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    Animated Feature Film Oscar Nominees Reflect On Their Work

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments3351 Views
    In this image released by Disney-Pixar, characters, from left, Anger, voiced by Lewis Black, Disgust, voiced by Mindy Kaling, Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, Fear, voiced by Bill Hader, and Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith appear in a scene from "Inside Out." (Disney-Pixar via AP)

    By Derrik J. Lang, Entertainment Writer

    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) --

    Ale Abreu wasn't confident about his animated film "Boy and the World" after screening it for an audience for the first time. The imaginative parable about a stick figure's search for his father left viewers feeling sad.

    "I realized it wasn't the film I had expected to make," the Brazilian filmmaker said through a translator at the motion picture academy's headquarters. "The solution was to change one scene."

    It worked. "Boy and the World" is among the five nominees up for the animated feature film Academy Award on Sunday. Abreu and the other nominees shared their fears of working in the fragile medium during an event Thursday celebrating their creations.

    "Inside Out" filmmakers Peter Docter and Jonas Rivera noted there was originally concern children wouldn't understand the concept for their Pixar flick about a team of personified emotions working together inside a young girl's noggin.

    "In the end, we had to simplify the film for the executives, but the kids loved it," joked Docter.

    The creators of "Anomalisa" said constructing the film's stop-motion sex scene was one of the biggest challenges of bringing writer-director Charlie Kaufman's script – originally written as a radio play – to life with puppets.

    "That scene took the longest," said director Duke Johnson. "It took six months to animate. We didn't know actually until we screened the film if it worked."

    Other nominees vying for the animated feature film trophy at Sunday's 88th annual Academy Awards include the Japanese adaptation "When Marine Was There" and the stop-motion comedy "Shaun the Sheep Movie." The category was first introduced at the 2002 ceremony with "Shrek" winning the inaugural trophy.

    Despite the more emotional of this year's animated nominees, none cracked the best picture category for a spot alongside the likes of "Spotlight," ''The Big Short" and "The Revenant." (Only three animated films have ever been nominated for best picture at the Oscars: "Beauty and the Beast," ''Up" and "Toy Story 3.")

    Category:News
    Tags:AnomalisaBoy and the WorldInside Out



    Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?

    Monday, November 25, 2024

    Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.

    "When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.

    And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.

    "Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.

    No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."

    At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.

    After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More

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