Watch: Charlie Kaufman’s Stop-Motion ‘Anomalisa’ Comes to Life in Eye-Opening Featurette

The craftsmanship on display in Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s “Anomalisa” is as impressive as it is seamless on the big screen, but the reality behind making the film was decidedly more arduous. According to a new featurette from Paramount Pictures, over 1,000 costumes and props and 1,261 faces had to be handmade for the movie, which was shot using 118,089 frames of film. 

Featuring the voices of David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan, “Anomalisa” explores a single confounding night in the life of a middle-aged motivational speaker named Michael Stone (Thewlis). Although he is bored and unfulfilled by his family routine, Stone’s mental anguish is fueled predominantly by the fact that every person speaks to him with the same voice (Noonan). Enter Lisa (Leigh), a shy, charming and uniquely-voiced woman who changes Stone’s life during an overnight stop at a hotel in Cincinnati. 

“Anomalisa” will be released in select theaters on December 30 for an awards-qualifying run. Paramount Pictures is planning a nationwide release in January 2016.

READ MORE: How Charlie Kaufman’s ‘Anomalisa’ Became the Surprise Hit of the Fall Festival Season