Interview: Enrico Casarosa, Pixarian and La Luna Director

Yesterday, I had the chance to speak to the very talented, very kind and very friendly Enrico Casarosa via phonecall, from Pixar. Enrico recently directed the Emeryville based studio's latest short film, La Luna, which will be paired with Brave this summer, and is now working on Bob Peterson's film, The Good Dinosaur. Despite his very busy schedule, Enrico was kind enough to accommodate me for 20 minutes of interview yesterday.

I'd also just like to take this opportunity to send out a huge thank you to Pixar's publicity king, Chris Wiggum, the kind gentleman who helped to arrange this all for me. I've admired Pixar from afar (as I'm sure you all know) for several years, so to get the opportunity to interview someone from the studio was phenomenal and was definitely one of the highlights of my year so far! It meant the world and I'm extremely grateful to Chris, Enrico and anyone and everyone else involved.

Points covered in the interview include: the story process for La Luna, it's accompanying book, the Pixar Shorts Collection: Volume 2, The Good Dinosaur and the studio in general. Read the full interview after the jump break:

Brave TV Spot

Pixar may have walked away empty handed from the Oscars last Sunday, but Pixar fans were treated to the above TV spot - the first for Pixar's next feature film, Brave. The newly debuted TV spot shows off the epic scale we've seen in previous trailers, and a familiar warmth and love that Pixar films epitomise and that the antiquated Scottish setting will help further boost.

Over the top of the video, you will also hear beautiful Gaelic singing by the very talented Julie Fowlis.

Oscar Results - Rango and Morris Lessmore Take Home Awards

Last night was the 84th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, emanating from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, celebrating the greatest achievements in cinema over the past 12 months.

Taking home the most prolific awards of the night, including Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius) and Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), was, unsurprisingly, The Artist. The french, black-and-white, silent film drew with Martin Scorsese's Hugo for total number of awards won, at 5 each. However, Hugo took home the more technical awards, including Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects.

In terms of animation, the Gore Verbinski directed western flick, Rango, took home the award for Best Animated Feature, beating out A Cat in Paris, Chico and Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots. Upon winning the award, Verbinski (pictured top with the statue) said:

"Someone asked me if this film was for kids. I don’t know, but it was certainly created by a bunch of grown-ups acting like children."

The Best Animated Short Film award was this year given to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, by Shreveport based Moonbot Studios. Directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg (pictured above) were on hand to accept the honour. It's a huge honour and great sign of recognition for the studio's first short film; read more on Moonbot's website.

Bret McKenzie also took home the Best Original Song award for Man or Muppet, it's just a shame The Muppets didn't snag more nominations.

Nonetheless, congratulations to all involved in all of the films that won and those nominated. Read the full list of winners here.

Ice Age Parodies The Artist

Ahead of a new trailer being released (on 5th March) for the fourth installment in Blue Sky Studios' much loved Ice Age franchise, Ice Age: Continental Drift, the studio have rolled out a parody of Oscar frontrunner, The Artist.

The video (above) is a black-and-white montage of clips from previous Ice Age films and shorts, showing the love between Scrat and the acorn that was such a popular side-story in the first 3 films, and it seems only topical given that the Oscars are this Sunday, and The Artist is almost a certainty.

Ice Age: Continental Drift is due for release on 6th July.

New La Luna Clip

Entertainment Weekly has premiered a new clip (above) from Pixar's Oscar nominated short film, La Luna. The short, which has been making the rounds of festivals in the past few months, is scheduled to premiere worldwide with Pixar's 13th feature film, Brave, this summer.

The clip, which is accompanied on EW's website with an interview with the film's director, Enrico Casarosa, is charming, nostalgic and makes it obvious that La Luna is set to be one of Pixar's finest shorts to date. The musical accompaniment by Pixar favourite Michael Giacchino is also sublime.

For the clip and interview with Enrico Casarosa, head over here.

Via Upcoming Pixar.

Rango Takes Home a BAFTA

Although the presentation of the award appears to have been cut from the broadcast of the 65th British Academy Film Awards, earlier today the BAFTA for Best Animated Film was awarded to Paramount and Nickelodeon's Rango. The Gore Verbinski directed animated western is the favourite heading into the 84th Annual Academy Awards in two weeks' time and this is a huge honour for the film.

Rango beat out Steven Spielberg's mo-cap adventure, The Adventures of Tintin and the British film, Arthur Christmas. Check out the full BAFTA results here.

Spotlight on Short Films: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Given this site's new self touted focus on classic short films and cartoons, it seems only appropriate to cover a broader range of animated shorts. Up until recently, Pixar has been my main outlet of animated shorts - with a few Disney ones cropping up too - however, I've recently started watching more, and one that I particularly loved (to the extent that it deserved its own post) is The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

The short, "inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor.". You've likely, if you haven't seen it, heard the short mentioned in the context of it being one of the 5 shorts nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar this year, and there's a reason it's nominated! Personally, I loved I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat (the Looney Tunes short attached to Happy Feet Two) and that didn't get an Oscar nod, whereas Morris Lessmore did, so that should tell you something about the amazing quality of this short. Having now seen it, I can safely say that it would've caused me some hesitancy in my choice for the Best Animated Short Film A113Animation Award this year.

I'm harping on here, but my superlatives and hyperbole are apt in this case, as Morris Lessmore is brilliant. This shan't be a full review, as this post is intended merely to get you to go out and watch this short and to praise Moonbot Studios (the company behind it) for their talent. The animation is luscious and the style charming, the musical accompaniment is soft and nostalgic and it's an all round very touching, poignant film about the effect that books and, more broadly than that, - as this seems to be the mantra of Moonbot - about the effect that story can have on us.

Moonbot have done a wonderful job here and (having not seen any of their rival nominees - although I hear nothing but glowing reviews of Pixar's La Luna) I'd say they have a strong chance at the 84th Academy Awards later this month; they'd certainly deserve it. The studio who say, rather than devoted to any one medium - as they've also released a few acclaimed iPad apps - they are devoted to telling the best story they can. One thing's for certain, co-directors William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg and their team at Moonbot have certainly accomplished that here.

To surmise in platitudinal terms: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is fantastic!

Watch The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore on Moonbot's website via Vimeo; visit the short's official site (where you can see some great concept art); and like both the short and Moonbot's official Facebook pages.

84th Academy Awards Nominations Revealed

Earlier today, the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards (to be hosted by Billy Crystal) were announced. The reveal, as expected, saw a glut of nominations for Martin Scorsese's Hugo (11 nominations) and silent film (and Best Picture frontrunner) The Artist (10 nominations), however it also saw some controversial decisions, and the animation category was no exception.

The nominees for Best Animated film are:

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico & Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

Now, the Academy does often throw some lesser known, critical hits into the mix, so it shouldn't be too great a surprise that Chico & Rita and A Cat in Paris have cropped up. However, what is somewhat of a surprise, is the omission of The Adventures of Tintin. This isn't simply due to personal preference (although I think you all know by now how much I enjoyed Tintin) but Tintin recently took home the Golden Globe and the Producers Guild Award in the same category - as well as being nominated for the BAFTA - so the Oscar omission is somewhat bizarre. Also of note is the absence of a Pixar film on the list - the first time since the award's conception in 2001 that the Emeryville studio haven't snagged a nomination - and whilst it isn't too great a surprise to see Cars 2 missed off (although it would definitely have been deserving in my eyes), it is weird to not see Pixar as a frontrunner this year.

It now seems likely that Nickelodeon and ILM's Rango will take home the coveted prize, although I'd like to see DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 get some recognition.

Also, in terms of animation, the nominations for Best Animated Short Film are:

• Dimanche (Sunday)
• The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
• La Luna
• A Morning Stroll
• Wild Life

Whilst it's a shame that the Looney Tunes short, I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat didn't make the cut, it's nice to see Pixar get at least some presence at the show.

Also, 'Real in Rio' from Blue Sky Studios' Rio is one of only two nominations for Best Original Song this year - competing with 'Man or Muppet' from Disney's The Muppets.

This year's Oscars will be broadcast from the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood on February 26.

More For Your Consideration Adverts

As awards season heats up, what with Annie, Golden Globe and more nominations being revealed, and the 84th Academy Awards getting closer and closer, we are treated to more and more For Your Consideration Ads, promoting the year's best animated films.

Above and below, you can see, courtesy of Awards Daily, some of the latest For Your Consideration Ads for animated films, including ones for the Warner Bros. short film, I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, as well as Blue Sky Studios' Rio, DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, and Aardman's Arthur Christmas.

For a full list of For Your Consideration Adverts, animated or otherwise, keep your eyes on Awards Daily.

Best Animated Short Film Oscar Shortlist Surfaces

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.) have released the short list of animated short films for consideration for Best Animated Short Film at the 84th Academy Awards.

Amongst those on the list are Pixar's latest offering, La Luna (directed by Enrico Casarosa) - which is set to play in theatres alongside Brave next summer -, and I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, the latest Looney Tunes short film, which is playing with Happy Feet Two at the moment.

The final set of between 3 and 5 nominations will be announced in January, with the awards taking place on February 26.

The full list can be viewed here.

More For Your Consideration Ads

After just posting about the Cars 2 For Your Consideration Ads, I stumbled upon (thanks to Big Screen Animation) Awards Daily's large list of the For Your Consideration Ads released as of now, a select few of which are scattered about this post, the rest can be viewed at Awards Daily.

I particularly like the sleek designs of the Tintin and Arthur Christmas ones, as well as the very vibrant Happy Feet Two and Rango ones. Also, note how The Adventures of Tintin is also being promoted for consideration in the Best Feature Film category, which it is good enough to be nominated for!

Cars 2 For Your Consideration Campaign Begins

As awards season rapidly approaches, Disney and Pixar begin the promoting of the Emeryville studio's latest feature with the above For Your Consideration Oscar adverts. Cars 2 is being promoted for consideration in the categories of Best Animated Feature, Best Song and Best Score.

However, due to the outpouring of negative and mixed reviews for Cars 2, Pixar face an uphill battle for the first time ever, just to get nominated; especially against such firm competition this year as Kung Fu Panda 2, Tintin, Rio and more. Personally, I thought Cars 2 was very, very good and was reviewed very unjustly, however, it is hard from Pixar's strongest and the studio that have won the prestigious Best Animated Feature Oscar consecutively for the past 4 years, will struggle to win, if, of course, they get the nomination.

The Oscar Race Begins - 18 Qualify

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently revealed the 18 feature films that have qualified for consideration in the Best Animated Feature Film category for the 84th Academy Awards - to be hosted by Eddie Murphy, the voice of Donkey in Shrek.

These feature films are (links lead to our reviews of the highlighted films):

"The Adventures of Tintin"

"Alois Nebel"

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked"

"Arthur Christmas" (to be released on November 11, review to follow the week after)

"Cars 2"

"A Cat in Paris"

"Chico & Rita"

"Gnomeo & Juliet"

"Happy Feet Two"

"Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil"

"Kung Fu Panda 2"

"Mars Needs Moms"

"Puss in Boots"

"Rango"

"Rio"

"The Smurfs"

"Winnie the Pooh"

"Wrinkles"

Providing that at least 16 of these films make the necessary theatrical runs to qualify, then there will be five nominees for the prestigious award this year, as opposed to the three we saw last year.

2011 has been a very good year for animated film, with all major studios (and some minor ones) bringing out brilliant films (personally, as it came out in January over here in the UK, and not November 2010 as it did it in the US, I also count Tangled as from this year). So, it's going to be a very competitive year, with the usual Academy favourite, Pixar, churning out, what was viewed as, a weak entry into their canon, it's likely that Cars 2 won't win this year, but, from the films I've seen so far, my five to be nominated would be:

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Cars 2
• Rio
• Rango
• Kung Fu Panda 2

With Tintin probably coming out on top; those predictions are based upon now and, not necessarily my personal opinion, but what I believe the Academy will choose. Also, this is discounting films not yet released and ones I haven't seen; also, it's hard to count out Aardman, so I wouldn't rule out Arthur Christmas yet (stay tuned for a review of that in two weeks).

I guess we'll just have to wait and see, we're only at the start of the journey now anyway.

Thanks to The Pixar Blog.