Coraline Update

Another night, another Oilers game. It's the start of the second, 1-0 Oilers.

I'm sitting here reading up on Coraline. It's an animated movie currently in development that I'm very interested in.

Firstly, it's based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name. I haven't read much Gaiman (American Gods and about half the trade paperbacks of The Sandman, that's it), but I know he does good stuff.

Secondly, the screenplay was written by, and it's being directed by Henry Selick. Selick is the stop-motion animation genius who directed James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The plot summary: It's about a little girl named Coraline. One day, she gets fed up with her family, and she gets sucked into another world, where she finds a much nicer, much better version of her family. She decides to stay in this world, but when she learns that her "other parents" have sinister intentions, she plots her escape.

The news I read today: voices are being cast. Cute-little-girl-child-star-of-the-moment Dakota Fanning is voicing Coraline. Desperate Housewives star and former Lois Lane Teri Hatcher is voicing Coraline's mother and the sinister "other mother."

Let's see...what else can I tell you? The distributor is Focus Features, the art-house arm of Universal Studios.

The animation house is Laika Entertainment Studios. Laika Entertainment Studios was originally Will Vinton Studios, the animation house that gave us the California Raisins. But then, the studio was bought by Nike founder Phil Knight, and Knight fired Vinton and changed the name of the company. (Vinton has since formed a new animation house called Freewill Entertainment.)

And here's an interesting rumour I dug up. as you can tell, the film takes place in two worlds: the real world and the "other" world. Well, according to this rumor, the real world scenes will be done with computer animation...the "other" world scenes will be done with Selick's trademark stop-motion animation.