Work begins on film version of The Simpsons

HOMER is heading for the big screen, but fans of the nuclear power-plant worker and his cult TV cartoon family, The Simpsons, will have to wait several years before the result reaches the cinema.

Yeardley Smith, who provides the voice for eight-year-old Lisa Simpson, said writing was already under way, but recording would not start until after the present television series was completed.

Even then, she said, it would be three years before the film reached cinemas because the animation process took so long. "Animation takes forever," she told Associated Press radio, in the United States.

"My wish for the show is that we go out with a bang not a pimple. If we can do a movie, and it can be as good as our best episodes, I’m thrilled. I think that would be wonderful."

Last week, it emerged the new series of the cartoon was under threat because of a pay revolt among the actors who give voices to Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and other characters.

The six actors, including Smith, reportedly each asked for about 4.25 million a year, a huge improvement on the 1.5 million they currently receive.