Kirk and the Stop Motion Stage.

When my Brother in Law Kirk got the job of Stage Manager on Coraline, He and my Sister Monica moved to Portland Oregon. The film was in pre-production when I drove with Monica on her final trip for their move, bringing her car and a few final items.

At the end of that visit, I said goodbye while Kirk was literally sitting at his kitchen table with a pencil, ruler and a sheet of graph paper just starting the incredible task of plotting how to divide up an enormous vacant 747 hanger sized space into a working stage for all the departments and individual spaces needed for sets.

Over a year later, I visited for Thanksgiving. Seeing the actual stage, I was dumbstruck. Giant black curtains everywhere contained numerous animation stages. Alleys and walkways, full of prop and grip carts seemed to go on for miles in every direction. Intersections had directional arrows and maps. They all had individual street names which featured Kirk's humor. A particular favorite of mine was his Star Wars reference... "Begger's Canyon".

Well, Kirk's backstage efforts impressed the LA Times' David Strick as well being one of several behind the scene photos on the website. To see all the pictures, click here.