Henry Selick talks "Coarline"
They Might be Giants to compose music for the film; the casting includes British actresses Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders

In an exclusive interview with the Latino Review, Henry Selick, animator, writer, and director, gave us the dish on his latest project, "Coraline," which is based on the popular Neil Gaiman children's book. Selick, who also directed "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach," will serve as "Coraline's" writer and director.

"I'm very pleased," Selick says of the project. "'Coraline' is Neil Gaiman's book, and it sold a lot; it has a big fan base. It was originally conceived to be live action, but I never really wanted to be. I always felt that it would work better animated. It's an 'Alice in Wonderland' sort of story." He confirmed that the film would be completely animated.

It's very early in the process, but Selick has already started work on the film's music. He has tapped "They Might be Giants" to do the soundtrack. "They've done a lot of work for TV themes," he says. "I met with them in '96, and I hooked up with them again, and they're going to write some songs for us."

As for the cast? "It's a story that doesn't have lots and lots of characters," Selick says. "It's a smaller ensemble. There are these two old actresses--English actresses--in the story, and at one point they're revealed in their younger days in their glory. So I wanted to use the same voices for both [older and younger characters.] There are a couple of British comedians who have been around: Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. They've been a comic team for a number of years. They're friends with Neil Gaiman. [Saunders] played the fairy-godmother in "Shrek 2," and people love her voice. And I think she has done a reading of Corlaine you can buy. Anyways, not big celebrities, but incredible character-actors." Selick intends to go with unknowns, not celebrities, for much of the cast.

Given the lengthy process of animation, Selick says that it will be at least two and a half years until "Coraline's release. Later, in a larger press conference to the media, Selick spoke some more about "Coraline," revealing that the film's tone will not be quite as dark as the book's.

"It will be as dark in moments, but also funnier and lighter in others. It will have a little more balance," Selick says. "The screenplay is less creepy [than the book.] It's not so much about a Goth-girl who finds a world exactly like that; it's more of a Hansel and Gredel seduction into a place that appears to be colorful and wonderful, but turns out to be something more challenging for her, so to say."