Henry Selick is definitely one of the most creative minds in Hollywood and as he says he is finally taking charge of his career with his adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline. But he is already going down in history as the director of the modern Disney classic The Nightmare before Christmas.
Before Tim Burton convinced him to move into features Selick had help create MTV's look with his unique stop motion commercials and he had created his surrealistic short cartoon Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions. Since then he has adapted Roald Dahl's James and The Giant Peach into stop motion and Monkeybone a mix of live action and stop motion.
Up until Halloween The El Capitan theatre in Los Angeles is showing Nightmare Before Christmas and Tim Burton's short films Vincent and Frankenweenie.
For tickets to Nightmare before Christmas plus Tim Burton's short films Vincent and Frankenweenie at The El Capitan Theatre go to: www.elcapitantickets.com
Dan Epstein: What's it like having Nightmare before Christmas go back into the theatre for Halloween?
Henry Selick: Its fine. Most movies get done and they can be successful and then disappear. It's nice that this thing can be trotted out every Halloween and the core group of fans can come out.
DE: There were panels last Friday night you were on. Who else was on it?
HS:Glenn Shadix who's been in a couple of Tim Burton's films and was the voice of themayor in Nightmare Before Christmas. Also since they showed Frankenweenie, Shelley Duvall showed up.
DE: I thought there were great expectations for Nightmare before Christmas when it came out.
HS:Actually there were zero expectations for it at all. I'll jar your memory. It was kind of a stepchild. It was a gift to Tim Burton [from Disney] to get him to come back to Disney where he started out. He had some big successes [Batman, Beetlejuice for Warner Bros.] This was a project where he had come up with the core idea back in the early 1980's. Disney owned it and used as a carrot on a stick "We'll let you do this little movie, just come back and let's do some big things." They never really paid it a lot of attention and didn't get behind it too much. They released it as a Touchstone movie and wouldn't put the Disney name on it because they didn't think it was a Disney movie. They didn't promote it very much and for its cost, which was $23 million, it did very well making $50 million initially then on video it's done well. It's only one year ago Halloween that Disney finally acknowledged it as their movie when they dressed up the Haunted House ride in Disneyland like Nightmare Before Christmas.
DE: Did you check out the ride?
HS: Yeah they flew me down. It was great.
DE: So it must be pretty cool now that it's up there with one of Disney's classic animated films like Snow White and Pinocchio. It's right up there.
HS: It's something that no one had great hopes for and it far exceeded expectations.
DE: Do you have a favorite sequence?
HS: There's a wide shot of Lock, Shock and Barrel going into their clubhouse. Oogie Boogie is enormous fun. Sally following Jack in the graveyard is one of my favorites.
DE: Looking back on it is there anything you would improve on it?
HS: At the time I was convinced there was too many songs. Certainly initially people didn't want that. I had proposed a slightly different ending. It is what it is and everything that's beautiful has flaws. At this point I accept all the flaws and I'm perfectly happy the way it is.
DE: Are you still doing Neil Gaiman's Coraline?
HS: Yes I just finished a polish on the third draft, which was accepted. The producer really likes the screenplay and I hope to go into pre-production in January.
DE: Is it going to be a mixture of animation and live action like Monkeybone?
HS: It is going to be live action with some CG effects but unlike Monkeybone I will write the screenplay. I want to take charge of the story. It is stylized. I can't really compare it to anything else. It's not like any other story.
DE: Well it's a Neil Gaiman story.
HS: It's Neil Gaiman and that world. So I want to be faithful to that world and story.
DE: Many critics have said the only problem with your films is the story and structure. So by you writing the script means you are trying to fix that?
HS: Yes if I'm going to take blame for what doesnt work in a movie I should be the one who is actually writing the thing. As a director I've always had to write. You fix something last minute or whatever. But as I said this one I am going to write and see what happens.
DE: Is Dave McKean [who contributed illustrations to Coraline] going to be involved with the film?
HS: I don't know. I've had just a little bit of email communication with him. He's a brilliant illustrator but he's very busy with his own movie.
DE: Is Neil Gaiman kind of stepping back from it?
HS: Yes but he's given me his blessing. I would love for him to do the voice of the cat.
DE: Have you thought about casting yet?
HS: Not yet. Bill Mechanic [former head of 20th Century Fox who greenlit Monkeybone and Fight Club] is the producer. Coraline is about a little girl who discovers an alternate version of her own life. There is the critical role of the mother and the other mother, we've talked to someone but nothing is definite.
Coraline will be a smaller scale film that will survive on its ideas. I got kind of eaten alive on Monkeybone. I'm trying to do things more manageable. There are some small scale special effects, they are moments. They don't go on and on putting money in a meter.
DE: Like you said about Monkeybone. How did its lack of success affect you?
HS: Not good. I don't believe it would have ever been a hit. Bill Mechanic was pushed out of Fox prior to the film being completed. New people came in, the film scared them and it didn't test real well. But David Fincher's Se7en tested horribly with more walkouts than almost any film in history. So if Bill had stayed at Fox it would have been given a proper release and at least would have had ads in the paper.
DE: It's amazing that it cost 50-60 million dollars and they just dumped it.
HS: Yeah they dumped it and figured they would blame it on Bill Mechanic. I'm not real happy with how it turned out but there's a lot of it I'm really proud of like the nightmare sequences, the animation and the interaction between live and animation.
DE: You directed Brendan Fraser brilliantly. I think it's one of his best roles. What's it like directing Bob Odenkirk [in Monkeybone]?
HS: It was great. The show that Bob had, Mr. Show [with David Cross], is one of my all time favorites. He himself is a very good comic. I certainly didn't have to work hard with. It's a smaller part but he's great. I hope he gets to do a lot of films. Chris Kattan was a real pleasure and a surprise. I think he could be kind of sideways leading man. The scene in the hallway where he has to convince Bridget Fonda that's he is who he is. He's done a few comedies but I think he will do real well.
DE: I know you do live action films now but have you ever thought about going the Bill Plympton route and paying for your films yourself like he does?
HS: His type of movie is more affordable. He has far fewer images per second. They're potent and he's a very talented guy. I admire anyone who can pull of their own movie. There's no way I can risk everything. Stop motion [feature] films even done at the cheapest levels are still going to be a couple of million dollars. I can't afford even that.
DE: Not even if you cleaned out your Swiss bank accounts?
HS: [laughs] Yeah, have I told you about my residuals from Nightmare Before Christmas? Oh yes animation you don't get residuals.
DE: Were you always planning on getting into feature films?
HS: No I never did. I was Disney at a time when nothing wonderful was going on. I left to go work on shorts films and commercials. I was perfectly happy. When Tim came back and offered me Nightmare. I had a core group of people, which grew into a studio. I'm hoping Coraline will be the same type of experience where it will be out of sight out of mind where we just get to work on the movie and make it good.
DE: There is now an Academy Award category for animated films now. How do you feel about that?
HS: I think it's a good thing. There are bound to be some years where there aren't enough animated films. I don't know if there are minimum criteria for the amount of animated films. I'd hate for there to be a bad year and have only two films, they both stink and one gets an Oscar just because there is a category for it. The first Toy Story is the equal of any live action films.
DE: A friend of mine that directed the short stop motion movie, The Lint People, said that since the success of Shrek, Monsters Inc and Ice Age that Hollywood is not going to be doing 2D animation anymore. How does that affect you?
HS: CG can do virtually anything but it tends to look somewhat the same. CG films are the most successful so everyone wants to put their money behind it. The Japanese film, Spirited Away, has a limited release here but it's the biggest film overseas. It's probably the best-reviewed film out there right now and it's all 2D. It's a masterpiece and I don't think there is anything about it that looks dated or wrong. My feeling is that 2D will never go away. Stop motion has always been a distant third in the animation popularity contest. Aardman Animation did Chicken Run. They're struggling to get a screenplay that works. Tim Burton is going to produce another stop motion film over in England.
I have another stop motion project that will probably get greenlit as well.
DE: So are you happy you did the films and you're doing what you're doing?
HS:Yeah I'm in a really good place right now thanks to Bill Mechanic and his faith in me. I couldn't be more pleased that something I did nine years ago gets trotted out and people seem to like it. For years I used to get upset when I saw the flaws in Nightmare VHS and laserdisc release. I'm just beyond all that because it doesn't matter. The flaws and imperfections give it charm and humanity. That's what I like about it the most the fact that's its handmade.
DE: Has anyone come to you about a sequel?
HS: Just last spring we were talking about a sequel with Disney. It stalled. Tim thought about it and said he wasn't ready.
DE: Thanks Henry.
Before Tim Burton convinced him to move into features Selick had help create MTV's look with his unique stop motion commercials and he had created his surrealistic short cartoon Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions. Since then he has adapted Roald Dahl's James and The Giant Peach into stop motion and Monkeybone a mix of live action and stop motion.
Up until Halloween The El Capitan theatre in Los Angeles is showing Nightmare Before Christmas and Tim Burton's short films Vincent and Frankenweenie.
For tickets to Nightmare before Christmas plus Tim Burton's short films Vincent and Frankenweenie at The El Capitan Theatre go to: www.elcapitantickets.com
Dan Epstein: What's it like having Nightmare before Christmas go back into the theatre for Halloween?
Henry Selick: Its fine. Most movies get done and they can be successful and then disappear. It's nice that this thing can be trotted out every Halloween and the core group of fans can come out.
DE: There were panels last Friday night you were on. Who else was on it?
HS:Glenn Shadix who's been in a couple of Tim Burton's films and was the voice of themayor in Nightmare Before Christmas. Also since they showed Frankenweenie, Shelley Duvall showed up.
DE: I thought there were great expectations for Nightmare before Christmas when it came out.
HS:Actually there were zero expectations for it at all. I'll jar your memory. It was kind of a stepchild. It was a gift to Tim Burton [from Disney] to get him to come back to Disney where he started out. He had some big successes [Batman, Beetlejuice for Warner Bros.] This was a project where he had come up with the core idea back in the early 1980's. Disney owned it and used as a carrot on a stick "We'll let you do this little movie, just come back and let's do some big things." They never really paid it a lot of attention and didn't get behind it too much. They released it as a Touchstone movie and wouldn't put the Disney name on it because they didn't think it was a Disney movie. They didn't promote it very much and for its cost, which was $23 million, it did very well making $50 million initially then on video it's done well. It's only one year ago Halloween that Disney finally acknowledged it as their movie when they dressed up the Haunted House ride in Disneyland like Nightmare Before Christmas.
DE: Did you check out the ride?
HS: Yeah they flew me down. It was great.
DE: So it must be pretty cool now that it's up there with one of Disney's classic animated films like Snow White and Pinocchio. It's right up there.
HS: It's something that no one had great hopes for and it far exceeded expectations.
DE: Do you have a favorite sequence?
HS: There's a wide shot of Lock, Shock and Barrel going into their clubhouse. Oogie Boogie is enormous fun. Sally following Jack in the graveyard is one of my favorites.
DE: Looking back on it is there anything you would improve on it?
HS: At the time I was convinced there was too many songs. Certainly initially people didn't want that. I had proposed a slightly different ending. It is what it is and everything that's beautiful has flaws. At this point I accept all the flaws and I'm perfectly happy the way it is.
DE: Are you still doing Neil Gaiman's Coraline?
HS: Yes I just finished a polish on the third draft, which was accepted. The producer really likes the screenplay and I hope to go into pre-production in January.
DE: Is it going to be a mixture of animation and live action like Monkeybone?
HS: It is going to be live action with some CG effects but unlike Monkeybone I will write the screenplay. I want to take charge of the story. It is stylized. I can't really compare it to anything else. It's not like any other story.
DE: Well it's a Neil Gaiman story.
HS: It's Neil Gaiman and that world. So I want to be faithful to that world and story.
DE: Many critics have said the only problem with your films is the story and structure. So by you writing the script means you are trying to fix that?
HS: Yes if I'm going to take blame for what doesnt work in a movie I should be the one who is actually writing the thing. As a director I've always had to write. You fix something last minute or whatever. But as I said this one I am going to write and see what happens.
DE: Is Dave McKean [who contributed illustrations to Coraline] going to be involved with the film?
HS: I don't know. I've had just a little bit of email communication with him. He's a brilliant illustrator but he's very busy with his own movie.
DE: Is Neil Gaiman kind of stepping back from it?
HS: Yes but he's given me his blessing. I would love for him to do the voice of the cat.
DE: Have you thought about casting yet?
HS: Not yet. Bill Mechanic [former head of 20th Century Fox who greenlit Monkeybone and Fight Club] is the producer. Coraline is about a little girl who discovers an alternate version of her own life. There is the critical role of the mother and the other mother, we've talked to someone but nothing is definite.
Coraline will be a smaller scale film that will survive on its ideas. I got kind of eaten alive on Monkeybone. I'm trying to do things more manageable. There are some small scale special effects, they are moments. They don't go on and on putting money in a meter.
DE: Like you said about Monkeybone. How did its lack of success affect you?
HS: Not good. I don't believe it would have ever been a hit. Bill Mechanic was pushed out of Fox prior to the film being completed. New people came in, the film scared them and it didn't test real well. But David Fincher's Se7en tested horribly with more walkouts than almost any film in history. So if Bill had stayed at Fox it would have been given a proper release and at least would have had ads in the paper.
DE: It's amazing that it cost 50-60 million dollars and they just dumped it.
HS: Yeah they dumped it and figured they would blame it on Bill Mechanic. I'm not real happy with how it turned out but there's a lot of it I'm really proud of like the nightmare sequences, the animation and the interaction between live and animation.
DE: You directed Brendan Fraser brilliantly. I think it's one of his best roles. What's it like directing Bob Odenkirk [in Monkeybone]?
HS: It was great. The show that Bob had, Mr. Show [with David Cross], is one of my all time favorites. He himself is a very good comic. I certainly didn't have to work hard with. It's a smaller part but he's great. I hope he gets to do a lot of films. Chris Kattan was a real pleasure and a surprise. I think he could be kind of sideways leading man. The scene in the hallway where he has to convince Bridget Fonda that's he is who he is. He's done a few comedies but I think he will do real well.
DE: I know you do live action films now but have you ever thought about going the Bill Plympton route and paying for your films yourself like he does?
HS: His type of movie is more affordable. He has far fewer images per second. They're potent and he's a very talented guy. I admire anyone who can pull of their own movie. There's no way I can risk everything. Stop motion [feature] films even done at the cheapest levels are still going to be a couple of million dollars. I can't afford even that.
DE: Not even if you cleaned out your Swiss bank accounts?
HS: [laughs] Yeah, have I told you about my residuals from Nightmare Before Christmas? Oh yes animation you don't get residuals.
DE: Were you always planning on getting into feature films?
HS: No I never did. I was Disney at a time when nothing wonderful was going on. I left to go work on shorts films and commercials. I was perfectly happy. When Tim came back and offered me Nightmare. I had a core group of people, which grew into a studio. I'm hoping Coraline will be the same type of experience where it will be out of sight out of mind where we just get to work on the movie and make it good.
DE: There is now an Academy Award category for animated films now. How do you feel about that?
HS: I think it's a good thing. There are bound to be some years where there aren't enough animated films. I don't know if there are minimum criteria for the amount of animated films. I'd hate for there to be a bad year and have only two films, they both stink and one gets an Oscar just because there is a category for it. The first Toy Story is the equal of any live action films.
DE: A friend of mine that directed the short stop motion movie, The Lint People, said that since the success of Shrek, Monsters Inc and Ice Age that Hollywood is not going to be doing 2D animation anymore. How does that affect you?
HS: CG can do virtually anything but it tends to look somewhat the same. CG films are the most successful so everyone wants to put their money behind it. The Japanese film, Spirited Away, has a limited release here but it's the biggest film overseas. It's probably the best-reviewed film out there right now and it's all 2D. It's a masterpiece and I don't think there is anything about it that looks dated or wrong. My feeling is that 2D will never go away. Stop motion has always been a distant third in the animation popularity contest. Aardman Animation did Chicken Run. They're struggling to get a screenplay that works. Tim Burton is going to produce another stop motion film over in England.
I have another stop motion project that will probably get greenlit as well.
DE: So are you happy you did the films and you're doing what you're doing?
HS:Yeah I'm in a really good place right now thanks to Bill Mechanic and his faith in me. I couldn't be more pleased that something I did nine years ago gets trotted out and people seem to like it. For years I used to get upset when I saw the flaws in Nightmare VHS and laserdisc release. I'm just beyond all that because it doesn't matter. The flaws and imperfections give it charm and humanity. That's what I like about it the most the fact that's its handmade.
DE: Has anyone come to you about a sequel?
HS: Just last spring we were talking about a sequel with Disney. It stalled. Tim thought about it and said he wasn't ready.
DE: Thanks Henry.