Ema Ryan Yamazaki plans to create a mixed-media documentary on Curious George entitled Monkey Business. This filmmaker ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise $175,000 for this project.
Yamazaki plans to focus the movie on the creators behind this iconic picture book series, Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey. Altogether, the Reys wrote and illustrated seven Curious George books.
Here’s more from the press release: “To tell this remarkable story, Yamazaki obtained exclusive rights from the Rey’s estate, curated by longtime caretaker to Margret Rey, Ley Lee Ong, gaining access to the over 300 boxes of the Reys’ personal archives at the de Grummond Collection, housed at the University of Southern Mississippi. Through a unique and Rey-inspired technique of animation, as well as archival photographs, the documentary tells the story of the couple’s lives, the birth of George and how the well-loved children’s book character almost didn’t come to fruition.”