We interview director and writer Adam Elliot about his claymation feature Memoir of a Snail a few weeks prior to his second Academy Award nomination.
Back in 2003, Adam Elliot crafted a 22 minute short film, Harvie Krumpet, that wowed the Academy and landed him not only his first Oscar nomination but a win for Best Animated Short Film at the 2004 ceremony. Now, in 2025, Elliot has been nominated for his second Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category for his gorgeous yet devastating second feature Memoir of a Snail.
Sarah Snook voices Grace, the central character in Memoir of a Snail, who is a shy, anxiety ridden individual. She is revisiting the story of her life so far now that she’s older. We watch Grace grow up, from being bullied as a child at school for being different, the close bond she holds with twin brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and the toll it takes on both of them when they’re orphaned and separated, and Grace’s early 20s when she becomes a hoarder of every snail trinket possible. Grace’s best friend Pinky (Jacki Weaver), an eccentric older woman who loves life and never allows anything to get to her, inspires her to be more herself and come out of her shell the more her life progresses.
Memoir of a Snail is a story of life’s hardest challenges, and how in the moment they can break you. But if you’re able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and make it to the finish line, you can reflect on how every obstacle made you who you are today. In the words of philosopher Søren Kierkegard, an inspiration of Elliot’s and also the tagline of the film: “life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward”.
We sat down with Adam Elliot to talk about all things snails, the different shades of Australia (spoiler alert – they’re all brown!) and why animation is a more accessible way to showcase dark subject matters on the big screen.
Read our interview below!
Adam Elliot on crafting his intricate characters and snail trinkets in Memoir of a Snail
I wanted to first congratulate you on Memoir of a Snail. I can’t stop thinking about it. How does it feel to be finally bringing this film to the UK?
Adam Elliot: I’m glad I’m finally here [laughs]! I’m relieved because the film took eight years to make and now it feels like it was not a waste of time. This movie was very challenging and difficult to make. The best part of the success is that they’re going to let me make another one!
That’s so great! Where did the initial idea arise from? I read the snail obsession was originally meant to be lady birds instead.
A.E.: It was originally going to be about a hoarder who collected anything to do with ladybirds, but then the film Lady Bird came out and that killed it. Ladybirds were also too cute-sy. I thought, there must be another animal that was more metaphorical and symbolic of what [hardships] Grace was going through. I thought of ducks, pigs and frogs but none of them felt right. I stumbled upon snails and thought they’d be a really good metaphor, as when you touch a snail’s antenna, they retract into their shell. That’s what Grace is doing in her life. Grace uses her shell to hoard, and as a shield from the outside world. And also, the swirl on a snail’s shell is just a lovely symbol of life going full circle.
I then discovered that snails can’t go backwards; they can only move forwards. I really liked how that tied into the quote I wanted to use by the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward”. I kept finding all these wonderful little connections with snails, and it just had to be.
Which was your favourite character to create in the backstory and the physical side?
A.E.: Pinky was a lot of fun to write about. I didn’t want her to just be comic relief; I wanted her to have her own backstory and own tragic parts of her life. My favourite character [to make] was probably Grace. It was challenging with her cleft palate and figuring out how obvious we wanted it to be. She went through many iterations and hundreds of designs. The sculptors made many mockups. It took a lot of time to get her exactly how we wanted, but it was worth it in the end.
I love pinky so much! I feel like me and Pinky would just get along. She’s a character anyone would be able to get along with. She’s written and created so well.
A.E.: Pinky is a character we all want to become in some sense. She doesn’t care what people think. I want to get to that age in my life and not care! Pinky is a real free spirit.
How did you decide which trinkets Grace had in her house?
A.E.: What a great question! There are days I wished I’d written a story about a minimalist [laughs]. Everything, of course, had to have a snail theme to it. We had snail hats, snail shoes and even snail condoms. A lot of the artists would come up with their own ideas. We ended up running out of time and money and we were worried we weren’t going to have enough for the hoard and that would have been a big problem. We got volunteers to start making stuff. Even the camera department got on board crafting stuff. Everyone chipped in. We never counted, but we estimated between five and seven thousand trinkets were created.
The colours of Australia and the power of discussing dark subject matters using claymation
You originally wanted to make Memoir of a Snail in black and white but it ended up being in a muted brown palette instead. Do you think you’ll move back into black and white with your next feature, add more colour or stick with a more muted palette?
Adam Elliot: Great question! Every film I’ve ever made I’ve always started off wanting it to be black and white. I always lose the battles with the investors who don’t want it in black and white. It’s always a compromise. My last feature, Mary and Max, was half black and white half colour. With Memoir of a Snail, it had to be all brown, no blue or green. It’s always a compromise. They [the investors] were right though. Films always sell better when they’re in colour.
There’s something about black and white films that I love, though. You’re not distracted by colour. You’re reliant on the story to drive the film. Black and white can heighten the dark moments, and especially with my films, there are a lot of dark moments. It made sense to make it brown, as the 1970s were a brown period. Brown was a popular colour: everyone was painting their houses brown. We wanted this film to be very autumnal.
Australia is a very brown continent. Brown also matched Grace’s psychological state. When she’s in Canberra, we wanted it to be very beige and desaturated to match her boring existence. In Melbourne, we wanted it to be black and bohemian. In Perth, when Gilbert is in a cult, we wanted that to be a brutal brown. We used colour as a device to heighten the mood but also match the characters psychological state.
Do you find using claymation is an easier and accessible way to discuss these hard life topics?
A.E.: Definitely. Animation in itself is a wonderful medium to explore dark subject matter. If you think of paintings and drawings by artists like [Francisco] Goya [most notably known for creating the nightmarish painting “Saturn Devouring His Son” in the 19th century], you can really dig deep with the subject matter.
Grace is partly based on a friend of mine who was born with a cleft palate and had a lot of operations on her mouth. She was bullied and teased quite a lot at school. But she grew up to be a very confident and extroverted adult. I was fascinated in how she changed herself from this shy girl to a confident adult.
With claymation, you can go up to the models and stretch their faces in order to heighten the moments through exaggeration. As animators, we get to play God. We have a lot of creative freedom and control which live action directors envy. We can create any world we want.
I like stop motion because I knew I could never be a computer animator. I really just want to get my hands dirty. Even as a little kid, I was always making things out of toilet rolls and egg cartons. I’m a tactile person. Stopmotion is so magical. When the audience sees the fingerprints on the clay, they know it’s been handcrafted.
Inspirations, cathartic crying and movie marathons
Were there any specific films you took inspiration from? It’s a unique topic when it comes to animation.
Adam Elliot: To be honest, I don’t watch a lot of animation. I actually read a lot. I do love documentaries; I also love luxurious films and ones that are driven by characters. I love eccentricity, films that surprise, that make me laugh. I love to cry.
After some of my screenings, I’ve done Q&As, and young women have come up to me and I can tell they’ve had a good cry. Crying is very cathartic. It releases a lot of tension and makes you feel better. It’s healthy!
What would you like people to take away from this film, particularly adults who go into this film not expecting such dark subject matter?
A.E.: I don’t make films for little kids; they’re for teenagers and up. I always say, if you’re not emotionally wrecked by the end of one of my films, then I’ve failed. I really want the audience to be exhausted emotionally. I want them to laugh, cry, have a think, but not too hard. I want them to leave the cinema on a high and feeling nourished. And that’s what’s been happening. The film has been a great success around the world. I think, ultimately, I want to make the audience laugh, especially as my father was a clown.
One thing I love doing is having mini movie marathons. Which two films would you pair with Memoir of a Snail for that perfect movie marathon?
A.E.: I’ve just recently been in France and reconnected with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who’s become a friend. I think his film Delicatessen would be a great pairing, as well as Amélie. I would also maybe do something by Peter Greenaway. Maybe The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover.
That’s a great marathon.
Did you take anything from set once you finished filming?
A.E.: I used to be a hoarder myself. I used to collect bad taxidermy things. I’m quite a minimalist now, though. All of the props and sets are in museums now: one in Melbourne and one in New York. Grace the puppet is travelling with me. Her arm just broke off so she’s in the puppet hospital being repaired right now. They’re all rough around the edges as the characters are made for the big screen and they get bumped and scratched. The ones that have survived are under glass now permanently.
I love the Museum of Moving Image in New York. I need to go back now to see all of the characters from Memoir of a Snail.
A.E.: It’s great! They’re right alongside all of the Jim Henson puppets. Miss Piggy, Kermit, Big Bird are next to all of my crappy little puppets!
I think they’re beautiful puppets.
Thank you so much for speaking with me today.
A.E.: My pleasure! Thank you.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Memoir of a Snail will be released in UK & Irish cinemas on February 14, 2025. Read our review of the film below!
Header credits: Grace in for Memoir of a Snail / A black and white still of director Adam Elliot (Courtesy of Modern Films)
