STACK NZ Jan-Feb #59

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Directors Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable, together with Laika animation
studio and a talented voice cast, turn Alan Snow’s book Here Be Monsters! into
“the biggest stop motion film ever made” –THE BOXTROLLS.
Ayoade (Mr. Pickles), we kind of figured those
guys would be into making an animated stop
motion film. But for folks like Sir Ben Kingsley,
our villain, Snatcher, he did not really have
a history of doing animated features and an
actor of his stature, you would have imagine
he would have been offered the opportunity
many times. So to get him as our villain was
just a real coup for us. He just brought so much
to that character. And then of course Isaac
HempsteadWright as Eggs was just
this perfect mix of sincerity and scruffiness
that our hero needed to have.
What was your approach to bringing the
Boxtrolls themselves to life?
AS: We always knew when we first read
the book that the Boxtrolls were the most
unique creation that Alan Snow had.We liked
how he described them in the book.The fact
that they did not have a language.That they
just had these emotive gurgles. I knew that
Graham, who was in the story department
here, specialised in [these type of] animating
and storyboarding pantomime characters.
GA: I mean this is what brought
me to the project.What I gravitated
towards was the fact that there were
these incredible sequences in the film
that did not have a line of dialogue. It
was all through expression and gesture a
nd these two Boxtrolls, Fish and Shoe,
who are interacting with the little baby
and no one is saying a word. It is all through
the sound design and the animation that
really communicates it.
How did you divide directing duties?
AS: Every animated film is storyboarded.
That is the blueprint to make the film. So we
always work together all day long to make
the blueprint, to do the storyboards. And
then when we hit production…
GA : Yeah, when we hit production, that is
when (I think) everyone loves the fact that
we have two directors because we can
divide and conquer.
AS: For eighteen months.
What kind of movie are viewers in store for?
AS: It is a really fun movie. It is an
action-adventure family film with a really big
heart, about a boy in search of who he is and
where he belongs in the world.
What is your favourite cheese?
AS: Gorgonzola! Because it has got a
funny name.
GA: Me, I am a simple man. I am
going with Cheddar.
What attracted you to The Boxtrolls?
Anthony Stacchi: I had always wanted
to do a stop motion film. I had worked a little
bit on them in past points in my career, but I
had never been able to direct one. I went up
to visit Laika, and whenTravis (Laika Studios
CEO,Travis Knight) showed me what they
were doing on Coraline (2009), he gave me the
great Alan Snow book, Here be Monsters! to
read. I thought it was the perfect marriage of
source material and a studio capable of making
what has now got to be the biggest stop
motion film ever made.
Why is stop motion the perfect medium to
tell this story?
GrahamAnnable: I think part of it is the
source material. Alan’s book, the setting – a
steampunk,Victorian background. It brings
so many textures into play and stop motion
offers such a unique way of representing
animation. It just all fit right, it all melded
together in a really perfect way.
What was the biggest challenge
in putting The Boxtrolls movie together?
AS: There are a lot of challenges to making a
stop motion movie. But the biggest challenge
on this one is the same as every animated film
– getting the story right. I first visited [Laika]
seven years ago and first read the book then.
Most of the seven years [since] was taken up
with honing downAlan Snow’s massive book
into a movie that was emotionally fulfilling
and could fit into 90 minutes.
What were you looking for when you were
putting the cast ensemble together?
GA: I think we’ve been really fortunate.We
made our little wish list as directors of who we
would love to have in the film, and we pretty
much have been able to get the folks we’ve
wanted.We knew, with Simon Pegg (Herbert
Trubshaw), Nick Frost (Mr.Trout), Richard
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