It shouldn't come as a surprise that Henry Selick is such an animated fellow. After all, this is a guy whose career is all about animation — stop-motion animation, that is.
Selick directed "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," as well as Roald Dahl's "James and the Giant Peach."
Selick has genuine enthusiasm for the animation medium, and he also has great praise for his latest collaborator, filmmaker Wes Anderson. Selick and his crews produced several stop-motion-animation sea creatures for Anderson's latest comedy, "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," which opens on Saturday. (See review here.)
Anderson and Selick met through a friend and had some discussions about another film project, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's "The Fantastic Mr. Fox." "I was just amazed and excited that he'd heard of me, even knew who I was," Selick said by phone from New York City. "I mean, Wes is one of the most fresh voices in all of filmmaking, and he wanted to work with me."
But as the discussions continued, Anderson also began to think of ways to use Selick's work in "The Life Aquatic," which is a live-action feature about a world-famous oceanographer (played by Bill Murray), who is seeking revenge on the sea beast that killed his best friend. "Wes realized that if he was going to make a movie about an underwater adventure, he was going to need a menagerie of underwater life. And he looked to me, because he didn't want to use computer-created or -enhanced digital effects. He wanted something that looked more real, as ridiculous as that sounds."
So while Anderson and his co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach came up with the names and general ideas for such fictional marine creatures as a Jaguar Shark, the Crayon Ponyfish and Sugar Crabs, it was up to Selick to design them, create them and bring them to "life." "We definitely had a lot of fun doing the film. In fact, we came up with a lot things that wound up on the cutting-room floor, including the Rat Tail Envelope Fish, this creature that can turn itself inside out. Hopefully that will be included on the DVD extras."
Selick is very open to talking about his film projects, including the disastrous live-action/animation hybrid "Monkeybone." "We did the best we could with that one, considering the circumstances. No one really wanted that one to succeed," he said with a sigh.
And while he continues to work in film, Selick has also taken an active role at Vinton Studios, which has been the industry leader in the Claymation process (perhaps still best-known for California Raisins commercials).
According to Selick, executives there are trying to turn Vinton into more of an animation house, including boosting its efforts in CGI and cel animation. "It's very exciting. There are so many creative people there, so it's a good time to be in this business."
Selick is collaborating with Anderson on "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," though it hasn't been determined yet as to how much of it will be CGI, stop-motion or even traditional cel animation. "But Wes is determined to make it an animated movie, no matter what. So he's going to have to trust my judgment a little more this time around," he said with a laugh.
Selick is also trying to develop a feature-film project of his own, "Coraline," based on the best-selling fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman. "This was another case of my reputation preceding me. I met Neil through another friend and he just gushed. He said he was a huge fan, and I think he was hoping I would do something with the book.
"But after 'Monkeybone,' I think I'm lucky to be working in the industry at all, much less having people this talented want to work with me. I guess I've got them all fooled."
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com