Watch: How Kaufman and Company Crafted the Beautiful ‘Anomalisa’

1,261 miniature faces. More than 1,000 minuscule costumes and props. 118,069 frames of film. Three years. Such is the painstaking work that went into Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s stop-motion film, “Anomalisa,” as seen in this eye-opening featurette. After a big boost from the Indie Spirit nominations, where it received four nods, including Best Feature, Paramount is pushing hard to mount an Oscar challenge to Animated Feature frontrunner “Inside Out.”

READ MORE: “What the Indie Spirit Nominations Tell Us About the Oscars”

Surveying the tiny, intricate offices and bedrooms that make up the world of “Anomalisa,” the video is a paean to the film’s handcrafted, homemade aesthetic—and, of course, to the fertile imagination of writer and co-director Charlie Kaufman. “Everything is so small, and detailed, and beautiful,” star and Indie Spirit nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh remarks, and from sweaters vests to glasses of red wine, she’s right. 

READ MORE: “From ‘Inside Out’ to ‘Anomalisa,’ Getting Animated About the 5 Top Oscar Contenders”

“Anomalisa” arrives in limited release Dec. 30.