During a pivotal time for expansion, A24 was about to achieve a feat it had yet to reach in its first nine years. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022) marked the studio’s first attempt at an animated film, which, much like its larger reputation, was an unorthodox exercise that produced eclectic results. This wasn’t a work akin to Pixar or Dreamworks, but something more abstract, relying on years of stop-motion filming techniques that improvised dialogue and found more in common with the news show 60 Minutes than any public-domain fairy tale. The results would prove fruitful, serving as yet another hit for its star, Jenny Slate, during early 2022, which also landed the company with one of the most earnest and heartfelt productions in their entire catalog.
The story begins in the oddest of places. According to director Dean Fleischer Camp and Slate, they came up with the idea while at a friend’s wedding. Slate was having issues expressing herself, so she picked up a seashell and began to speak in a voice that would become associated with their character Marcel. They would attach a googly eye, and ideas of how to anthropomorphize Marcel expanded from there. When Camp returned home, he would find Polly Pocket shoes that would serve as its feet.
The idea remained private as both Camp and Slate jump-started their careers. In 2010, Slate was fired from Saturday Night Live. Rumors have spiraled as to why, though many point to her accidental use of profanity in her first episode as a bad omen. Feeling discouraged, she turned to Camp for advice on how to be funny again. Together, they worked on what would become the first short for a trilogy called Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. It would go on to win a prize at AFI FEST 2010 and spawn an additional two shorts, released in 2011 and 2014. These were also accompanied by book releases of material from the shorts. The success was evident with over 30 million views, leading many to wonder what the future would be for little Marcel.
Camp and Slate’s private lives would threaten the future of any projects. Following a marriage in 2012, they were divorced in 2016. Even with Slate’s film career taking off, interest in the project remained. Camp admitted to people approaching him to adapt the shorts into feature films, but he instinctively felt that they weren’t the right distributors. After some consideration, he decided to create the film independently with help from Chiodo Bros. Productions. Despite concern of the former couple’s relationship impacting the results, they claim to have had a successful partnership.
The last part is fortunate given that the time commitment would be one of A24’s longest at that point. It was said to have started in 2014, meaning that it would take eight years to reach its theatrical release. Any delay could be attributed to the technique of stop-motion, where a whole day of work would produce, on average, 10 seconds of usable footage. Given that Camp’s approach was also incorporating live-action components, he was able to work around this by filming those components first before centering in on Marcel’s scenes.
The film would also star a fictionalized reimagining of himself as a documentarian looking into Marcel’s life and trying to understand his journey to find family. He would also manage to acquire a cameo from 60 Minutes anchor Lesley Stahl, whom he wrote a letter to in hopes of winning her over. A major reason for Stahl’s cameo stemmed from a joke between Camp and Slate that Marcel didn’t have a TV and only watched what her middle-aged neighbors watched through his window. As a result, Marcel had a strong affection for Stahl. The supporting cast was full of noteworthy collaborators, including Isabella Rossellini and Nathan Fielder.
Rounding out the crew was composer Disasterpeace, who collaborated with Camp to find a unique sound that strayed from the obvious. There was concern about making Marcel seem small, so they avoided tones that featured grandeur. In its place was a fascination with 80s ambient pieces from Japanese artists. Disasterpeace incorporated many of the ideas with hopes of creating a contemplative and more interpretive tone. Camp was insistent that they didn’t guide the audience emotionally and instead let them determine their own deeper feelings while being taken in by wonder and awe. There was also incorporation of other diegetic music, such as Phil Collins, which was meant to create an additional sense of nostalgia for Camp’s youth.
The film would premiere at Telluride in 2021, where it was met with generally positive reviews. In November of that year, A24 would acquire the rights and lead to its rollout strategy featuring merchandise along with an interview featuring Slate on their A24 Podcast. With interest in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On reaching its peak, the film came out on July 15, 2022, in The United States (it was globally distributed by Focus Pictures and Universal Pictures) and would gross $7 million. The year was looking to be a successful one for Slate and A24, as her other prominent feature, Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), was on track to become one of the studio’s biggest hits. Similarly, Disasterpeace was only a few weeks away from releasing his next A24 film, Bodies Bodies Bodies, featuring music that went in a more erratic and upbeat direction.
With everything going smoothly, questions arose as to whether Camp could get the film into the Oscar race. There had been conflict in the past surrounding animated films that incorporated live-action elements, notably with The LEGO Movie (2014). The caveat was that he needed to prove that no less than 75% of the film was animated. Based on the evidence that he provided, they became eligible, making them a noteworthy opponent for that year’s frontrunner, the Guillermo Del Toro adaptation of Pinocchio (2022).
Everything was shaping up for a success story. According to critics' aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On would earn a 98% approval rating. This would make it one of the most acclaimed A24 films of 2022, even rating higher than Everything Everywhere All At Once. Hanna Flint of House Notes led the positivity when exclaiming, “I wasn’t ready to have my soul squelched by the sweet adventures of an anthropomorphic exoskeleton. Yet this gorgeous animation delivers more than a few profound statements about life, community and family.” Edward Porter of The Sunday Times (UK) shared the sentiment when noting, “The film sometimes comes close to excessive cutesiness, but quiet wit and visual brilliance more than save it.” The few who disagreed included Alistair Ryder of WeLoveCinema, who argued that, “Further proof that YouTube characters seldom translate into feature length efforts.” Even so, the awards push reflected how popular this ambitious left turn wound up being with general audiences.
The story wasn’t over for Camp and crew. Thanks to a lot of enthusiasm, the film managed to land an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. While it would lose to Pinocchio, it marked a significant breakthrough for stop-motion animation and proved that A24 could compete in any category. For Slate, the night was even more of a big deal as Everything Everywhere All At Once landed a Best Picture win and landed three of her co-stars' wins in the acting category. No matter how one looks at it, this was a big moment for the studio, and one that promised that their future was going to be even more expansive.
Following the acclaim, both Slate and Camp would have significant career boosts. Slate would continue to star in various studio dramas and comedies. As of this publication, there hasn’t been any announcement for a return to A24. Meanwhile, Camp’s next feature found him navigating another PG-rated adaptation that would mix animation and live-action with the Disney remake of Lilo & Stitch (2025). While the reviews were mixed, it would go on to earn $1.06 billion, making it one of the highest-grossing movies of the year. There are currently no announced plans for another project.
Given animation often requiring a lot of resources and time, it makes sense that A24 hasn’t returned to the well too many times in the years since. Even so, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On allows for a brief glimpse into what a personal project can look like when allowed to deal with difficult emotions and take on esoteric character designs. The gamble may seem silly, especially with roughly seven years of production, but what Camp proves is that sometimes it pays off. The effort can produce something special and appeal to the oddball in everybody.
The same can’t be said about the studio’s next film. Rounding out their typical raucous summer releases was a slasher film that was forcefully tapping into the contemporary zeitgeist by highlighting the anxieties of Gen-Z with a cast whose very casting brings subtextual baggage for anyone who chooses to look for it. What comes across as a simple whodunit on the surface slowly unravels into something more complicated, featuring acidic humor and controversies that felt fitting for a story meant to lampoon the terminally online. If Marcel the Shell with Shoes On was the equivalent of a warm hug, then the follow-up was a reminder of how vulnerable one becomes when the hands aren’t seen.
Coming Up Next: Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
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