Lake Oswego has connection to Oscars with ‘Coraline’ nod

The Lake Oswego Review, Feb 4, 2010

FILE PHOTO / KELVIN JONES

Henry Selick and Coraline are pretty happy partners right now. “Coraline” was one of five nominees Tuesday for an Oscar in the category of Best Animated Feature. Selick, a former Lake Oswego resident, served as director of the film.

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“Coraline” the acclaimed stop-motion movie from Laika, the Portland animation studio owned by Phil Knight and operated by CEO Travis Knight, was given the nod for the highest honor in Hollywood – the Academy Award.

Former Lake Oswego resident, Henry Selick was the director of the film.

Last fall, Selick left Laika after six years as the studio’s creative director in what was described as an amicable parting. He now lives in California.

In an interview with the Review last year, Selick talked about the risks he took with the film: “You can’t always be thinking about whether or not everyone is going to like it. You just have to know that it is rare to make something great, and trust that sooner or later it will find its audience.”

“Coraline” is one of five nominees in the category of Best Animated Feature. The other nominees are “The Princess and the Frog,” “The Secret of Kells,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Up.” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is another stop-motion film, and Pixar’s hit “Up” (also nominated for best picture) is the only computer-generated film.

This is the first Oscar nomination for Laika.

Making a stop-motion movie like “Coraline” is a test of time and tedium.

Everything you see on the screen is handmade, Selick said last year: Every blade of grass, every strand of hair. To film a scene, the puppets, flowers, backgrounds are continuously adjusted – less than a millimeter for each shot with an average of 24 movements for one second of footage. It can take an entire day to get just a couple seconds worth of usable footage.