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Poetry in stop motion
Tiburon filmmaker Henry Selick's road to the Oscars--one frame at a time


Imagine you are an animator.
Imagine that, in an industry originally dominated by classic hand-drawn animation styles, you've developed a particular affection for stop-motion animation—always the oddball distant relative of the animation family. And that you've devoted your entire career to making movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone. Not that you made movies similar to those—you actually made those movies. Imagine that, even after hand-drawn films were supplanted by computer animation, CGI films along the lines of Toy Story, Ice Age, and Bolt—making hand-drawn animation the new oddball distant relative—you've remained devoted to stop-motion animation.
Imagine that it's been nine years since your last feature film, nine years in which no studio has been gutsy enough to make the commitment to stop-motion that you've devoted your life to, nine years in which you've kept the juices flowing by creating and animating weird underwater animals for Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and the random short film.
Now imagine that finally, finally, you've made a new movie. Imagine that it is Coraline, adapted from the freaky little novel by Neil Gaiman. Imagine that Coraline has been released to great acclaim, and has gone on to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Imagine how all of that must feel.
"It feel's nice," says Tiburon resident Henry Selick, writer and director of Coraline. "Its really nice, after working so hard for so many years, to finally see hand-made animation getting the recognition it deserves."
Ironically, Coraline isn't even the only stop-motion film in the running for the little golden man. Also nominated is Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox, employing the same kind of take-a-real-doll-and-move-it-around-shooting-each-and-every-tiny-movement-so-that-when-it's-played-back-the-dolls-seem-to-be-moving-themselves kind of animation that Henry Selick has mastered. In fact, for the first time since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences began giving awards for Best Animated Feature in 2001, the "hand-made" films actually outnumber the CGI kind. Though Pixar's celebrated Up is generally considered the front runner—in part because it was also nominated for Best Picture (only the second animated film to ever be so honored)—many aficionados of animation have taken heart that two of the animation nominees are hand-drawn (Disney's luscious The Princess & the Frog and Ireland's mysterious, under-the-radar The Secret of Kells), and two are stop-motion (That would be Fantastic Mr. Fox and Coraline).
Selick, understandably, has been enjoying the congratulations and accolades since the nominations were announced in early February.
"Let's just say I'm not tired of it yet," he says, speaking on the phone from Universal Studios in Los Angeles (where models and sets from Coraline can be seen in-person by theme-park patrons who line up for the NBC Universal Experience tour). Selick, whose name is often mentioned during industry discussions and on-line chats about the surging vitality of animated films, agrees that 2009 was an especially rich year for movies employing animated styles. "Those people who are saying that this is the best year ever for animated films, that 2009 is the 1939 of animation, I think they're right," Selick says. "We're seeing an incredible range of styles and techniques. All the major studios that do animation have put out films this year, and then there are the independents putting them out. There were so many good films that weren't even nominated—Ponyo, the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, that was a great film. As far as the variety of high-quality films released last year, this is the best year ever. Ever."
The amazing thing about the state of animation is how many films—from edgy efforts like Persepolis and Waltzing with Bashir to off-the-weird art-films like the recent French oddity A Town Called Panic—are drawing adult audiences. Even family films like Coraline, rated PG but packed with strong eerie elements (deceased children, button-eyed imposters, graphic close-ups of queasy doll dissection) that have made the film a touchstone for the hip Goth-Squad twenty-somethings who tend to hang out at Hot Topic. Asked if this signals the imminent end of the days when animated films were viewed as only appropriate for children, Selick laughs darkly.
"Well, I wouldn't say those ideas are going away quickly," he remarks, "but the way I see it, I think audiences have always been ready for something good and interesting. It's the studios that have been slow to take risks, slow to take chances. But with films like Avatar, a major breakthrough in pushing the types of stories that animation can tell, studios are suddenly seeing that they can make money from animated films. James Cameron [the director of Avatar might say it's not animation, that it's 'motion capture,' but there is a huge amount of animation in that film. It's an animated film. And it's helped out the field of animation at least as much as all of these other animated films released in the last couple of years."
He points to avant-garde filmmakers such as Adam Eliot (Mary & Max, Harvey Krumpet) as evidence that creative work is being done by folks not interested in making the next Walt Disney fairytale.
"There are incredible artists making totally powerful, adult stories told through animation," Selick says. "And they are finding ways to get them in front of people. I've been waiting for this, probably my whole life, the moment when artists suddenly have the opportunity to expand their stories beyond just things that are great for kids. It's not happening overnight, though. It's still an ongoing process, but it's one I'm happy to be in the midst of."
As a banner year for animated films, Selick thinks that 2009 may be more of a one-year blip than the first in a series of similar seasons, in that he doubts there can be the same number of high quality animated films every year. That said, he believes that the quantity of animated films produced and released by the studios will continue. Most major studios have committed to producing at least one new animated film each year, which is a lot of output. The law of averages suggests that not all of them will be the kind of masterpieces that make up the current Oscar nominee list.
"We know that with Pixar, they're all going to be good, they're all classics," Selick chuckles, "but I doubt you'll see 2009 all over again any time soon. That said, I do think that on average, the quality of the animated films being produced is going to stay reasonably high, because so many people are putting their best efforts into them, and the studios are more-or-less backing them up. The best thing is that the variety will keep expanding in terms of different storytelling styles and techniques."
Many critics are naming Coraline, with its unexpectedly powerful emotions and dazzling visuals, as a film that will one day be seen as an all-time classic of the genre. Asked if he feels the same way, Selick is cautious.
"I can only hope it will be seen as a classic in the future," he says. "You just put your best effort into these things, and hope for the best. They can be pretty grueling to make, that's for sure. They're also very joyful to make, because they give you the chance to work with so many great artists. I'm happy that Coraline which was released early last year, is still remembered this late in the season."
Selick's only regret, he explains, is that Coraline—already out in DVD—won't be seen by more people in its original, big-screen 3-D format. Though the film did well in its theatrical release, the number of 3-D screens it appeared on originally was cut back after only three weeks, to make room for Disney's much-ballyhooed Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Experience!
"We didn't have enough screens," Selick says. "We had a very small window, because for once there were more 3-D movies ready than there were theaters with the new visual projection systems. I happen to think Coraline works beautifully in 2-D, but it was intended for 3-D. There is a home 3-D version, but the technology is 20 years old. It's more of a gimmick, really. It's not a high-quality system. In the big picture, I do wish that the people who see the film on DVD and like it, got the chance to see it in a theater first."
As to the art of stop motion animation, Selick has high hopes that with the current success of stop-motion films—including the Best Animated Short nominee A Matter of Loaf and Death, another Wallace and Grommit adventure—that studios will continue to finance them—and that Selick will continue to have opportunities to unleash his masterful marvels on the world.
"If people are willing to continue to financially support stop-motion, then I see a lot of possibility for the future," he says. "And that feels so great to say, because for a while it was very difficult, when CG came to dominate animation, and no studio would consider a film that wasn't computer made. And now that 3-D movies are all the rage, it's given me all the more reason to push for more stop-motion 3-D films. As long as I'm doing stop-motion, it makes sense to capture that in 3-D, because one of stop-motion's greatest strengths is that it's all real stuff. These are actual objects being posed, and lit, and doused in shadows.
"They have actual texture," he continues. "They exist—and as such they feel more real than other kinds of animation. Stop-motion is the most like live-action of all the animated forms. But the issue will always be how to integrate the 3-D with a story. It has to be part of the story-telling process, for me. Coraline worked out perfectly in those terms. So, you know, that will be the issue. How do I make sure it feels integrated and not just something that's an add-on?"
Unable to name specifics, Selick does confess that he has a few things on the table as a follow-up to Coraline, including an original story of his own, and an adaptation of a popular book. He expects to make an announcement soon after the Oscars.
And speaking of the Oscars, pressed to reveal whether he holds out hope for a Coraline upset of Up, Selick remains 100 percent gracious, and a little bit cagey.
"I'm very happy to have been nominated," he says. "Just getting in this far with this project feels very much like, you know, we got there! We arrived! I'm sure a very small part of my reptile brain is holding on to a hope of some upset win, but I really don't think that's possible, and I'm not disappointed in that. I'm very, very happy to have been singled out for the nomination, and that's plenty enough for me and the folks who worked on the film.
"But if something weird happens, and they do say 'The winner is "Coraline," I'm definitely taking it."
Talk more pics with David at talkpix@earthlink.net.

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