Almost everyone can remember the first time they met Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, a tiny half-shell wearing shoes and sporting the cutest voice, who likes to tease his cameraman with punchlines about his size. This weekend, audiences can finally see in theaters for a feature film instead of at home in 4-minute YouTube videos. Writing partners Dean Fleischer-Camp and Jenny Slate, who also voices Marcel, teamed up with Nick Paley to flesh out the story and take it to a whole new level.
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On introduces the shell's entire family — mostly by omission, but more on that when you watch. The family focus is on Marcel's grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini, Blue Velvet). As she and her grandson are left to fend for themselves in an Airbnb home, they go unnoticed by every human that passes through until amateur filmmaker Dean (played by Fleischer-Camp, who also directed) takes an interest in their way of life.
Related: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On Trailer Teases Adorable A24 Mockumentary
Screen Rant spoke to Slate and Rossellini about the evolution in Marcel over the 7 years it took to get the film made, the improv process and how it added sincerity to the characters, and which original Marcel The Shell With Shoes On lines had to remain.
Screen Rant: I saw Marcel the Shell when the shorts first came out, and it revolutionized my life. However, I did not ever expect it to make me cry, which this film actually did. Did the nearly decade-long trajectory to this film help inform that older, wiser, more bittersweet approach?
Jenny Slate: Even though the movie did take seven years to make, the character that is there was recorded at the start of that seven years. I think he always had that depth and
Discover
Shell
Met
Jenny Slate