Nightmare Before Christmas’ Henry Selick talks Coraline

Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Sandman graphic novel will have much to celebrate in early 2009 with the film "Coraline."

Adapted by director Henry Selick from Neil Gaiman's eponymous best-seller - "Coraline" follows a young girl (Dakota Fanning) who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. The parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life, but better. Exception being when Coraline's adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including Other Mother, voiced by Teri Hatcher) try to keep her forever.The director of the Disney classic, Henry Selick, as well as Beowulf writer Neil Gaiman have teamed up for the upcoming stop-motion film. Their displayed maquettes for the film were the hit of Comic-Con. Georgina Hayns, head of Coraline puppet department, accompanied the movies maquettes to San Diego where they were displayed in the NECA booth.

Georgina Hayns, head of "Coraline" puppet department, accompanied the movie's maquettes to San Diego where they were displayed in the NECA booth.

Monsters and Critics joined a round table and spoke to Henry Selck regarding the film, "Coraline."What is the next step in stop-motion technology? We've read about the new stereoscopic dual digital camera rig you're using on Coraline. How will the end result be different from Nightmare Before Christmas? Henry Selick: Shooting stereoscopically just gives you more of what is there, just a little more sense of the reality of this medium, it does not live in the computer nor is it a series of drawings, it's an actual real set and puppets.What major changes have occurred in this kind of filmmaking in the time between Nightmare and Coraline? Henry Selick: Mainly it is the ability to capture images in a computer while you shoot. When we did Nightmare we could capture 2 images total. Now you can shoot the whole scene and play it back while you animate. This assists the animator but actually slows down the process because they keep checking it every time they shoot a new frame. Computers have slowed down what is already a time consuming process.How will your experience working on Nightmare influence your upcoming project, Coraline? How will the aesthetic and visual style compare to Coraline? Henry Selick: You build on what you know, so there is no doubt that some similarities between the two projects. I also have many of the original Nightmare team members working on Coraline. We've all grown and the visual aesthetic is ultimately a very different one. You'll see great animation like Nightmare, like a cousin of Nightmare. More like a second cousin. The last thing I'd want to do would be to try to rip off a classic film I directed.

Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick. Photo date: 28 July 2007

How would you compare adapting Neil Gaiman in Coraline with adapting Tim Burton's designs on Nightmare? Henry Selick: I think that both Tim and Neil are extremely imaginative and real creators. In Tim's case he is a visual artist so the look of the film came from his sensibilities. Neil is not a visual artist, so I created the visual look of Coraline, but as far as sensibilities, I think there is a little more whimsy in Tim's work, a little more sweet with the sours, comfort with the scary, but I'd probably exclude Sweeney Todd. Neil goes a little darker, primal like a Grimms fairytale.How direct of a translation is Caroline from Neil's book? Henry Selick: The movie version of Coraline is very faithful to the tone and the spirit of the book. In the translation from book to film there are adjustments to story and charcter that have to be made. The main thing I always felt was I could not disappoint the readers of the book, and though some details have been changed and as well as the order of the sequences, I feel we will be successful.How far along is Coraline? Henry Selick: We will complete animation on Coraline in about 6 weeks and plan a February release of 09.What was it about Coraline that truly appealed to you?Henry Selick: It’s a dark perfect modern fairytale that concerns itself with a primal thought every child considers; I wish I had other parents. That, and the button eyes.