The following "press release" was posted to the Harry Nilsson Web Pages on April 1, 2004, as an "April Fools" prank.
THE POINT! TO BEGIN PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN NEW ZEALAND
Carolynne Cunningham Directs International Cast in Live Action Musical (Los Angeles, April 1, 2004) – The Point! begins principal photography in Wellington, New Zealand, on May 11, 2004, under the direction of Carolynne Cunningham, it was jointly announced today by Robert Shaye, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New Line Cinema; Michael Lynne, President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Cinema; Michael De Luca, President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Productions; and Mark Ordesky, President of Fine Line Features.
Based on a story by American singer and songwriter Harry Nilsson, The Point! originally appeared in 1971 as a record album and as the first animated made-for-TV movie. New Line Cinema’s live-action remake features songs by Harry Nilsson as well as original music by Don Was.
Carolynne Cunningham served as first assistant director for the films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Point! is her first feature film as director. The producers are Tim Sanders (Aberration, The Frighteners) and Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings), and the executive producers are Saul Zaentz (The English Patient, Amadeus), and Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein (co-chairmen of Miramax). Walsh and Rich Porras (Contact) are associate producing under Jackson's WingNut Films Banner.
Erik Per Sullivan leads the cast as "Oblio," a little boy living in the Land of Point where everything, and everyone, has a point – except round-headed Oblio. Sullivan has appeared in feature films (The Cider House Rules) and currently plays Dewey, the youngest of three siblings in the FOX television series “Malcolm in the Middle.”
Oblio’s nemesis, The Count’s Son, is played by fifteen-year-old Oliver Kindred (Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star). Others in the cast include Alan Rickman (Die Hard, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) as The Count and Kenneth Mars (The April Fools, “Malcolm in the Middle”) as the King. Singer Isaac Hayes (“South Park”) appears as the “Rock Man.”
The Point! is scheduled for release in Summer of 2005.