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Sean Wilson Sep 16, 2016

With Kubo & The Two Strings now playing, we salute some of our favourite stop motion animated movies...

With Laika's visually sumptuous and breathtaking stop motion masterpiece Kubo And The Two Strings dazzling audiences throughout the country, what better time to celebrate this singular and remarkable art form?

The effect is created when an on-screen character or object is carefully manipulated one frame at a time, leading to an illusion of movement during playback - and such fiendishly intricate work, which takes years of dedication, deserves to be honoured. Here are the greatest examples of stop motion movie mastery.

The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1898)

What defines the elusive appeal of stop motion? Surely a great deal of it is down to the blend of the recognisable and the uncanny: an simulation of recognisably human movement that still has a touch of the fantastical about it. These contradictions were put...

Rachel Ward and Matilda Brown star in The Death and Life of Otto Bloom.

The Death and Life of Otto Bloom, starring Xavier Samuel, Rachel Ward and Matilda Brown, will open this year's Melbourne International Film Festival.

The film, directed by Cris Jones, chronicles the life and great love of Bloom (Samuel), a man who experiences time in reverse — passing backwards through the years while remembering the future.

The Death and Life of Otto Bloom is Jones' first feature.

The full program for the festival will be revealed on July 5.

Jones said it was an honour and a joy to have his first feature opening Miff..

"For me, Miff is more than a celebration of film," he said..

"It is a family and a home. The festival has played an enormous role in my journey as a filmmaker, and without the support of the Premiere Fund, this film would not exist.

St Kilda Film Festival.

The St Kilda Film Festival has revealed its 2016 lineup with films including Perry, Whoever was Using This Bed and Young Labor leading the pack.

The Festival will kick off at the Palais Theatre with about 3,000 industry guests and film-lovers on the red carpet to sample a selection of the best shorts from the 2016 program..

For the second year, the St Kilda Town Hall will be transformed into a cinema to host Australia.s top 100 short films, music videos, archival footage, international programs, youth screenings and an extensive filmmaker development program.

Festival Director Paul Harris said he was delighted to announce a world-class line up of short films created by some of Australia.s most talented filmmakers..

Highlights from Australia.s Top 100 short film program include the world premiere of the Matt Day directed, Perry, starring Toby Schmitz, Ryan Johnson, Adrienne Pickering.

Perry tells the story of...

Australian actress Claudia Karvan is set to receive the 2016 Chauvel Award as part of the 14th annual Gold Coast Film Festival..

The Chauvel Award, named in honour of Charles Chauvel, commenced in 1993 and acknowledges an individual who has made significant contribution to Australian cinema.

On April 9, the Gold Coast Film Festival will welcome audiences to David Stratton In Conversation With Claudia Karvan..

The night will be an intimate look at Karvan.s career, accompanied by footage from her films and moderated by film critic and previous Chauvel Award recipient, David Stratton..

Stratton said he was looking forward to the event.

.I have known Claudia since she started acting and even appeared in a film with her once — something I.m certain will be referred to in our informal chat," he said. .

"Her career has gone from strength to strength, and she is unquestionably one of our finest actors..

Karvan.Karvan...

The Gold Coast Film Festival has secured Jan Chapman, Melanie Coombs and Alan Finney to be part of its 2016 Chauvel Award committee.

Chapman, producer of the AFI Best Film winner, Lantana and Academy Award winner The Piano, and 2002 Chauvel Award recipient, will join the committee this year alongside Coombs, producer of the Academy Award winner Harvie Krumpet and Finney, a film industry veteran actor and producer..

Film critic David Stratton, Screen Queensland chief executive, Tracey Vieira and Bond University.s Professor Bruce Molloy have also been announced as 2016 Chauvel Committee members.

The Chauvel Award, named in honour of Charles Chauvel, acknowledges an individual who has made significant contribution to Australian cinema..

The award was previously part of the Brisbane International Film Festival and past recipients of the Award have included producer Anthony Buckley, directors George Miller and Rolf de Heer, actors Bryan Brown and Geoffrey Rush, cinematographer John Seale and...

High School student Elizabeth Cullen has been crowned Best Filmmaker at the Bond University Film and Television Awards for her short film The Artist..

The 17-year-old, from Cairns State High School, won Best Overall Filmmaker and Best Directing at the Bufta Gala Awards ceremony on Saturday night (November 28), earning her a full scholarship to Bond University on the Gold Coast to study a Bachelor of Film and Television.

She is one of only two females to win the top award in the event.s 20 year history.

The most awarded film of this year.s Awards was After Tracy, by Darwin High School student Nathaniel Kelly who took home the prizes for Best Drama, Best Cinematography, the Dean.s Choice Award and the Jury Prize, which included a 25 per cent scholarship to Bond University to study a Bachelor of Film and Television.

The event was hosted by Academy Award winning Australian 'clayographer' Adam Elliot,...

This is a golden era for Australian feature documentaries as typified by the five critically-acclaimed titles in contention for the best feature doc prize at the fifth Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

Maya Newell.s Gayby Baby, Michael Ware and Bill Guttentag.s Only the Dead, Jen Peedom.s Sherpa, Damon Gameau.s That Sugar Film and Gillian Armstrong.s Women He.s Undressed are the nominees.

The Aacta Awards will be presented in Sydney in December, with the Seven Network telecasting the major awards on December 9.

Also revealed today were the nominees for best short animation and best short fiction film. In the running for the former are Adam Elliot.s Ernie Biscuit, Joe Brumm.s The Meek, Mikey Hill.s The Orchestra and Janette Goodey and John Lewis. The Story of Percival Pilts.

The nominees for best short fiction are Matt Holcomb.s Flat Daddy,...

Adam Elliot, Oscar winner for the short film Harvie Krumpet and director of the beloved feature Mary And Max, has recently released his latest film Ernie Biscuit. I got the chance to chat with Adam about his films, his characters and his life.Hugo Ozman: Ernie Biscuit is the first film that you have made since Mary And Max came out in 2009. What took you so long to give audiences another film?Adam Elliot:There are quite a few reasons why it has taken me so long to make another film. The main reason is after Mary and Max, I was mentally and physically spent and despite the wonderful successes of the film, I lost my sense of self and became quite depressed. Having to live up...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

He has a funny name. He's got a disability. He is terribly lonely... He is Ernie Biscuit, a deaf Parisian taxidermist. If you are thinking to yourself that his story couldn't be too interesting, you are mistaken. Great storytellers can bring the most unusual characters to life, put him or her in the most unexpected situations and create the most unforgettable stories. And Adam Elliot, director of the short film about Biscuit, is an amazing storyteller. After making his first short film trilogy (Uncle, Cousin and Brother), Elliot won an Academy Award for Harvie Krumpet, his 2003 short film about a man with Tourette's Syndrome. He followed that up with his only feature film to date, Mary And Max, which is about an unlikely friendship between...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Australian animator Adam Elliot won an Oscar for his short film Harvie Krumpet and went on to direct his much loved feature film Mary And Max. It has since been five long years and Elliot is finally back with a new film - a short titled "Ernie Biscuit". Ernie Biscuit is a "deaf Parisian Taxidermist whose life gets turned upside down and back to front when a dead pigeon arrives on his doorstep". Mr Biscuit was first introduced to the world at the Sydney Film Festival. He then traveled to Europe for the Annecy International Animation Festival in France and Edinburgh International Film Festival in the UK. Next, he will continue his journey around the world by returning to Australia for the Melbourne International Film Festival before...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Welcome to another weekly preview of upcoming Blu-Ray releases! You may notice that we’ve implemented some design changes; sometimes a new look can go a long way.

This week, Hotel Transylvania makes Club Med look like a daycare, the Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Collection explodes onto store shelves, and a slew of Oscar winning short films get a home release.

Ready for this week’s Blu-Ray releases? Then read on.

Hotel Transylvania

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, and Andy Samberg.

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky

A computer-animated comedy film directed by the creator of the totally-underrated Samurai Jack. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Plot: Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them.

A musing on the absence of animation from the Sight and Sound poll and a shameless attempt to shed light on a neglected gem from the genre.

The Sight and Sound poll is out and the dust has settled. A nun has sent Orson Welles plummeting from the top spot and a new film reigns supreme (Vertigo, not Sister Act). Almost everything that could be said has been said (Fall of Kane! Rise of Hitch! No Michael Bay?) but the poll was just as notable for it’s omissions as it was for the Top Ten.

Alongside the sharp pang I felt just above the left kidney when seeing the lack of Woody Allen in the top 50, another notable presence missing was that of animation. Just as Jim Emerson has noted the lack of funny in the list at his Scanners blog and Nick Goundry has used this very site...

Screen Australia has invested in five short films this week, including the directorial debut of popular children's author and illustrator Graeme Base.

The Gallant Captain, adapted from Base's own picture book The Legend of the Golden Snail, was one of two films selected to share in $300,000 of financing as part of the Short Animation Production Program. The story, a child's pirate fantasy, will be co-directed by Base and producer Katrina Mathers (Nullarbor).

The second recipient, stop-motion sand animation short The Crossing, will be animated, written and directed by visual artist Marieka Walsh and producer Donna Chang. The Crossing is the pair's second sand animated short film, their previous collaboration The Hunter recently screened at the SXSW festival.

Previous shorts funded through the agency's animation program include the Oscar-winning films The Lost Thing and Harvie Krumpet.

After an intensive three-month development process, three live action films have also been selected to...

Australian children’s author and illustrator Graeme Base, whose work includes Animalia and The Eleventh Hour, is to make his film directorial debut.

Base will co-direct with Katrina Mathers the film The Gallant Captain, an adaptation of his book The Legend of the Golden Snail.

Mathers with Daryl Munton of The Lampshade Collective was behind last year’s The Nullabor which won Sydney Film Festival’s Best Animated Short Film Award at both the Sydney Film Festival 2011 and the Aacta Awards 2012.

The short film has received funding from Screen Australia through the agency’s short animation production program.

Also to receive funding from Screen Australia is The Crossing, a stop-motion sand animation from writer/director/animator and visual artists Marieka Walsh. Sand animation is the use of sand on a lighted piece of glass to create each frame.

The film follows on from the success of Walsh’s team with The Hunter,...

As a child, I loved the twisted works of Shel Silverstein and Roald Dahl. Rather than the lame ass, wrapping a moral around sparkly ponies or talking farm equipment that most children's stories rely on, they seemed more edgy. You learned a lesson, or got your warm fuzzies at the end of their works, but there was a naughty and kind of sinister edge. My favorite story was "George's Marvelous Medicine," which was essentially the account of an eight-year-old child who destroys his grandmother with the use of household chemicals. There was no moral at the end. It was simply insane and dastardly fun. Horrible, horrible things happened, including death and cruelty, but that's there in life too.

I mention this because as a genre, animation often gets sloughed off as a means to use brainwashing and bright colors to market toys to drooling children. But there are some very...

The Australian stop-motion animator Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar for his 2004 short Harvie Krumpet, works laboriously with deliberately lumpy clay figures, and his first full-length film concerns two withdrawn pen pals who never meet. Mary (voiced by Toni Collette) is a slow-witted Australian from a Melbourne suburb, Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman) an overweight Jewish New Yorker suffering from Asperger's syndrome, one of the symptoms of which is collecting his own toenails. It is a sad, whimsical, uncomfortably comic film, touching rather than tragic, and overlong. The sly commentary is spoken by Barry Humphries who knows a bit about the suburbs of Melbourne.

AnimationPhilip French

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By Christopher Stipp

The Archives, Right Here

Check out my other column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp

Ice Road Truckers - DVD Review

I once had a job where it was my job to obtain truck freight.

As I made my way all across the Us I realized that everything that we get in this country is obtained by the trucking industry. Bottom line. From the keyboards that you and I write on, the chairs we sit in, the produce and food we eat, the clothes we wear, everything gets here by truck.

That’s why knowing this information makes for a good primer in understanding why Season Three of Ice Road Truckers is such a thrill to watch. While not necessarily family entertainment, some of these road dogs are a bit salty, the program continues to feed my...

Many movies barter sentimentality to the audience with what strikes me as irresponsible abandon – the latest Nicholas Sparks novel adaptation is an easy target, but it is a fine line between appearing genuine and forcing manipulative drivel down (unfortunately) willing throats. The presence of authentic sincerity should be treasured and regarded as a rarity, and that’s what makes Adam Elliot’s Mary and Max such a surprising film just shy of masterpiece status.

Written, directed and designed by Elliot, who won an Oscar in 2004 for the 23-minute animated short Harvie Krumpet (which is included on this DVD), Mary and Max is Elliot’s first feature and clearly a labor of love, painstaking in detail and played out in claymation over the course of 90-odd minutes. Were this a 2D animated film, or even a 3D venture, I would hesitate showering it with as much praise as I intend to apply to Mary and Max,...

DVD Playhouse—June 2010

By

Allen Gardner

The White Ribbon (Sony) On the eve of Ww I, a small village in Germany is struck by a series of tragic, seemingly unconnected events until the townspeople, and the audience, start to connect the dots. Shot in stark, beautiful black & white, director Michael Haneke has fashioned a haunting metaphorical drama that is as coldly chilling as anything made by Ingmar Bergman, and darkly unsettling as anything from the canon of David Lynch. A rich, tough, brilliant cinematic experience you’re not likely to forget. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bd bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; featurettes. Widescreen Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.

Alice In Wonderland (Disney) Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic finds young Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a 19th century girl who finds herself in an unhappy engagement to a boorish suitor, tumbling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she encounters magical cakes,...

Chicago – A disturbingly small number of people were given the chance to see Adam Elliot’s brilliant and moving “Mary and Max,” one of the most notable releases in arguably the best year in the history of modern animation. While “Coraline,” “Up,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and even “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” made headlines, a beautiful little film about an unusual friendship went under the radar. Don’t miss it.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Mary Dinkle (later voiced by Toni Collette) is an insecure, chubby, lonely, eight-year-old Australian girl with a birthmark on her forehead that resembles poop. She has a relatively miserable life with an alcoholic mother and a father who could generously be called distant. Mary becomes confused about how babies are born and she randomly plucks a name and address from an NYC phone book and pens a letter to Max Horowitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman) looking for answers.

By Steve Pond

With “The Princess and the Frog” winning rave reviews and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” popping up on 10-best lists, it’s time to lobby for “Mary and Max,” one of the strangest, funniest films of the year and an oddity that stands out in what has been a good year for animated features.

Made in Australia by Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar for his short film “Harvie Krumpet” six years ago, “Mary and Max” is a twisted claymation film defiantly not for kids. Mary (voiced by Toni Collette) is a lonely eight-year-old girl from the Melb...

Boy, oh boy, do I love me some stop-motion animation. Be it “Creature Comforts,” “Coraline,” or even, God help me, “Monkeybone,” I’m always down for some meticulously-crafted, old-fashioned storytelling. While mindlessly digging through content over at Trailer Addict, I happened upon a preview for “Harvie Krumpet” director Adam Elliot’s engaging effort “Mary and Max,” a movie which seems to blend the snazziest elements of Henry Selick and Nick Park into one charming little picture. I haven’t seen a Region 1 DVD release date yet, though I strongly suspect it should be coming down the proverbial pipeline pretty soon, as it’s already been unleashed in other territories. However, according to the official website, “Mary and Max” is screening on Sundance Selects throughout USA – via Brighthouse, Cablevision, Comcast, Fox, and Time Warner – as of 14 October 2009. For those interested parties, an official synopsis: Spanning 20 years and 2 continents, Mary and Max...

When the claymation film Mary and Max premiered at Sundance in January, it was met with great acclaim. (It's currently at 95% at Rottentomatoes.)  The film marks the feature debut of Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar with his short film Harvie Krumpet. It tells the story of an unlikely friendship. Mary is a young Australian girl with no friends. She becomes penpals with Max, an aging and obese man from New York who has a great number of neurosis and insecurities. The film's style is a bit visually goofy but also touching and surprisingly effective. There's a new trailer for the film, which is now available On Demand; watch it after the break. The film's primary voices are by Toni Collette (Mary) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Max) but you'd have a difficult time pegging either one right off, as they're both deep in character. (Hoffman is a bit easier to...

The 2009 Sundance Film Festival began with an opening-night screening of Mary and Max, a full-length stop-motion animated feature by Australian director Adam Elliot, an Oscar-winner for his 2003 animated short Harvie Krumpet. Before the movie began at the Eccles Theater, the public face of the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford, shared some thoughts: "Nerves. Angst. Worry. Pain. Panic. Fear. I'm not talking about the Festival -- although you might...

"Mary with Max" opens Sundance with an artful bang. The plasticine heroine at the heart of "Mary and Max," Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot's funny, eye-popping and somewhat moody claymation film is eight-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle (voice of Toni Collette), a social misfit in suburban Australia whose life changes after finding a pen pal in New York City. Her faraway friend is a surprising soul mate, Max Jerry Horowitz (voice of Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He is overweight, a Jewish atheist with Asperger's Syndrome and a social outcast equal to Mary, a most unlikely hero. Both Max and Mary come to life thanks to artful detail and exquisite production design from Elliot, who won an Oscar for his short film "Harvie Krumpet," his photographer Gerald Thompson and an Australian production team of 50 artists responsible for this frequently solemn but always engaging friendship tale, one based on Elliot's own pen pal relationship.

"Mary with Max" opens Sundance with an artful bang. The plasticine heroine at the heart of "Mary and Max," Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot's funny, eye-popping and somewhat moody claymation film is eight-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle (voice of Toni Collette), a social misfit in suburban Australia whose life changes after finding a pen pal in New York City. Her faraway friend is a surprising soul mate, Max Jerry Horowitz (voice of Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He is overweight, a Jewish atheist with Asperger's Syndrome and a social outcast equal to Mary, a most unlikely hero. Both Max and Mary come to life thanks to artful detail and exquisite production design from Elliot, who won an Oscar for his short film "Harvie Krumpet," his photographer Gerald Thompson and an Australian production team of 50 artists responsible for this frequently solemn but always engaging friendship tale, one based on Elliot's own pen pal relationship.

"Mary and Max" reviewby Steve Ramos, Writer   "Mary with Max" opens Sundance with an artful bang.   The plasticine heroine at the heart of "Mary and Max," Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot's funny, eye-popping and somewhat moody claymation film is eight-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle (voice of Toni Collette), a social misfit in suburban Australia whose life changes after finding a pen pal in New York City. Her faraway friend is a surprising soul mate, Max Jerry Horowitz (voice of Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He is overweight, a Jewish atheist with Asperger's Syndrome and a social outcast equal to Mary, a most unlikely hero.   Both Max and Mary come to life thanks to artful detail and exquisite production design from Elliot, who won an Oscar for his short film "Harvie Krumpet," his photographer Gerald Thompson and an Australian production team of 50 artists responsible for this frequently solemn but always engaging friendship tale, one...

"Mary with Max" opens Sundance with an artful bang. The plasticine heroine at the heart of "Mary and Max," Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot's funny, eye-popping and somewhat moody claymation film is eight-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle (voice of Toni Collette), a social misfit in suburban Australia whose life changes after finding a pen pal in New York City. Her faraway friend is a surprising soul mate, Max Jerry Horowitz (voice of Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He is overweight, a Jewish atheist with Asperger's Syndrome and a social outcast equal to Mary, a most unlikely hero. Both Max and Mary come to life thanks to artful detail and exquisite production design from Elliot, who won an Oscar for his short film "Harvie Krumpet," his photographer Gerald Thompson and an Australian production team of 50 artists responsible for this frequently solemn but always engaging friendship tale, one based on Elliot's own pen pal relationship.

Sundance 2009 is upon us, and like the rest of the world, everything here is upside down. Those of us traveling in from the east, where it's snowy and bitterly cold, are getting the shock of 40-degree weather and dry ground in Park City, Utah, the home of the festival and a town that's usually more recognizable as a frozen filmcicle in late January. This year, the sidewalk and my boots have spontaneously developed a phenomenon called traction, and before the opening night film I made a grocery run in my shirtsleeves.

And as if that weren't enough, the programmers have chosen to kick off the fest with a feature length claymation film called Mary & Max. It's like Wallace and Gromit for grown-ups, or if you've seen Adam Eliot's Oscar-winning short Harvie Krumpet, you'll have an even better idea of what his debut feature is like. In fact Max is something...

Mary and Max Written and directed by Adam Elliot Voice Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana, Renee Geyer, Ian "Molly" Meldrum, Julie Forsyth, John Flaus Who knows if Adam Elliot's feature debut is the strangest movie that's ever opened the Sundance Film Festival; even if it comes close, it's doubtful you'll find many movies that are nearly as humorous and touching in their humanity as Elliot is able to create using mere clay. After his previous short film "Harvie Krumpet" won the Oscar five years ago, Elliot spent all that time bringing this touching story about a long-distance friendship to life. Mary Daisy Dinkle is an eight-year-old Australian introvert who finds happiness in the smallest things despite being picked on mercilessly...

by indieWIRE (January 6, 2009) Editors Note: This is part of a series of interviews, conducted via email, profiling dramatic and documentary competition and American Spectrum directors who have films screening at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

"Mary and Max" will kick off the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. A claymation animation by Academy award-winning filmmaker Adam Elliot ("Harvie Krumpet"), it tells the simple story of a 20-year pen-pal friendship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle, a chubby, lonely 8-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horowitz, a 44-year-old Jewish man, who is severely obese, suffers from Asperger's syndrome, and lives an isolated life in New York City.

A selection of Australian films are poised to make a big splash at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival with six Aussie screen productions selected for the United States' largest celebration of independent cinema. The gala event will kick off on January 15th and will feature an array of home-grown entertainment including four short films, one installation and a feature film.   Most of the buzz is being generated by the highly anticipated claymated feature Mary and Max, Adam Elliot's feature film follow up to his Academy Award winning short Harvie Krumpet. Mary and Max will enjoy its world premiere screening on the opening night of Sundance.

The clay-animated film Mary and Max, which we first told you about back in October, will open the 25th Sundance Film Festival. Mary and Max features the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Barry Humphries and Eric Bana and is the feature directorial debut of director Adam Elliot and producer Melanie Coombs, the team behind 2004's Oscar-winning animated short Harvie Krumpet. It will have its world premiere Jan. 15 in Park City, Utah. It’s only the second animated film in the fest's history to be selected for the prestigious opening slot, following 2007's Chicago 10. Mary and Max is a simple tale of pen-friendship between two very different people; Mary Dinkle (Collette), a little chubby lonely eight year old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horovitz (Hoffman), a 44 year old, severely obese, Jewish man with Asperger's Syndrome living in the chaos of New York. The Sundance...

New York -- The 25th Sundance Film Festival's slate is taking shape with the clay animated opening night film "Mary and Max" starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette.

The Aussie feature debut of director Adam Elliot and producer Melanie Coombs, the team behind 2004's Oscar-winning animated short "Harvie Krumpet," will have its world premiere Jan. 15 in Park City, Utah. "Max" is only the second animated film in the fest's history to be selected for the prestigious slot, following 2007's "Chicago 10."

"Dame Edna" creator Barry Humphries narrates the story of a pen-pal friendship between a lonely, 8-year-old girl (Collette) living in suburban Melbourne and a morbidly obese New Yorker (Hoffman). The tale spans two decades and is far from children's fare, covering such topics as autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, obesity and kleptomania.

"This portrait of a global friendship between two marvelously dysfunctional people is an exceptionally moving, funny and thought-provoking work,...

• What a great way to kick start a film festival. Sundance’s silver anniversary film festival edition will commence with a stopmotion claymation feature from short film Park City alumni Adam Elliot. The non-confirm feature starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette in obvious voice roles and narrated by Barry Humphries, Mary and Max tells the tale of a pen-pal friendship between Mary, a chubby lonely 8-year-old girl in Melbourne, Australia, and Max, a 44-year-old, severely obese, Jewish man with Asperger's Syndrome living in New York. Elliot has been clicking one frame at a time for a good five years now – his 2004 short film Harvie Krumpet (click here to get a peak) was screened at Sundace’s 2004 edition and went onto claim the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. If you want to see what Hoffman might look like in a claymation coating - then head on over

...

Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Casting

In one corner, we have Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman (doesn't that sound good already?). The Hollywood Reporter posts that Psh has just signed his voice up to star opposite Collette in Mary and Max, a claymation project from Down Under. Sort of like a claymation version of Love Letters, the film focuses on two penpals who foster a friendship over 20 years while one lives in Australia and the other in the Us. I don't know if this is a tale of classic pen to paper, or something a little more modern with late-night Internet session while one goes to bed and the other rises. To make things even more interesting -- it's the feature debut for Harvie Krumpet Oscar winners Adam Elliot and Melanie Coombs.

In the other corner, there's one of the strangest couplings I've read in a while -- Helen Hunt and Liev Schreiber.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, aka The Most Legit Actor In Hollywood, is officially a part of the movie Mary and Max. Hoffman is set to voice the lead role of Max in this claymation feature from the makers of the Oscar winning short "Harvie Krumpet." The movie will follow a pen pal friendship between the two title characters. Max is an obese Jewish-American man with Asperger's Syndrome and Mary is an overweight 8 year old in Melbourne, Australia. Adam Elliot will write and direct while Melanie Coombs produces. Although this is the first feature film for the team, they also collaborated on the short "Harvie Krumpet," which won in its category at the 2004 Oscars. Icon Entertainment International CEO, Mark Gooder is apparently super excited about nabbing "The Most Legit Actor In Hollywood," and squeals "That one of the most .in demand' actors in the world would agree to voice an independent Australian...

He has just signed on to voice the co lead role of Max in Icon’s Aussie stopmotion clay model feature titled Mary and Max.

The film looks at the unlikely pen pal friendship between Mary, a chubby lonely 8 year old girl in Melbourne, Australia, and Max, a 44 year old severely obese, Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome living in New York.

The film is the first debut feature of director Adam Elliot and producer Melanie Combs, whose animated short Harvie Krumpet won the 2004 Oscar for animated short.

The film is being sold internationally by Icon Entertainment International. “That one of the most ‘in demand’ actors in the world would agree to voice an independent Australian animation speaks volumes for the creative integrity of this...

(more...)...

Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to voice one of two lead characters in Adam Elliot’s upcoming claymation project “Mary and Max,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Hoffman will lend his voice to Max, a 44-year-old man living in New York who exchanges letters with the lonely 8-year-old Mary (voiced by Toni Collette) in Melbourne.

The trade also says the film is narrated by Australian legend Barry Humphries and features a cameo from Eric Bana, among others.

“Mary and Max” marks the feature debut of Elliot and producer Melanie Coombs, who won an Oscar for their 2003 short flick “Harvie Krumpet.”

Hoffman recently starred in “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “The Savages” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” He will next be seen in “Synecdoche, New York,” followed by “Doubt.”...

London -- Philip Seymour Hoffman has joined the voice cast of Aussie claymation project "Mary and Max," taking the lead role of Max, the film's backers said Wednesday.

The feature debut from the Oscar-winning duo of writer-director Adam Elliot and producer Melanie Coombs stars Toni Collette as Mary. Elliot and Coombs won the 2003 short-film Oscar for "Harvie Krumpet."

The film is narrated by Australian legend Barry Humphries and features cameos from Eric Bana, singer Renee Geyer and local music icon Ian "Molly" Meldrum along with Julie Forsyth and John Flaus.

Icon Film Distribution CEO Mark Gooder described the addition of Hoffman as "the icing on the cake."

The movie details the story of pen pals -- one living in Australia, the other in the U.S. -- whose friendship grows over 20 years.

The project is being financed by Screen Australia, Adirondack Pictures and Film Victoria and sold internationally by Icon Entertainment International.

• Just when you think that Philip Seymour Hoffman has done it all, apparently there are some areas that remain untouched. With an impressive run of first rate leading and supporting character perfs over the last decade or so, now the American actor is adding directing credits to his resume with Jack Goes Boating, and will be skipping off to Austrialia to do some voice work for the very first time, with a stopmotion claymation feature, that frankly feels very different from the norm. Oscar-winning director Adam Elliot's short animated film Harvie Krumpet (see below) dealt with lead character with Tourette's Syndrome and in his feature-length film debut he'll pair a chubby lonely 8-year-old girl in Melbourne, Australia with Max, a 44-year-old, severely obese, Jewish man with Asperger's Syndrome living in New York. Hoffman who'll next be seen in year end dramas Doubt and Synecdoche, New York, will bring

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• Four new feature projects have been announced as being funded by Film Finance Australia Corp., the funding agency, for production next year. Two of the films mark a return home for two critically acclaimed Australian filmmakers while another is set to be helmed by Australia’s most exciting up-and-coming.The first is the new feature from director Scott Hicks, The Boys Are Back in Town . Hicks, who is currently in post on a film with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart, is best known for Shine, the film that received a number of Academy Award nominations and won Geoffrey Rush an Oscar. Hicks resume also includes the mediocre Snow Falling on Cedars and Hearts in Atlantis. Boys, which is a co-production between the U.K. and Australia, tells of a sports writer who must suddenly accept single parenthood as he has to bring up two sons from different marriages. The

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