“Put down the phone, shut up the shop
Make all the techno-babble stop
We’ll find a short-wave frequency
A wave connecting you and me”

- Roger Waters, “Hello (I Love You)”
original song from The Last Mimzy

Based on the acclaimed sci-fi short story by Lewis Padgett, The Last Mimzy tells the story of two children who discover a mysterious box that contains some strange devices they think are toys. As the children play with these “toys,” they begin to display higher and higher intelligence levels. Their teacher reports to their parents that they seem to be growing beyond genius. Their parents, too, realize something extraordinary is happening. Emma, the younger of the two, tells her confused mother that one of the toys, a stuffed toy rabbit, is apparently called Mimzy and that “she teaches me things.”

Emma’s mom becomes increasingly concerned, when suddenly a blackout shuts down the city. The government traces the source of the power surge to the family’s house. Things quickly spin wildly out of control. The children are focused on these strange objects, Mimzy, and the important mission on which they seem to have been sent. When the little girl says that Mimzy contains a most serious message from the future, a scientific scan shows that Mimzy is part extremely high level electronics, and part organic! Everyone realizes that they are involved in something incredible…but exactly what?

The Last Mimzy features an ensemble cast that includes Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, General’s Daughter), Joely Richardson (The Patriot, Nip/Tuck), Rainn Wilson (The Office), Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile), and newcomers Rhiannon Leigh Wryn and Chris O’Neil as the children, Emma and Noah. It is produced by Michael Phillips (The Sting, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and directed by Bob Shaye (executive producer of, among other films, The Lord of the Rings trilogy). Shaye is also founder, Co-Chairman, and Co-CEO of New Line Cinema.

The Last Mimzy is based on the 1943 short story “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett (a pseudonym for Henry Kuttner and his wife, C. L. Moore); the adapted screenplay is by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost, Deep Impact) and Toby Emmerich (Frequency), from a screen story by James V. Hart & Carol Skilken.

The film’s production team also includes composer Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), editor Alan Heim (All That Jazz, The Notebook), and sound designer Dane Davis (The Matrix). Technical consultants are Dr. Brian Greene, Columbia University professor of mathematics and physics and author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos who is a leading proponent of String Theory (Greene also appears in a cameo in the film), and Dr. Susan Smalley, a professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA who specializes in genetics.

Combined, the cast and production team feature six Academy Award winners. Michael Phillips (The Sting), Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghosts), Howard Shore (Lord of The Rings), Dane Davis (Matrix), Alan Heim (All That Jazz), and Tim Hutton (Ordinary People).

New Line Cinema will release The Last Mimzy in theaters nationwide on March 23rd, 2007.