The 18th and 19th signs on the Oregon Film Trail are now installed in the City of Ashland – they celebrate the town’s starring role in “Wild” and the historic Oregon Shakespeare Festival as inspiration for “Coraline”. The signs are now located in the Downtown Plaza, and at the intersection of Pioneer Street and East Main Street in front of OSF’s Black Swan Theatre and the Ashland Chamber of Commerce.
“Coraline,” the first feature created by Hillsboro-based animation studio, Laika, was released in 2009 to much critical acclaim and box office success. Recently, Oregon Film reached out to the film’s screenwriter and director, Henry Selick, to find out how the movie, based on a book by NeilGaiman, came to be set in the small southern Oregon town of Ashland.
Selick said, “I began writing my screenplay for “Coraline” years ago at my home in Northern California.
If Trever Stewart runs into a room and says to you, “Quick, play dead.” You might just unthinkingly throw yourself on the ground and imagine that there are big, black Xs covering your eye sockets.
He’s that persuasive.
And, since moving to Portland from Los Angeles, Mr. Stewart (Associate Producer of Special Projects, Bent Image Labs) has learned to use his impressive powers for good, specifically, for the good of local animation.
CORALINE PARTNERS FOCUS FEATURES AND LAIKA RETEAM FOR TWO-PICTURE DISTRIBUTION DEAL; 3D STOP-MOTION ANIMATED COMEDY THRILLER PARANORMAN OPENS AUGUST 17, 2012
NEW YORK and PORTLAND, OR, May 4, 2011 – Focus Features and LAIKA, the two companies behind the Academy Award-nominated animated feature Coraline are reteaming for LAIKA’s next two projects. The first of the duo, ParaNorman, will be released nationwide on August 17th, 2012. The second, yet-to-be-named, picture will be released nationwide in 2014. Following the groundbreaking Coraline, ParaNorman is only the second stop-motion animated feature to be made in 3D. Continue reading... “LAIKA and Focus Features Announce Two New Feature Film Projects in Oregon”
