Tim Minchin to add his musical magic to Australian animation

The bare-footed eyeliner-sporting comedy singer will write the score for the studio's new production, which will be set in Australia.

Currently titled Larrikins, the Dreamworks film will star a desert-dwelling marsupial who leaves his family burrow for an adventure in the Australian outback.

Tim Minchin - who rose to fame with his stand up performances featuring original and witty songs on subjects as diverse as the environment, prejudice and boobs - was the composer and lyricist of the stage adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda, which has gone on to win an unprecedented number of theatrical awards.

British born Minchin, who was raised in Australia, said: "The Australian outback is vast and spell-binding and heart-stoppingly beautiful, and the characters that inhabit it are unique and hilarious and tough and cheeky. It's going to be bloody good fun."

Minchin, who has also had parts in TV series Californication, musical Jesus Christ Superstar and play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, recently spoke to Radio Times about his musical talents, saying: "I’m not the best composer in the world and I haven’t yet written a musical with melodies as strong as Phantom... But I’m a lyric-head probably first. I love playing with words. I’m unashamed about the density of internal rhyme and alliterations and making words jump and play and sparkle."