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Laika has built a reputation for dazzling stop-motion wizardry, but the magic behind the movies is even wilder. From secret brand tie-ins and towering puppets to fiery sets and handcrafted effects, we’re digging into the surprising production details that made these animated adventures so memorable. Which fact blew your mind the most? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00This is where magic takes flight.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at behind-the-scenes facts about Laika's stop-motion films.
00:10We're leaving off their contract work like Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, but fun fact, they worked on Corpse Bride.
00:17You may kiss the bride.
00:23Number 10, a secret Nike plug, Coraline.
00:26In 2002, Phil Knight acquired Will Vinton Studios, which subsequently became Laika.
00:33What are your goals or plans as far as Travis's involvement in the company?
00:38Well, they're not my plans, they're his plans.
00:40Essentially, his plan is to be an animator.
00:45That's what he loves doing.
00:46If Knight's name sounds familiar, that's not only because he's the father of Travis Knight,
00:51the director of multiple Laika films, but also the co-founder of Nike.
00:55Phil considered working some Nike product placement into Laika's first feature, Coraline,
01:01but wisely reconsidered.
01:03That's because you're crazy.
01:11You creep crazy.
01:13Crazy?
01:14You're the jerk one that gave me the doll.
01:17A Nike tie-in might have dated a timeless film, although Laika managed to hide one plug.
01:23During the credits, there's a message reading, for those in the know, jerkwad.
01:28This code could be entered on the film's website to win a pair of Nike's Coraline dunks.
01:33While the contest is over now, those who followed the clues felt like they stumbled upon a secret
01:38world like Coraline.
01:39My other mother would get them.
01:41Maybe she should buy all your clothes.
01:44Number 9.
01:45How Many Spikes on Norman's Head
01:47Para-Norman
01:48Compared to some of the other puppets Laika has crafted,
01:52the titular character of this supernatural tale might seem simpler on the surface.
01:56I wish everyone could see what I see.
01:59And ask to be born this way.
02:02Funny.
02:03Neither did we.
02:04A particular aspect of Norman's design quite literally sticks out, though.
02:08His pointy hairdo, which consists of roughly 275 individual spikes.
02:15Norman's updo was made from goat hair, which had to be dyed a brownish color.
02:19It's two colors.
02:21It's sort of this darker brown, and then it has this ombre effect into this lighter tip.
02:25And then from these little, we call them shtucks, we make all these individual spikes.
02:31And I think there's over 275 spikes on one Norman head, all made by hand.
02:37A combination of glue, hair gel, wire, thread, and medical adhesive would be used to give Norman's
02:44hair its signature spiky texture.
02:47This wasn't just for one Norman puppet either.
02:4928 full-body Norman puppets were made throughout this production.
02:53So by our calculations, that would be over 7,000 spikes,
02:57all of which had to be a specific length for consistency.
03:00So one of the things that is really hard is kind of figuring out like what length goes where.
03:07We had taken a spike, and then like this would be the red layer, and then the blue one.
03:12So that way you knew kind of what length to cut each spike as you were sort of building that
03:18bouquet.
03:19Number 8.
03:20A record runtime.
03:22Wildwood.
03:22There was a seven-year gap between 2019's Missing Link and Laika's next feature, Wildwood.
03:28I see it in you.
03:30You're not the kind to give up.
03:33Entire days can go into a few seconds of stop-motion animation.
03:36Yet Wildwood has been in the works for an especially long time, beginning production in 2021.
03:42The film's six-year journey is reflected in its runtime,
03:45clocking in at around two hours and 20 minutes.
03:48When I see people connect emotionally with these characters, knowing it's a puppet,
03:53it's a lifeless, inert thing made of steel and silicon and plastic,
03:57what they're really connecting with is the animator giving life to them.
04:01To me, that's magic.
04:03For context, Laika's longest film up to this point was Kubo and the Two Strings at 1 hour and 42
04:09minutes.
04:10Wildwood stands out as the longest stop-motion animated feature ever.
04:14Behind the scenes, a brilliant team of puppet fabricators, animators, and visual designers
04:21are pouring creativity in every joint, feather, and frame,
04:26forging a character that soars beyond the screen.
04:29It beats the previous record held by Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio,
04:34which just fell shy of two hours.
04:37Wildwood also contends with Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse
04:40as the longest U.S. animated feature.
04:43Wildwood is by far the most challenging thing that we've ever taken on,
04:48and I think it's going to be the most beautiful thing that we've ever done.
04:50Number 7. The water wasn't all CGI. Kubo and the Two Strings.
04:55Although Laika is known for their practical touch,
04:58some shots are too complex to execute in stop-motion.
05:02It never fails to amaze me how the creatures down here fight so hard just to die another day.
05:08Down here there are days worth fighting for.
05:11Water is especially difficult to pull off.
05:14With much of Kubo and the Two Strings taking place at sea,
05:17the filmmakers needed to utilize CGI.
05:19At the same time, Laika didn't entirely rely on computers for this effect.
05:24We take all of that practical reference,
05:26we do a photorealistic interpretation,
05:29and then we start to iterate,
05:31and then we iterate, and we iterate,
05:34until finally we land somewhere that feels like it belongs in this world.
05:39The filmmakers wanted to ensure that the water preserved the woodblock aesthetic
05:45that largely inspired the movie's overall look.
05:48So, like a practically replicated water on set using shower glass,
05:52paper, and metal grids covered in garbage bags.
05:55And that's a combination of stuff that we shot as reference on stage
05:59to figure out how we're going to do the water,
06:01using panes of rippled shower glass,
06:03using pieces of paper,
06:05using metal grids that we put garbage bags over,
06:07and then we bring that into the computer,
06:09and then modify and enhance that using CG techniques.
06:13They then enhanced that reference footage with software like SideFX's Houdini.
06:18The result struck a balance between photorealistic and handmade,
06:22seamlessly blending the best of both worlds.
06:24It had the motion of an ocean that felt like,
06:28you know, it wasn't going to be intrusive,
06:31but at the same time,
06:33it had the look and feel and the characteristics
06:36of something that felt like it belonged in Kubo's world.
06:41Number 6. Smaller Sets and Puppets.
06:44Missing Link.
06:45This buddy picture centers on explorer Sir Lionel Frost
06:48and a sophisticated Sasquatch named Mr. Susan Link.
06:52You're exactly as I imagined.
06:558 feet tall.
06:56Chest circumference 70 inches.
06:58Total weight around 650 pounds.
07:00Well, I'd say it's more like, you know, 630 pounds.
07:02You know, it's the hair that makes me look heavier, I think.
07:05It's a little deceptive.
07:07Protagonists in Laika movies up to this point were all kids,
07:10whose puppets were usually around 9 inches tall.
07:13Thus, the adults they encountered were several inches taller.
07:16At 16 inches, Mr. Link was considerably larger
07:20than the main characters from Laika's past films.
07:23Susan was the most human character in the movie,
07:25but the least human puppet in the cast.
07:28An extensive exoskeleton was developed
07:30to achieve his nuance of performance.
07:33As such, Mr. Link's co-stars generally had to be about 20% smaller
07:37than the puppets seen in other Laika productions.
07:40Lionel Frost was an estimated 13 inches tall.
07:43There is an optimal size for a puppet.
07:45It's around about 12, 13 inches.
07:47That's a good size.
07:49If you get bigger than that,
07:51then the poor animator has to wrestle with it.
07:53If you get smaller than that,
07:54then you can't get the amount of mechanics
07:56into the actual puppet that you require.
07:59So that's a good size.
08:01The sets were also built smaller,
08:02both to accommodate the shrunken down human puppets
08:05and to emphasize Mr. Link's size.
08:08Compared to Kubo and the Two Strings,
08:10the sets in Missing Link were scaled back
08:12roughly two-thirds.
08:14Even with the support system,
08:15this sequence was so complicated
08:17that it took about a year to shoot.
08:19Even when I was writing that,
08:21I thought I shouldn't be writing this.
08:24Originally focused on five creatures,
08:27the box trolls.
08:28We thought, boxes, this is great.
08:30We've got all that space.
08:32And boy, were we wrong.
08:33They're so complex.
08:35It was a challenge to get those limbs and those heads
08:38and everything to physically, truly fit into the box.
08:40Based on Alan Snow's children's novel,
08:43Here Be Monsters,
08:44the box trolls centers on a group of misunderstood creatures.
08:48In the source material,
08:49the box trolls weren't the only so-called monsters.
08:53Why aren't they ripping out our eyeballs
08:54and eating our faces?
08:58And where are the rivers of blood
09:00and mountains of bones?
09:02I was promised mountains of bones!
09:05The book contains other creatures,
09:07such as cabbage heads,
09:09trotting badgers,
09:10rabbit women,
09:11and freshwater sea cows.
09:13The screenwriters tried juggling five creatures,
09:16ultimately biting off more than they could chew.
09:18You bit me.
09:19I need to find the men in red hats.
09:21You bit me.
09:23With your mouth.
09:25Snow's book was over 500 pages.
09:27Even with illustrations,
09:29that's a lot of ground to cover in just over 90 minutes.
09:31While they attempted to pull off a faithful adaptation,
09:34the initial script came across as hollow,
09:37according to Travis Knight.
09:38See?
09:39You're not like them.
09:42You're one of us.
09:44Laika decided to spotlight the box trolls,
09:46who they found most compelling.
09:48With this change,
09:49the filmmakers unearthed a deeper meaning in the story.
09:52Ain't that lovely?
09:53Oh, happy and tidy.
09:55Like the end of a story.
09:57If our lives were a story.
10:00Number four.
10:01A different animation technique for zombies.
10:03Paranorman.
10:04Stop motion animation can be executed
10:06through various techniques.
10:08Oh, I understand.
10:10I understand that this is all getting completely...
10:12Can't!
10:13At Laika,
10:14replacement animation is the preferred method.
10:17Providing a wider range of facial expressions
10:19made possible through 3D printing.
10:22For Paranorman though,
10:23the zombies wound up being mechanical puppets
10:26comprised of rubber and silicone.
10:28Yeah, and also like those guys,
10:30they had like replacement face.
10:32Yeah.
10:33And then this dude,
10:34they had like,
10:35oh, look at that crazy thing.
10:37Like you have so many parts that move differently
10:39and it's difficult to do as little
10:42as a 3D printed face, obviously.
10:45Beneath their moldy looking skin
10:47were clock gears for movement.
10:48The mechanical approach allowed the zombies
10:50to have more exaggerated features,
10:53such as sagging flesh
10:54and jaws stretched wide open.
10:56So the zombies were mechanical
10:58because we wanted to be able to have jaws
11:00that could move around
11:02and bags of flesh swinging below their face.
11:06We wanted to have a lot more parts of articulation.
11:09Replacement animation was still mostly used
11:11for the non-zombie characters.
11:13This also helped to create a contrast
11:15between the living and the undead.
11:17You don't want to kill me?
11:20You can speak to the dead.
11:24To us.
11:26To her.
11:28The puppets might've been different,
11:30but as Norman discovers throughout the film,
11:32there's more humanity to the zombies
11:34than meets the eye.
11:35Number three, a fiery set piece, Coraline.
11:39The theater where April Spink
11:40and Miriam Forcible try to upstage one another
11:43proved to be one of the most complicated sets in Coraline.
11:46Beware our own oysters to lodge in the chest.
11:50Let's banish them from the buffet.
11:54I'm far more nutritious.
11:56You smell like the fishes.
11:58For animator Eric Layton,
12:00it was also perhaps the most dangerous.
12:03He found himself running back and forth
12:05between the set,
12:06operating the boat, trapdoor,
12:08and other elements.
12:09This is for the trapdoor
12:11that Forcible's coming up on.
12:12And I've got automobile jacks
12:15that they've rigged me up with in here.
12:17And I just turn that a little bit.
12:19And I've got marks in here
12:20where I can see how far I want to go.
12:21So that's about a frame.
12:23Layton had so many balls in the air
12:25that he occasionally overlooked small things,
12:27like potential fire hazards.
12:29The lights across the stage
12:30were apparently hot enough to ignite a flame.
12:33While animating,
12:34Layton suddenly noticed
12:35that his clothes had caught fire.
12:37Unfortunately, I've got these very hot lights in here.
12:40So when I animate,
12:42I need to kind of reach across here.
12:44And I found that my clothes
12:46tend to light on fire.
12:47So I hold them like this.
12:49And now I get in here
12:51and animate her shell.
12:54Thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured.
12:57To avoid getting burned, though,
12:58Layton started stuffing the bottom of his shirt
13:00in his mouth while leaning over the lights.
13:03Number two,
13:04the largest stop-motion puppet ever built,
13:07Kubo and the Two Strings.
13:09Mr. Link might have been 16 inches,
13:12but the giant skeleton that Kubo encounters
13:14was a whopping 16 feet.
13:16Which was heavily inspired by Ray Harryhausen,
13:19who was, you know,
13:19an incredible stop-motion filmmaker.
13:22And the way we actually built that puppet full scale,
13:25this big monster that they face off against,
13:26it's this 16-foot-tall puppet
13:29that weighed 400 pounds.
13:32The puppet's torso would weigh around 400 pounds,
13:35while its wingspan measured 23 feet.
13:38In addition to being significantly larger
13:40than the film's other puppets,
13:42the skeleton was taller than any of the animators.
13:45Below the skeleton's torso
13:46was a motion control cable called a hexapod,
13:49enabling the filmmakers to move the upper half
13:52of the skeleton.
13:53And that allowed us to move the torso around
13:55without fear that the thing would fall over and collapse
13:57and crush the animator who was bringing it to life.
14:00The skeleton's lower half had to be filmed separately.
14:03Marionette techniques were also used
14:05to maneuver the skeleton's arms,
14:07with its hands each weighing six pounds.
14:09While two skeletons were made,
14:11the full-scale one is the biggest puppet
14:13ever constructed for a stop-motion animated feature,
14:16according to Laika.
14:18And so it's a combination of really high-tech stuff
14:21and lo-fi stuff that we merged together,
14:23which is, you know,
14:23one of the things I absolutely love about stop-motion.
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14:51Number one, 15 years in Laika's pipeline, Wildwood.
14:56While production on Wildwood commenced in 2021,
14:59the film's genesis stretches back even further.
15:01At a time when entire worlds can be built
15:03with a click of a mouse
15:04and videos generated from a prompt,
15:07choosing to make a stop-motion film
15:09feels like a quiet act of rebellion.
15:11In 2011, Colin Malloy published
15:14the original fantasy novel,
15:16which his wife, Carson Ellis, illustrated.
15:18That same year,
15:19between the productions of Coraline and Paranorman,
15:22Laika optioned Wildwood as a feature.
15:24And that all led us to the film
15:25that we're currently in production on now, Wildwood,
15:28which is the most expansive, the most ambitious,
15:30the most epic film we've ever done.
15:33Malloy and Ellis weren't interested
15:35in seeing their book adapted
15:36unless it was done in a watership-down style
15:39or in stop-motion.
15:40Fortunately, Laika specializes in the latter.
15:43Laika collaborated with the authors
15:45on a trailer for the Wildwood book,
15:47laying the groundwork for future projects.
15:49And I don't ever, ever want you to go in there.
15:53You hear me, kid?
15:54Yeah, I hear you.
15:56At the time, Malloy said, quote,
15:58there is no other movie studio in the world
16:00besides Laika that I would entrust Wildwood to.
16:04Fast forward another decade,
16:05the film adaptation finally started taking flight.
16:09Scared of flying?
16:10I'm not usually on the outside of the plane.
16:14Do you know any fun facts about Laika?
16:17Let us know in the comments.