‘Wildwood’ Is a “Risky” Movie — Just Like ‘Coraline’ Was 20 Years Ago
Travis Knight says Laika spent 16 years bringing *Wildwood* to the screen, a project so ambitious that the studio had to develop new tools while filming. He sees the dark fantasy as a risky undertaking, much as *Coraline* was in 2009, and says its production pushed stop-motion animation further.
Knight acquired the rights to Colin Meloy’s book in 2010, but Laika initially lacked the means to realise its scale, characters and set pieces. Pre-production began about seven years ago, and the team continued inventing techniques during filming. One example was a five-foot-wide golden eagle puppet, made from fabric rather than heavy silicone and supported by motion-base technology to enable animated flight.
In short
- Laika spent 16 years making *Wildwood*.
- The production required new stop-motion techniques.
- Knight says the film’s ambition made it a risk.
Explained simply
Laika is a film studio known for making stop-motion animation, in which physical puppets and sets are moved a little at a time and photographed frame by frame. Its earlier film Coraline, released in 2009, was based on a dark fantasy book by Neil Gaiman.
Wildwood is based on a book by Colin Meloy, who is also known as the lead singer of the band the Decemberists. The story’s scale and fantastical creatures posed practical challenges for Laika, whose animators build and move physical models rather than creating every scene digitally.
Stop-motion films can take years to make because each movement must be carefully staged and captured. Laika’s work on Wildwood is part of a longer effort by the studio to find ways to bring ambitious fantasy settings and characters to the screen.