"Coraline," Laika Entertainment, 2009

In animation, I direct the voice talent. It's just part of the tradition. You cast the voices, and I enjoy that very much. But as far as regular live-action, I was a fish out of water. There's nothing about it that I like better than animation. Very few people have made the transition from animation to live-action; I'm certainly not one. A particular project [I directed] named "Monkeybone" was originally meant to have much more animation, as much as "James and the Giant Peach." But certain decisions were made, and I went along with them because I wanted to get the movie made. I feel I'm just meant to do stop-motion. Live-action is much more glamorous to some, but it's basically a whole army of people focused on one thing. In stop-motion, I have my army divided up into small little groups because we can have 30 sets going at once. Because the process is slow, I can move from one to the other. It's like going to art school and film school all day long, and that's where I thrive.

Then there's the stereoscopic technology. What's the trick to making a film that needs to look impressive in both 2D and 3D?

I actually have a pretty long history with 3D. I made a 3D rock video 20 years ago for the View-Master Corporation. The guy whose technology that was used then, Lenny Lipton, is the godfather of the modern cinema 3D experience. I knew he was a genius, and I kept visiting Lenny to see how the system was developing. [During] "The Nightmare Before Christmas," there was always a crew member who would shoot 3D stills, and we'd look at them through the viewer and have this ache to share that with the world because it just wasn't the same as flat. So there was exposure to 3D, a desire to use it for stop-motion, but ultimately, I didn't want to overwhelm and become a gimmick. I used it for the story of "Coraline" because it enhances this other world; it makes it a little deeper.

We drew people into the screen, into the world of "Coraline," sort of seduced them into coming to this other, better place, which turns out to be a horrible trap. Something I did that works for both 3D and 2D is, in the real world, all the sets are sort of crushed. They have very little depth, and there's a confined feel to them. In the "other world," they're built much better, more spacious and deeper. When you go there, you don't know why, but there's a sense of freedom you feel in the various rooms. So we always figured: "Let the story tell us how to use the 3D." In a few cases, you know, the trapeze, the needle that comes through the button in the head credits, and two or three other places, we thought: "Let's have fun, and bring things toward the audience." But that would be the rare thing.

Do you ever feel that, because of marketing or what-not, your buddy Tim Burton has usurped some credit as the filmmaker behind "The Nightmare Before Christmas"?

It was a very odd thing, but you know, Tim invented that story, those characters, and the brilliant collision of holidays. It would've been fine if the film had always been called "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," but the fact is, they changed it one month before its release. So I felt a little bit betrayed. But over the years, the insiders know, the people in the industry and the super-fans know, and the others don't. I figure I'll win a lot of bar bets for the rest of my life over that one.

If you could go back and refigure any of your favorite movies in 3D, what would you like to see popping out at you?

I think there's a need for an immediate remake of "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke in 3D. I don't know, it would be great to go back and do the post-3D effect, which they did on "Nightmare." It's very arduous, much more complex, and the results aren't nearly as good, but they did it, and it wasn't too bad. If they could do the post-3D effect on the original "King Kong," I would love that.

"Coraline" opens wide on February 6th.

[Additional photos: "Coraline," Laika Entertainment, 2009]

Name (Required)

Email Address (Required, not displayed)

URL

Type your comments here...