Movies - TV
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On Was Born Out Of A Cramped Wedding
By MIYAKO PLEINES
A24's whimsical "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" is a quirky, stop-motion feature about a talking shell who sets out to find the rest of his family. In an interview with Deadline, director Dean Fleischer-Camp answered some questions about Marcel, including where the idea for this tiny little friend came from.
He told Deadline, "Jenny Slate, who does the voice of Marcel, and I were getting ready for another friend's wedding. We were packed into this tiny room, and Jenny started doing this teeny, tiny voice to sort of express how cramped she felt in there." The voice was so infectious that the duo couldn't let it go.
"We joked about it all weekend at this wedding, and then when I got back afterward, I had agreed to make this video for a friend's comedy show. So, I was like, 'Jenny, let me interview you in this character,'" explained Fleischer-Camp. The two put together a creature that fit the character's voice.
"We [...] bought a shell, little shoes and some googly eyes," he said. "We made him, and then I interviewed Jenny and cut it together and animated it." The entire process took about 48 hours, but the lasting impact of Marcel has been immense, proving that inspiration really can be found in the unlikeliest, and smallest, of places.