Lee Hardcastle
Lee Hardcastle | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 21, 1985 |
| Occupation(s) | Animator, Filmmaker |
| Years active | 2006-present |
Lee Hardcastle (born 21 January 1985) is a British animator who specialises in stop-motion techniques. He is famous for his handmade independent animations. His work includes original remakes of emblematic 1980s action and horror films, as well as parodies of animated series and video clips. His work is known for its violent and gory content.[1]
Biography
Lee Hardcastle was born in Leeds, United Kingdom. His love of cinema began when he was a teenager, and when he was eighteen years old he decided to study cinema in the Northern Film School of Leeds Beckett University. After graduating in 2006, he began his artistic work.[1]
At first, he worked with action figures instead of clay. He also combined stop-motion with live-action in the 2014 video Game Boy: The Movie.[2] Usually, he uses clay for his works.
Hardcastle founded Missing Head Limited, and on 13 July 2006 started a YouTube channel with the Dead Corps series of videos. His popularity increased in 2011, when T is for Toilet was selected to be in the film The ABCs of Death. He has worked with many companies including Momentum Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Adult Swim, and has also worked with notable artists such as Sufjan Stevens.
In 2014, he published the project Spook Train in the crowdfunding portal Kickstarter. It was declared "the first claysploitation movie in the world". He did not reach his objective of £40,000 and left the project temporarily,[3] until changing his mind later and coming back to it.[4] The first chapter of the film was released on YouTube in September, 2018.[5]
Hardcastle played drums in the hardcore-punk band Shit the Bed, and made music videos for the band.[6]
Influences
Hardcastle enjoys the works of filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Sam Raimi, and animated series The Simpsons and Family Guy.[6] He affirms that he decided to create animations using clay after he watched Comet Quest, Wallace and Gromit and Celebrity Deathmatch. He has sometimes cited John Carpenter's The Thing as his favourite horror film, and as one of the most important inspirations for his works.[3]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Stories from the Hotel Next to the Haunted Hospital | |
| 2010 | Chainsaw Maid 2 | Unofficial Sequel of Takena Nagao's 2007 Clay animation 'Chainsaw Maid' |
| 2010 | Une de Perdue, Dix de Retrouvees | |
| 2011 | Nightmare | Music video for Love Automatic's "Nightmare" |
| 2011 | Postman Pat's Pet Sematary | Parody of the British series Postman Pat |
| 2011 | A Zombie Claymation | |
| 2012 | T is for Toilet | Inside the anthology The ABCs of Death |
| 2012 | Worm Farm | |
| 2012 | Pingu's The Thing | Crossover of the animated series Pingu and the film The Thing |
| 2012 | Hamster Hell | |
| 2012 | Claycat's The Thing | Version of the film The Thing |
| 2012 | Claycat's The Raid | Version of the film The Raid |
| 2012 | Claycat's Evil Dead II | Version of the film Evil Dead 2 |
| 2012 | Chainsaw Babe 3D | Sequel of 'Chainsaw Maid 2' |
| 2013 | Drug Bust Doody | |
| 2013 | An Alien Claymation | |
| 2013 | Ghost Burger | |
| 2013 | NinPlay-Doh Entertainment System | |
| 2013 | A Good Clay to Die Hard | Version of the film of A Good Day to Die Hard |
| 2014 | There's Something in the Attic | |
| 2015 | Frozen Blood Test | Parody of John Carpenter's The Thing with the characters from Disney's Frozen |
| 2015 | Minion Ways to Die | Parody with the characters from Illumination Entertainment's Minions |
| 2015 | Tech Noir | Music video for GUNSHIP's "Tech Noir" |
| 2016 | Spook Train | In process of production |
| 2017 | The Belko Experiment Claymation Shorts | Series of four short films meant to promote The Belko Experiment |
| 2017 | Rick and Morty go to the movies | Rick and Morty parodying classic films |
| 2017 | Mark Stroermer - Filthy Apes and Lions | Music Video for Mark Stoermer |
| 2018 | Gorillaz - Tranz | Small Portions of the video |
| 2018 | Portugal. The Man - Tidal Wave | Music Video for Portugal. The Man |
Awards and nominations
- His short film (T is for Toilet) was chosen as the best short film inside the anthology The ABCs of Death.
- Nominated (together with all the other directors who made The ABCs of Death) in Chicago International film Festival with the Gold Hugo in 2012
- Clubland Video of the year (an MTV award) for Kill the Noise Pt. 2 (Blvck Mvgic), a video made with the music of Kill The Noise.[7]
- Nominated in Empire's Done In 60 Seconds Award Top 5 category in 2010 for his version of The Evil Dead.
References
- ^ a b «Lee gets animated with clay» (en angles).
- ^ «An Appreciation of Claymation Horror Expert Lee Hardcastle» (en anglès).
- ^ a b https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leehardcastle/spook-train-3d/posts/883031
- ^ "Update 8: Spook Train: Day One · SPOOK TRAIN 3D". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- ^ "Update 10: Curtains - SPOOK TRAIN [room 1] - reupload · SPOOK TRAIN 3D". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
- ^ a b «La animación gore con encanto 'lo-fi' del británico Lee Hardcastle» (en español).
- ^ "Kill The Noise Is MTV Clubland's Pick Of The Year... Again". MTV News. Retrieved 2016-05-21.