Commercial animation studio LAIKA/house created a stop-motion animation dream sequence for writer/director Mike Cahill’s King of California, a new movie starring Oscar winner Michael Douglas. The film is currently playing in limited release across North America and in various foreign markets.
In the film, Douglas is Charlie, a former mental institution patient whose return home brings choas to the life of his daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood. To illustrate Charlie’s delusional state of mind, Cahill asked LAIKA/house to create a dream sequence utilizing the woodblock print technique. The result is a stop-motion piece that travels through a medieval Spanish village teaming with pests, torturers and heretics. The scene is made up of many layers of action, but centers on a paper cut-out version of Douglas’ character.
“We used as our inspiration the brilliant and quirky work of Terry Gilliam,’ says LAIKA/house creative director Kirk Kelley, who directed the sequence. ‘We also tried to extend the film’s dark humor into the animation, while maintaining the feel of the printed page coming to life.’
‘The challenge was to try to capture Charlie’s personality in a paper puppet,’ adds LAIKA/house animator Wendy Fuller. ‘We watched lots of footage of Mr. Douglas’ performance and hopefully his essence comes across in the animation.’
Character designer and storyboard artist Dave Fulp faced a different set of challenges. ‘Complicating the assignment in this case was the fact that we had to walk director Mike Cahill through the development and animation process entirely by phone,’ he explains. ‘So we were relieved and thrilled when he was pleased with the results.’
LAIKA/house is the commercial production unit of LAIKA, which is currently producing its first feature, a stop-motion adaptation of the Neil Gaiman fantasy novel Coraline. The ad unit has worked with major advertising agencies on spots for such brands such as Coca-Cola, M&M’s and Ben & Jerry’s.
King of California is a Millennium Films presentation, in association with Emmett/Furla Films, of an Alexander Payne/Michael London production. It is being distributed by First Look Studios.
