Travis Knight, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, and Jacob Tremblay on Bringing ‘Wildwood’ to Life

The most ambitious animated feature of the year is finally hitting theaters this week. It has taken 16 years for LAIKA Studios to bring their upcoming masterpiece, Wildwood to the big screen. And now that it’s here, the medium of stop-motion animation will never be the same!

LAIKA’s works of art have continuously transcended cinema’s expectations of what’s possible with animation, both on a technical level and an emotionally thematic one. They’ve managed to once more implement their mature approach to storytelling with Wildwood, but on an unparalleled epic scale we’ve only ever previously seen in live-action, with films like Lord of the Rings or The Odyssey. This all stems from the vision of LAIKA CEO and Wildwood director, Travis Knight, who refuses to let the gorgeous craft of stop-motion animation stay stagnant. With the energy and ambition to prove animation’s legitimacy as cinema, Knight and his wizards at LAIKA continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in this gorgeous medium. Combined with the finest in pitch-perfect casting decisions, with stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay, Wildwoodrepresents something of a rarity in both animation and in cinema: a true game-changer.

We were given the chance to sit down with Knight, Lee, and Tremblay recently during the film’s junket. Here’s what they had to say about how Wildwood is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in film until now:

Wildwood is now playing in theaters! We’ve been supporting and anticipating this brilliant film for a long time, covering it since it was first announced in 2021, and let me tell you, it absolutely exceeded all of our expectations.

Check out more of our coverage of the film, including our set visit to LAIKA headquarters in Portland, and keep an eye out for more interviews to come with the authors of the Wildwood novels and the artists behind the film — all coming soon to The Nerds of Color!