Andy Serkis knew his version of Animal Farm would be "polarising", but the debates over the film still took him by surprise.
The Lord of the Rings actor spent more than 10 years working on his animated adaptation of George Orwell's 1945 novella, and it was panned by critics and bombed at the box office when it was released in the U.S. in May.
His version of the political allegory features significant changes, including the introduction of a new lead character, a more hopeful third act and a family-friendly approach.
Addressing the response to the film in the U.S., Serkis told BBC News, "We knew it was going to be polarising, and some people won't like it... We've tested this film with very young kids, down to the age of about six, and it's scored incredibly highly."
"Part of the nature of Orwell was being someone who stirs it up, who makes people think and gets people talking."
Continuing to defend his film, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes actor insisted Orwell would have approved of this adaptation.
"We worked very closely with the Orwell estate, and I know for a fact that he would, I think, approve of this version of the story, because it connects with the audience in the way that they are having the, excuse the phrase, wool being pulled over their eyes," he stated.
Serkis admitted that he was hurt by hordes of people writing off Animal Farm without seeing it - as the controversy didn't translate to ticket sales.
"We wanted to debate and boy, did we get a debate in the States. It was from both left and right, and they each had their own particular reason for reviling it. It was criticised for being anti-capitalist. It was criticised for being not anti-communist enough," he reflected in a separate interview with Variety. "It seemed to do what we wanted it to do, which was cause a debate, but what it didn't do was encourage parents to take their children to see it. It literally got something like 60 million hits on the first trailer - and of outrage."
Serkis hopes Animal Farm, which features the voices of Seth Rogen, Woody Harrelson and Gaten Matarazzo, fares better in his and Orwell's native U.K. when it opens in cinemas on 24 July, following previews on 18 and 19 July.
