he voices commentators Brian and Bryan, the pigeon that repeats royal messages aloud, and one of the rival players.

Which IT Crowd actor voices Treebor, the large and cowardly caveman of Early Man?

Richard Ayoade plays a gentle giant who is forever being embarrassed by his mother, a fellow member of the tribe.

Which dim member of Dug's tribe in Early Man has a best friend who is an actual rock?

Barry calls his stone companion Mr. Rock and treats him as one of the tribe.

Which member of Dug's tribe in Early Man is the overbearing parent who constantly embarrasses Treebor?

Magma, voiced by Selina Griffiths, is the mother of the tribe's biggest and most cowardly member.

Early Man's two battling dinosaurs are named in the credits after which special-effects pioneer?

Ray Harryhausen animated the dinosaurs of One Million Years B.C., so the film's Ceratosaurus and Triceratops are credited as Ray and Harry.

In Early Man, what does the villain show Dug underground to prove his ancestors never won a match?

Cave paintings reveal that Dug's ancestors invented football and taught it to other tribes, then lost every game and gave up.

In Early Man's closing scene, the tribe's usual prey scares off the hunters by pretending to be which huge beast?

A woolly mammoth is what Dug always dreamed of hunting, so the disguise sends his tribe and their new Bronze Age friends running.

Where is Dug's tribe forced to live in Early Man after being driven out of their lush valley?

The badlands around the valley are a volcanic wasteland, which is why the tribe risks everything on one match to get home.

How does Dug accidentally end up inside the Bronze Age city for the first time in Early Man?

He falls into a cart while trying to fight the invaders and is carried off unnoticed; once inside, he is mistaken for a player.

In Early Man, where does Dug promise his tribe will work forever if they lose the match?

In the mines is the forfeit Dug stakes against the valley; on match day he even offers to go there alone if his tribe is spared.

Crowd noise for Early Man was recorded with volunteers at the Memorial Stadium, home of which football club?

Bristol Rovers share a home city with Aardman, so the public was invited to the ground to become the film's roaring crowd.

Which long-running BBC children's programme ran a competition to design a prehistoric character for Early Man?

Blue Peter offered the winner the chance to see their creation brought to life by Aardman, plus an invitation to the premiere.

Which British pop trio recorded the single Good Day and a cover of Tiger Feet for Early Man?

New Hope Club earned a Hollywood Music in Media Awards nomination for Good Day, and their second track revived a 1974 chart-topper by Mud.

Which composer of Chicken Run and the Shrek films co-wrote Early Man's score with Tom Howe?

Harry Gregson-Williams was busy with another film, so he wrote the main themes and his protégé developed them into the full score.

Early Man earned several nominations, including Best Animated Feature and Directing, at which American ceremony?

The Annie Awards shortlisted the film seven times, for its directing, music, effects and lead voice performance among others, but it went home without a win.

At which London studios was Early Man's orchestral score recorded?

Abbey Road hosted the orchestra and choir sessions for the score, which also works in caveman yells.

Early Man co-composer Tom Howe also wrote music for which hit UK television competition?

The Great British Bake Off theme is what sold him to the film's producers, who looked him up online after the lead composer recommended him.

Which French company co-produced Early Man with Aardman and released it in British cinemas?

StudioCanal also released the film in France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, but left North America to another distributor.

Why do the cavemen in Early Man's prologue start kicking a chunk of asteroid around?

It is too hot to hold, so the survivors boot the roughly ball-shaped lump between them instead, and a sport is born.

Why is the cavemen's coach in Early Man barred from playing for the Bronze Age city's team?

Women are not allowed in the Bronze Age squad, so she practises alone at night and jumps at the chance to play for the Stone Age side instead.

What is the name of the star-studded Bronze Age football team that Dug's cavemen must beat in Early Man?

Real Bronzio's players are gifted but, as the cavemen's coach spots, too vain to work together, which gives the underdogs their chance.

What does the defeated villain of Early Man try to run off with before he is arrested?

The ticket money was his real interest all along; once he is caught, everyone in the crowd gets a refund.

Which sidekick of the Early Man villain referees the big match until his own boss puts him out of action?

Dino is the governor's second-in-command, and losing him lets his master grab the whistle and start making biased calls.

Like Chicken Run before it, Early Man was made using which painstaking animation technique?

Stop motion means posing every puppet by hand, one frame at a time, so an animator may finish only a few seconds of film in a day.