The Boxtrolls: LAIKA Visit With Travis Knight, Anthony Stacchi, and Graham Annable! #TheBoxtrolls

Disclaimer: I was provided an all expense press trip to cover this film. All opinions are my own.

I am so excited to finally be able to share one of the most awesome and secret experiences that I was invited to participate in during April. As many of you know I love movies. Any good movie that is going to keep me laughing or on the edge of my seat is going to make me happy. I always understood the definition of stop motion films but never would imagine how amazing and how much I would learn by visiting the skills and brains behind what takes to place to create such a dynamic film. In the next several days I am going to share some posts that will not only educate my movie fans but also intrigue those who are fascinated with technology.

I was invited to a secret press trip in Portland to visit the set of “The Boxtrolls”! It was a secret, until now, since they didn’t want me sharing the information until the embargo was lifted. I received an e-mail with the invitation. During my trip I learned SO much about stop-motion animation and everything that goes in to making a LAIKA film! During my visit I met and spoke with Travis Knight, Anthony Stacchi, and Graham Annable!

Travis Knight is LAIKA’s President, CEO, and he is also the Lead Animator! He is the boss! When listening to Travis speak he was VERY down the earth! He spoke about how being a lead animator is very tedious. He has rough days, but likes to get to watch it all come together at the end. He has had to learn to “focus intensely for long periods of time”. He said that “we hope at the end that people can go home and have something to discuss with family.” Of course, that sparks a debate about what defines a family. This seems to be a unique parallel with the other LAIKA films (Caroline & ParaNorman).

Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable are both directors of “The Boxtrolls“! Stacchi joined LAIKA in 2007 learning Sony Pictures Animations. Annable has worked on the first two LAIKA films as a storyboard artist and this is his first film as a director. They both work together in directing this film. Listening to their passion for the stop-motion process, capturing the dream of toys becoming real, and the advanced technology all come together in a unique movie/project is amazing!

THE BOXTROLLS – In Theaters Everywhere including Real-D screens on September 26^th!

Story: A family event movie from the creators of “Coraline” and “ParaNorman” that introduces audiences to a new breed of family – The Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) in the amazing cavernous home they’ve built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town’s villain, Archibald Snatcher (Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley), comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground, “into the light,” where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnie (Elle Fanning). Together, they devise a daring plan to save Eggs’ family.

Directors: Anthony Staachi and Graham Annable

Writer: Based on the novel Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow

Voice Cast: Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Elle Fanning, Jared Harris, Toni Collette, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan

Official Site: http://www.theboxtrolls.com/

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theboxtrolls

Official Twitter: @TheBoxtrolls

Official Hashtag: #TheBoxtrolls