Wallace & Gromit has always had a global appeal, but Vengeance Most Fowl‘s unique position as the first in the series made with a bit international backing in mind thanks to Netflix has meant that not all of its British charms have been keenly acknowledged by those international partners. While that did lead Aardman to cut a few nods that were perhaps a little too specific to British audiences, one that made it into the final movie only got there after clearing up the confusion of some distinctly non-British Netflix execs.
The point of concern? “Flippin’ Nora!”
Uttered by PC Mackintosh (played by British comedian Peter Kay) during a climactic chase sequence of the film, the exasperated saying is a harmless British colloquialism used to express shock or indignation. Especially common in the north of England, where Wallace & Gromit is set, the turn of phrase might as well have been an alien language to Netflix. “Peter ad-libs a lot,” Vengeance Most Fowl co-director Nick Park recently explained to The Sun. “At one point, he’s astonished at something and shouts: ‘Flippin’ Nora’… one day we did get a note back [from Netflix] to ask: ‘Who is Nora, and why is she being flipped?’”.
Thankfully after Park and his co-director Merlin Crossingham explained that the line was “an innocent turn of phrase,” Netflix were inclined to leave the moment as-is. With a film as packed with nods to British culture as Vengeance Most Fowl is, at some point they presumably just started accepting anything that sounded a bit weird was down to national differences more than anything else.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which made its debut on Christmas Day in the UK and Ireland, will hop around the world when it hits Netflix internationally on January 3.
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