Penny the Pencil caught up with Oscar nominee, Nicky Phelan, in advance of the upcoming Oscars:
(You can see a great image of all the nominees on the Oscar website here. Nicky is towards the right, 2 below Quentin Tarantino and about 5 in from Sandra Bullock)
Penny: Will you be taking Granny O'Grimm to the Oscars with you, or some younger fairy with better muscle tone?
Nicky: I'm taking Kathleen O'Rourke, my friend who wrote the script and performed Granny's voice. As a young woman she's closer to the fairies physically. So in a way, a mix of the two!
Penny: What is your all-time favourite fairytale?
Nicky: One of my favourite books when I was young was Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, so I suppose it's not surprising I was drawn to a skewed fairytale with Granny. So his version of Red Riding Hood, where she ends up with a wolf-skin coat, I think is my favourite.
Penny: Who would you most like to sit next to at the Oscars: Stephen Spielberg or Mickey Mouse?
Nicky: I'll go for Mr Speilberg.
Penny: What means more to you: winning awards or making your audience too scared to fall asleep?
Nicky: With Granny, making them laugh was the main priority. I hope the short isn't too scary, but I know very young people might think it is. But Granny's not all bad, she wants to be a nice granny really. Awards are a nice thing to happen, but if it was a major motivation rather than telling stories, I reckon you wouldn't last too long in the animation game.
Penny: Is Granny O'Grimm based on your real granny?
Nicky: No, my Granny was a lovely granny. Although she had a hairstyle that went straight up, which started me thinking about Granny having a high hairdo. My granny's wasn't quite the monster-do Granny has though. The bedroom in the film is also a creepier, darker version of one of the bedrooms in her house, and my grandfather used to have a chair very like the one Granny O'Grimm sits in.
Penny: If Granny O'Grimm and Black Texta were in a fight, who do you think would win?
Nicky: I wouldn't pit anybody against Granny to be honest. She’s one scary lady, although I'm sure he'd give her a run for her money. It would be one interesting fight though wouldn't it?
Penny: What do you like doing best: rapping, directing short films, or drawing pictures of pencils?
Nicky: I like drawing illustrations and directing animation equally and for the same reasons- your work is showing the reader or viewer the characters and the world they live in. Illustration is showing moments in a story and working on making sure the poses and expressions show how the characters are feeling at that given moment, and giving shape to the world they live in. Working with animation is trying to do the same thing but over and over again, rather than a snap shot you're showing the characters moving around in their world, and making sure the audience know how they're feeling through their movements and expressions.
Penny: Did you become a director because you like talking through a megaphone?
Nicky: With animation you rarely get a megaphone. Cartoon characters tend not to listen to you, no matter how loud you are!
