Chris Butler & Sam Fell Bring PARANORMAN to Life

When I spoke with Chris Butler and Sam Fell on July 27, 2012, the conversation was a wonderful mix of whimsy and erudition as they explained the finer points of bringing a stop-motion film to life. The two shared the directing duties on PARANORMAN, working from a script by Butler. What I was most interested in, though, besides the fine job Fell had done animating slugs with such charm in FLUSHED AWAY, was what it was about stop-motion animation that could tell a story like no other medium. They were effusive in their response, as well as disclosing some of the in-jokes put in the film by the animators, and, on a serious note, what fantasy in general, and zombies in particular, can teach bout bullying that makes it both effective and palatable.

NB: The Henry mentioned in the interview, by the way, is Henry Selick, the director of the first 3D stop-motion film, CORALINE, also from Laika studios.

PARANORMAN is a whimsically macabre stop-motion tale of unfinished business, second sight, and the terrors of being special. The hero is Norman, an sweet kid with a gift for seeing ghosts, and a penchant for the spooky, and hair that defies gravity. All of which makes him an outcast in his small New England town of Blithe Hollow until an ancient curse proves to be more than a myth, which is when Norman’s ability to see ghosts becomes more than an unfortunate eccentricity. The film stars the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Platz, Casey Affleck, John Goodman, Bernard Hill, Jeff Garlin, Tempestt Bledsoe, Tucker Albrizzi, and Elaine Stritch as the grandma with the very cold feet, Fell and Butler co-directed from Butler‘s script. Butler’s previous work includes CORALINE and CORPSE BRIDE, while Fell’s includes directing THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX and FLUSHED AWAY, which made us all think very differently about slugs.

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Chris Butler & Sam Fell Bring PARANORMAN to Life

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