From Coraline to the upcoming Wildwood, LAIKA Studios is a powerhouse in stop-motion animation. My entry into LAIKA’s work was Kubo and the Two Strings, but eventually I went back to see what the hype behind Coraline was about. Wildwood is based on the YA novel of the same name, written by Colin Meloy of the indie band The Decemberists, and illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. It is a 541-page novel inspired by classic fantasy and folk tales, following two seventh-graders who are drawn into a hidden, magical forest as they try to rescue a baby that crows have kidnapped.
While I was attending SCAD AnimationFest 2026, the audience at the Wildwood panel/exclusive first look was immediately treated to three scenes clipped from the feature-length film. One of the sequences that stood out to me seems to be a clip from near the beginning of the movie, amazingly shot and driven by some great upbeat music, as the visuals show the protagonist, Prue McKeel, and her brother, Mac McKeel, cycling through Portland, Oregon.
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After viewing these three snippets from Wildwood, LAIKA head of animation Brad Schiff and stop-motion animator and SCAD alum Tilly Fidler talked in more depth about the behind-the-scenes of making this 2-hour-and-20-minute stop-motion film. Wildwood is now the longest stop-motion animated film ever made, surpassing previous record-holders like Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. It took about 15-16 years to develop this stop-motion feature, which is why I took the amazing opportunity to chat with Schiff and Fidler about what interested them in stop-motion, what makes Prue’s hair so majestic, and how Wildwood pays homage to the city of Portland, Oregon.
From Coraline to the upcoming Wildwood, LAIKA Studios is a powerhouse in stop-motion animation.
BUT WHY THO: I would say The Nightmare Before Christmas would be my [entry] into stop-motion films, so I was curious what got both of you into it?
Tilly Fidler: Coraline. (Everyone laughs lightheartedly) I remember going to see it with my family because we loved watching animation together, and we always stayed till the end—always. There’s that button at the end with the swirly mice, and I remember my dad saying, ‘That’s so cool’, and I was like, ‘Yeah, it is.’ And I think there’s something about my dad really liking it that [made me] want to get into that. So, that movie for sure, and I still watch it all the time. It’s very dear to me.
Brad Schiff: Well, when I was a young boy…(Everyone dies of laughter) As a kid, I didn’t know I wanted to do stop-motion until I got into school and discovered I could sculpt. As a kid, I always loved the Rankin and Bass Christmas specials. I [also] remember going and seeing the original Clash of the Titans in the theater with my aunt, who was big into Greek mythology. She’s like, ‘Oh, you should come see this movie.’ And I remember that was one of the coolest movies I ever saw as a kid.
So, I guess deep down, I always thought the Christmas specials were the coolest. There was something ingrained deep inside that [clicked that] stop-motion was cool. But I don’t think I knew what stop-motion was until I discovered it in school. Then, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I recognized those, and I was like, ‘Holy s-!’ Those things were embedded in there somewhere and instrumental without knowing that was a guiding force. That’s why I like paving the way for modern stop-motion.
BUT WHY THO: That’s awesome. And speaking on the more technical side, I was impressed by Prue’s hair moving in the wind. What’s the process for motions like that?
Tilly Fidler: Yeah, there was a stunt wig for really windy stuff. But [Prue’s hair] was designed to be posed like it was always blowing in the wind.
Brad Schiff: Like Lion-O from Thundercats. The thing with stop-motion, it’s unlike CG. [In CG], there’s hair and cloth sims, but in stop-motion everything is animated by the stop-motion animator. The hair is wired, and there are joints in her hair. There was her normal wig, but the ball-and-socket joints are attached to her skull that come back behind the curtain of her hair. You can move it up and change the shape to make it feel like it’s bouncing up and down, and side to side. They [also] separate a little bit so you can get some overlap with it.
All the tendril bits are wired so an animator can move them incrementally with their hands or tweezers. There was a different wig when [Prue] was walking around. Then, there was another wig for when she was riding her bike because we needed to get a little bit more out of it.
We sold Travis [Knight] on a simplification of putting her hair in a ponytail when she’s on top of the bird and when she’s in the battle because hair is another character on top of your character. It takes exponentially more time to animate Prue because of her hair. So, it’s like, ‘How the heck are we going to do this?’ She’s not going to be on top of the bird with the long hair going crazy.
You saw it [from the clips]; you can see her put her hair in a ponytail when she escapes because we had to find the right point for her to be able to do that. [We did all that] so we didn’t have to futz with her hair in those big action sequences. Then, at the end of the film, which they haven’t shown any of yet, there’s a stunt wig like the Lion-O Thundercats wig that blows in a vortex (Fidler gestures vortex-like hair motions).
BUT WHY THO: Talking about the clips of Wildwood you showed us, the sound design and music in that first sequence was— (gestures chef’s kiss). Did the music come in before or after the animation?
Brad Schiff: [Crazily enough,] this is the first time seeing this clip in a theater. This is the first time I’m seeing it with a finished score and Foley sound.
Tilly Fidler: Yeah, the sounds!
Brad Schiff: When we’re in the studio, we’re animating to temp[orary] sound. Very little Foley sound at all. Maybe we’ll get something from [composer] Dario [Marianelli], like a piece of the score—but not the full orchestrated composition. To see it at that level, it was cool. But then, to go in and see it filled in so richly with the orchestra and Foley sound, it lifts the whole thing into a different stratosphere. It’s really f- cool!
Tilly Fidler: Yeah, and it makes you look at it as an audience member, even though we’ve been seeing it for so long.
Brad Schiff: It’s enough separation, right? It’s different enough that it feels new.
BUT WHY THO: Yeah, it breathes life into driving up the tension and ramping it up. But yeah, this first sequence of Wildwood is also an amazing introduction to Portland, Oregon, in this world. It reminded me of Algonquin Park or Vancouver vibes. Was this your way of paying homage and crafting a love letter to the city?
Brad Schiff: Yeah, I think it was a love letter to the city. I think Portland is such a fantastic town. It’s gotten such a bad rap over the last couple of years since COVID—
BUT WHY THO: Sorry to cut you off, but were those all iconic spots too, like the donut shop?
Brad Schiff: Yeah, Voodoo Donuts is a unique place. The sign, I think, used to be Travel Oregon. Was it?
Tilly Fidler: Oh, wow. I’ve only seen it as it is now.
Brad Schiff: But yeah, the beautiful riverfront- there are so many special things about Portland. It’s our home, so it’s really nice to portray it the way we all see it—not the way Fox News will portray it. Back then, George Bush, GW2, called it Little Beirut because of the—(all we can do is laugh knowing why).
But it’s gorgeous. The Pacific Northwest is so stunning. It’s so green and lush because of the weather. We get a fair amount of rain in the winter, but it’s what keeps it so green. We’ve got the ocean, and an hour and change to the west is Mount Hood. Then, an hour and change to the east, we’ve got the Columbia River Gorge, which is one of the most beautiful places you’ve ever seen in your life. And to be able to convey that, I think it was very special for every artist involved.
Tilly Fidler: And to be connected to every day as well when you step out of work, you’re there, and you can get inspired by stuff all the time outside of work.
BUT WHY THO: Yeah, on top of making it easier for your work in Wildwood since you can get the reference one-to-one.
Brad Schiff: Where we live, you go hiking in Forest Park, and there’s a trail right there.
Tilly Fidler: Yeah, there’s a Wildwood trail.
Wildwood releases in theaters on October 23rd, 2026.
