Henry Selick
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
This Disney-trained stop-motion animation specialist worked successfully in advertising and "personal" short subjects before making a triumphant feature directorial debut with the popular and playfully macabre "Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'" (1993). Selick became a Disney animator after graduating from the first class at CalArts to complete Disney's character animation design program. As he rose through the ranks to become a full animator, Selick worked on "Pete's Dragon," "The Small One" (both 1977) and "The Fox and the Hound" (1981) before taking off eight months in 1979 to work on his own projects with American Film Institute backing. One such was "Seepage" (1979), a stop-motion depiction of a poolside chat that utilized watercolor animation of two figures--one in profile, the other looking straight ahead. The film garnered prizes on the animation festival circuit.
Selick left Disney and Burbank for northern California where he founded his own production company, Selick Projects. He became known for producing dense, jam-packed promos for MTV including a Clio award-winning spot called "Haircut M" in which a fanciful insect carves the station logo into a red big hairdo. Working for the San Francisco-based Colossal Pictures, Selick also revitalized the then 28-year-old Pillsbury Doughboy campaign. He also helmed the award-winning Ritz Bits ad in which hundreds of crackers ski down peanut butter slopes and fly to the moon in search of cheese.
MTV sponsored Selick's most ambitious project up to that time--"Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions" (1990), a surreal six-minute short combining stop-motion and live action. He was subsequently recruited by fellow Disney alumnus Tim Burton to helm his "Nightmare," the first full-length stop-motion animated feature produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Selick Projects transformed into Skellington Productions in 1991 for this massive project. A critical and commercial hit, "Nightmare" led to another stop-motion feature for Disney, "James and the Giant Peach" (1996). Even more complex than its predecessor, the film combined stop-motion animation with elements of computer-generated imagery and live-action. Selick also directed the film's extensive live-action prologue. The film opened to critical and commercial acclaim.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Animation (Feature Film)
Art Department (Feature Film)
Production Designer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1956
Began drawing by age three
1973
Became interested in animation by watching a PBS program featuring experimental animation at age 20
1977
Worked as an animator trainee and an in-betweener on Disney's "Pete's Dragon" and "The Small One"
1979
Took eight months off work on personal projects sponsored by the American Film Institute
1979
Was funded through the National Endowment for the Arts to make his debut short, "Seepage"
1981
First credit as a full-fledged animator, "The Fox and the Hound"
1983
First credit as sequence director, "Twice Upon a Time"
1985
Created the storyboarded fantasy sequences for Walter Murch's "Return to Oz"
1986
Founded own production company, Selick Projects
1990
Created the award-winning six-minute pilot for an animated series called "Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions"; sponsored by MTV
1991
Sellick Projects became Skellington Productions
1993
Feature directorial debut, "Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'"; was the first full-length, stop-motion feature from a major studio; nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
1994
Skellington Productions was re-named Twitching Images, Inc.
1996
Miramax agreed to fully fund and finance as well as cover all operating costs for all film projects through his company, Twitching Images
1996
Directed the live-action/stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, "James and the Giant Peach"
2001
Directed the live action/animated adaptation of the underground comic, "Moneybone"
2004
Developed stop-motion animation for Wes Anderson's feature, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"
2004
Joined the Portland based animation studio, LAIKA as supervising director for feature film development
2005
Directed LAIKA's first computer-generated animated short, "Moongirl"
2008
Directed the first three-dimensional stop-motion animation film, "Coraline"; the first feature by LAIKA studios; film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature
Companions
