Wallace and Gromit have bought a lot of joy to multiple generations of my family. "Curse of the Were-rabbit" is as close to the perfect comedy film as I have seen. Hard to think of any way in which it could be improved.
> Hugh Grant describes buying an original Morph figure only to have it squashed by his children, meaning he effectively spent £10,000 on a lump of clay.
He talks about this in he did for an Aardman movie in which he starred. He relayed the story of the squashed Morph to someone at Aardman, who offered to remold the clay back into Morph for him.
> Feathers McGraw’s body, including his wicked flippers, is made of clay, crafted over a fully jointed internal metal armature. The red glove he famously wears as a remarkably effective disguise — one that somehow seems to fool Wallace every time — is made of silicone. His eyes are glass pins, while his beak is fast-cast resin. The tea-stained mug he grips is resin. He comes displayed on a wooden base.
Mostly, yes! They use a very specific clay from a producer which went out of business a few years ago. They've bought up all the stock they can and use that clay for pretty much all of the character puppets, along with other materials. There was a great documentary on the BBC a couple of years back which went behind the scenes and talked about how they make and use the puppets.
It’s interesting that they use such specific materials. Do you think the material itself makes a big difference to how the characters move, or is most of the animation in the armature?
Creatively, how is Aardman holding up? I know they had issues working with Hollywood 20 years ago on Flushed Away when it came creative control, and assumed they got their mojo back. But I was disappointed with Chicken Run 2 … I had to bail about halfway through.
It’s certainly money and funding issues, too - Studio Laika with the same paradigm can always draw on Nike founder’s son money during lean times. (This isn’t to diminish the actual quality and artistry of their work!)
"Curses, Gromit! Fire destroys animation firm's history on eve of box office triumph"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/oct/11/arts.media
That looks to be what's being auctioned.
https://screengoblin.com/2021/03/25/a-grand-night-in-the-sto...
He talks about this in he did for an Aardman movie in which he starred. He relayed the story of the squashed Morph to someone at Aardman, who offered to remold the clay back into Morph for him.
Auction link: https://propstoreauction.com/auctions/catalog/id/549?page=1
The two things I want are a Feathers McGraw wanted poster and mug
> Feathers McGraw’s body, including his wicked flippers, is made of clay, crafted over a fully jointed internal metal armature. The red glove he famously wears as a remarkably effective disguise — one that somehow seems to fool Wallace every time — is made of silicone. His eyes are glass pins, while his beak is fast-cast resin. The tea-stained mug he grips is resin. He comes displayed on a wooden base.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f19hF7-nT8g
/s