Jenny Slate,Dean Fleischer Camp, andNick Paleydid it. They took the 2010 internet sensation,Marcel the Shell with Shoes Ontheshort film, and expanded the concept into a full feature. And they didn’t just figure out a way to make it work. They crafted a deeply moving exploration of connection and community, far exceeding expectations and delivering a film that’s currently a favorite of 2022.
In the new movie, Marcel, a talking shell with shoes on voiced by Slate, is living with his Nana Connie (voiced byIsabella Rossellini) in a home being used as an Airbnb. They used to be part of a thriving community there, but their loved ones vanished, challenging Marcel and Connie to figure out how to survive on their own as tiny shells in a big house while also coping with their loss. However, when a documentary filmmaker (Camp) moves in, Marcel winds up with an unexpected opportunity to try to track down their loved ones.
WithMarcel the Shell with ShoesOngetting an expanded theatrical release on July 15th, I got the chance to chat with Slate about the movie and so much more during an episode ofCollider Ladies Night.
As always, we revisit her earliest ambitions and first big wins in the industry including the success ofObvious Childin 2014. Not only was the film showered in critical praise, but it also scored a number of accolades on the festival circuit and during awards season including a Best Actress in a Comedy Movie win for Slate at the Critics Choice Awards. While all of that is wonderful in the moment, it’s also important to make the most of that kind of momentum so one can continue to book even more opportunities that align with their creative ambitions. In Slate’s case, going through theObviousChildexperience with directorGillian Robespierreand producerElisabeth Holmproved vital:
“I had friends that were just there with me to make sure that I felt seen. Gillian Robespierre who directed Obvious Child and Elisabeth Holm who produced it, and also produced and co-wrote Landline and My Special and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, they were with me. We were really a trio.”
However, even as part of a trio, Slate still had a lot to learn about how the industry operates. She continued:
“I felt generally though like I had no idea what I was doing in terms of how everything worked. And you know what the one memory that does stick out for me is that, and maybe I’m the only one that remembers this, but I remember that Elliot Page told me at the time, ‘You should get somebody to help you really get interviews that matter to you,’ because I didn’t have a publicist. I really didn’t know how to enter the business and that was really helpful for me.”
In addition to finding a publicist, Slate also emphasized the importance of assessing how one spends their time and who they spend it with. Here’s what she said when asked for a question about the behind-the-scenes of the business she wished she had asked sooner:
“I guess I would have asked a lot more, ‘Do I really have to do this?’ [Laughs] You know, like, ‘How important is this that I actually show up to this place and do this,’ because I like to spend my house time in my house. I’m like a house mouse, you know? I live in Massachusetts in a small town, I live in an old house by the ocean with my husband and my baby. At that time, I lived in Hollywood, I was kind of told, ‘You’ve gotta go to this party and that party and that party,’ and most of them I went to alone. I did not enjoy that. I just was so afraid of turning things down but not exactly sure why I was showing up and that made me feel very foolish. And so now I do what I think is important, I talk to the people that I think are important for representing my work or people who will help say, ‘The Marcel movie is out and you should see it,’ because I want people to see it. I wish I had known that you don’t need to let everything and everyone eat you like you are a meal, because you’re not. I think it’s really, really important just to figure out, in general, not just in what I do, but, why are you interacting with who you’re interacting with? What do you want more of? What do you like? What feels like it hurts? Go farther away from what hurts, and then talk to someone you love about why that does hurt. Figure it out.”
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Slate is certainly making the most of her time, going full steam ahead with a number of passion projects. She’s currently working on a comedy script inspired by her favorite 90s films, she’s eager to continue writing books after the release ofLittle Weirdin 2019, and, of course, she’s gotMarcel the Shell with Shoes Onto celebrate, a project that she, Camp and Paley poured over for years in an effort to pinpoint the best possible way to bring the beloved character to screen in the feature film format. Here’s how Slate broke it down:
“It was such a gradual process, and it was Dean and Nick who were the ones that would listen to the audio and then go through and transcribe it and then write scenes that needed to go in that it was like, ‘Oh, we need a moment here that’s not there,’ or, ‘Oh my goodness, the plot needs to go this way.’ It felt like it was always a string of moments that was like, ‘This needs to happen, this needs to happen,’ because the way the plot was built was over years of recording, writing, re-recording, improvising. There was just a continuous process of engagement there.”
Given how hugely inspiring the final film is and the significant potential in building out Marcel’s world even further, I had to be a bit greedy and ask Slate if the team would ever consider adding another chapter to Marcel’s story. Here’s what she said:
“I love being Marcel. Yeah, if somebody were to help us do it in a way that felt right to us, I don’t think I would ever say no.”
When it came to thisMarcel the Shell with Shoes Onmovie, Slate and Camp insisted on making the film independently. Given the success of the shorts, it should come as no surprise that Slate and Camp were presented with opportunities to “develop [their] property.” However, as Camp stated in the film’s production notes, they were reluctant to go that route after amassing such a passionate and dedicated fan base through the shorts. “What could be less true to the spirit of that love than a slick studio adaptation?” He added, “I felt that if we’re going to expand Marcel’s world, we had a responsibility to do it right. To me, that meant setting the bar really high and aiming for this level of honesty and authenticity and emotional richness that you don’t usually get in an animated movie.”
Now that the pair have a Marcel feature film under their belts and they know how to achieve that emotional richness, would they reconsider? Here’s Slate’s take on the matter:
“It depends on who the people are, you know? That’s all. Everything depends on who the people are and what they want and what their mandate is. Like, if they have a corporate mandate to do something that doesn’t seem interesting to me or seems restrictive to me as an artist, maybe that would be a good match for some projects for sure. I’ve just written a really broad comedy that is based off of my love for comedies in the 90s like Wayne’s World and The Addams Family and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Tommy Boy especially. It’s really character based. It’s like the kind of comedy where someone’s wearing a wig, you know? Character comedy. And that’s something that I would love to make with a studio, and that’s because it’s suited for that type of environment and those types of notes. Because Marcel lives in Dean and my hearts and psyches, we just really need to be very careful because either it feels good or it doesn’t and there’s not much in between.”
Looking for more from Slate on her journey from theBig Terrificcomedy shows and shining inObvious Childto racking up a slew of voice acting credits and turningMarcel the Shellinto a feature film? Be sure to watch her episode of Collider Ladies Night at the top of this article or listen to our 30-minute conversation uncut in podcast form below:
