Quotes by Henry Selick

About Henry Selick:

Henry Selick is an American stop motion director, producer and writer who is best known for directing The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Coraline. He studied at the Program in Experimental Animation at California Institute of the Arts, under the guidance of Jules Engel.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

As a director, I'm not the one animating every frame, every shot. I'm moving around like a surgeon on rounds, or a farmer checking in on all the plants being grown, pruning and adjusting. For me, it's a very exciting job.

Henry Selick

Very few people have made the transition from animation to live-action; I'm certainly not one.

Henry Selick

I feel I'm just meant to do stop-motion. Live-action is much more glamorous to some, but it's basically a whole army of people focused on one thing.

Henry Selick

People are very harsh critics of animated humans.

Henry Selick

Morals always sound like cliches, but usually cliches are based on things that are ultimate truths. Be grateful for what you have; appreciate what's right there in front of you.

Henry Selick

Underneath this tired, middle-aged exterior, I'm an 11 year old kid.

Henry Selick

If you're drawing humans, it can be detrimental to be too naturalistic, which is like animating little corpses.

Henry Selick

I'm meant to be an animation director. That world, and the culture of stop-motion, is where I want to live. It's more my problem than Hollywood's. I'm not attuned to Hollywood.

Henry Selick

What I personally gravitate toward tends to be fantasy, medium dark - not too dark - fairy tales and sci fi. Stop-motion takes something on the page that's really dark and adds a little sweetness to it, a living toys realm.

Henry Selick

Just like those little Viewmaster slides, there's a inherent magic that's captured in 3D that you can't get in drawn animation or in CG.

Henry Selick

I think it's important that kids see another kid - Coraline - who doesn't have guns, she doesn't have super-powers, she's not a super-genius. To see a pretty normal kid - I mean, she's probably a little more curious, a little more stubborn, but she's...

Henry Selick

When you're writing, it's all up to you, and you don't have to make any compromises. And when you're directing, there's this intense pleasure you get from working with all these really talented people, and pooling the efforts towards a common goal. I...

Henry Selick

While I was making 'Coraline' I barely got to see any films at all, so I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Henry Selick

Unless you have kids, you actually have no idea what kids are watching on TV these days.

Henry Selick

There's the animation ghetto of feature films in this country. There's this flavor at DreamWorks, and Pixar does their own thing, and generally they're safe. But if you look at Walt Disney's original films, at the time and in the context, they weren'...

Henry Selick

In all animation, if it's done quickly, you'll know it. And if you're very slow and careful with it, it's going to look a little more beautiful. It's just compressing time into seconds.

Henry Selick

Having to make a blockbuster every time puts unhealthy pressure on creatives. The pressure on the filmmakers is so intense, I think it stifles the creativity.

Henry Selick

I learned my lesson that in the live-action world, you have to earn the support of people over a very, very long time. And in animation, I already have the support.

Henry Selick

There's always kids who become stop motion animators. I get stuff all the time. They put it on YouTube. It's exciting to see.

Henry Selick

We can still do a stop motion feature for about one-third of what it costs Pixar or DreamWorks or Blue Sky to make a feature. But nobody is interested in a film that cost $50 to 60 million with the potential to do $120 million. They want to risk big ...

Henry Selick

There's very few people who want to just make beautiful films that make money, when they can make films that make huge money.

Henry Selick

Author Bio

  • NameHenry Selick
  • DescriptionAmerican filmmaker
  • BornNovember 30, 1952
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionFilm Director; Screenwriter; Film Producer