Marcel the Shell is finally heading to the big screen.
After Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate’s tiny video earned much acclaim over a decade ago, A24 has just released the trailer for the little guy’s full-blown feature film. Sporting miniature orange kicks and one googly eye (a trend for A24 this year), Marcel re-introduces himself in the mockumentary Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.
“It’s pretty much common knowledge that it takes at least 20 shells to have a community,” Marcel explains in the trailer. But poor Marcel lives alone with his grandmother, isolated from the rest of his shell family. “My cousin fell asleep in a pocket, and that’s why I don’t like the saying ‘Everything comes out in the wash.’”
Living like WALL-E, Marcel exists in tiny nooks and crannies with repurposed objects from an Airbnb. His hobbies include watching 60 Minutes and hanging with his pet lint, Alan, but that’s not enough to keep the energetic little dude occupied. When a documentary filmmaker posts a video online, Marcel blows up, leading him on a new adventure: to find his long-lost family.
Other touching moments include: Marcel hopping around a keyboard to spell out “how to find your family,” chatting with Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes, and tiny little shell tears.
A24’s golden girl Jenny Slate returns to voice the adorable creature, also co-writing a screenplay with Dean Fleischer Camp and Nick Paley. Fleischer Camp directs, also starring in the film as the documentarian. Alongside Slate and Fleischer Camp, Rosa Salazar, Thomas Mann, and Isabella Rossellini are set to star.
The original Marcel the Shell with Shoes On was a stop-motion animation short film released in 2010 by Fleischer Camp and Slate. The short premiered theatrically at AFI Fest 2010, and went on to win Best Animated Short and earn two sequels, storybooks, and now, a full-length feature. All of the original shorts are still living on Fleischer Camp’s YouTube channel.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On had a critically-acclaimed debut at SXSW Film Festival last month, and will premiere theatrically on June 24.
