Blank Check — Patreon: The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free)

Published 2022-11-27; 2:46:30 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free)”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: Michael Rianda, Ben Hosley (producer, in the room, speaks).

Subject films: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

On the transcript: Speaker-unlabeled and heavily phonetic; 'Selleck' is consistently Selick. Timestamps run to about 2:40:00; the file includes the episode's own ad-free copy lead-in with a Jack parody song.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

passing (55)

The Bone Collector · Bones (TV series) · Frozen · Hercules · Wendell & Wild · Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions · Monkeybone · The Fox and the Hound · The Black Cauldron · Pee-wee's Big Adventure · Frankenweenie · Batman · Who Framed Roger Rabbit · Beetlejuice · Batman Returns · Ed Wood · Mad God · Seepage · Phases · Tube Tales · Cars · Sweeney Todd · Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children · The Super Mario Bros. Movie · Kung Fu Panda · Shark Tale · Incredibles 2 · Child's Play · Dinosaur · Tarzan · The Adventures of Mark Twain · Hotel Transylvania · James and the Giant Peach · Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs · Small Soldiers · Missing Link · Wildwood · The Night Gardener · Master Gardener · The Santa Clause 3 · The King of Comedy · The Wiz · The Addams Family · Chicken Little · Dumbo · Kubo and the Two Strings · Addams Family Values · Wayne's World 2 · The Pelican Brief · Philadelphia · Malice · The Joy Luck Club · Judgment Night · The Good Son · The Age of Innocence

compared (15)

The Wizard of Oz · Vincent · Edward Scissorhands · Corpse Bride · Toy Story · Star Wars · Forbidden Zone · The Incredibles · Aladdin · Minnie the Moocher (Betty Boop short) · Prince of Darkness · Batman Forever · The Three Musketeers · Jurassic Park · The Beverly Hillbillies

subject (1)

The Nightmare Before Christmas

anecdote (6)

The Mitchells vs. the Machines · A Bug's Life · Demolition Man · Cool Runnings · Rudy · Mrs. Doubtfire

recommended (2)

The Adventures of Prince Achmed · The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

dismissed (3)

The Mighty Ducks · Big Green · Little Giants

Claims (70)

  1. theme (theme): The Nightmare Before Christmas → The Wizard of Oz. The film's cult growth into mainstream pop culture is compared to Oz.
    “in that sort of Wizard of Oz conversation of like movies that came out, did okay at the time and are now just like so deeply woven into the tapestry of pop culture”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:03:55 · Griffin Newman (0.55 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage): The Mitchells vs. the Machines → Hayao Miyazaki. Katie's Mount Rushmore idea came from an office poster of Miyazaki, Ashby, Sciamma and Moodysson.
    “inspired by just a thing that was in my office of Miyazaki, Hal Ashby, Celine Siama, and Lucas Moodison”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:14:52 · Michael Rianda (0.90 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Henry Selick → Monkeybone. Selick's blank check Monkeybone is the feature closest to his experimental shorts.
    “Monkey Bone, which is his biggest, like, blank check or whatever, is the one that's most like those short films”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:18:23 · Michael Rianda (0.80 sure it was them)
  4. career (career): Vincent → Tim Burton. Burton's student short Vincent has an energy not found in his last twenty years of films.
    “there is an energy and creativity there that even I can't argue consistently exists in any of his films in the last 20 years”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:19:15 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  5. career (career): Henry Selick → Tim Burton. Burton said Selick was the only CalArts student who moved between the experimental and character-animation camps.
    “Burton said that Selleck was the only guy in his time who actually coexisted between the 2 camps.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:20:17 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. people (people): Joe Ranft → Henry Selick. Ranft, Selick and Burton were CalArts contemporaries alongside the Pixar founders.
    “Bird, the Pixar guys, you know, Joe Ramped, Selleck Burton, all there at the same time.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:20:30 · Michael Rianda (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. career (career): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Wendell and Wild. Selick's newest film is praised as sharpening, not shaving, his edges late in his career.
    “you're not shaving any of the edges, any of the edges away.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:21:40 · Michael Rianda (0.60 sure it was them)
  8. career (career): Rick Heinrichs → Tim Burton. Heinrichs is Burton's right-hand cohort and his art director for years.
    “Rick Heinrich is a, yeah, his right hand cohort, right, and becomes his big sort of art director for years and years.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:25:53 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  9. career (career): Tim Burton → Frankenweenie. Disney funded live-action Frankenweenie instead of this project because it was cheaper and faster.
    “Disney basically gives him the money to make live action Frank and Weenie rather than make this because Frank and Weenie would be cheaper and faster.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:26:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  10. career (career): Frankenweenie → Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Frankenweenie became Burton's live-action reel that got him hired on Pee-wee.
    “that becomes his director's reel for live action that gets him hired on peewee”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:26:42 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  11. industry (industry): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Katzenberg was looking at Roger Rabbit's success as a reason to try different styles and techniques.
    “looking at the success they had with Roger Rabbit and saying, like, we should try different styles”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:29:00 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  12. people (people): Michael McDowell → Beetlejuice. McDowell was first brought in to adapt, being the writer of Beetlejuice.
    “Burton 1st brings in Michael McDowell, who wrote Beetlejuice.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:30:02 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  13. craft (craft): Danny Elfman → The Nightmare Before Christmas. Elfman wrote songs off Burton's story beats with no script, and the script came after.
    “Burton is basically describing the story beats, and Elfman is writing songs off of the story beats”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:31:42 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  14. people (people): Caroline Thompson → Edward Scissorhands. Thompson, who wrote the final script, also wrote Edward Scissorhands.
    “She also wrote Edward Susan Hans, of course.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:32:01 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  15. career (career): Phil Tippett → Mad God. Tippett's Zen state came only while doing stop motion, per documentary about Mad God.
    “it took him like 50 years to realize that he was bipolar.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:37:37 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  16. lineage (lineage): Henry Selick → The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Selick cites Prince Achmed and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad as inspirations.
    “the Adventures of Prince Ahmed in the 7th Voyage of Sinbad”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:39:49 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  17. craft (craft): Henry Selick → Seepage. Selick's early work and later films recurrently use shadows and silhouettes, as in Prince Achmed.
    “that is like a recurring thing through Celic's movies where he's constantly using shadows”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:40:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  18. career (career): Henry Selick → Eric Larson. Selick worked under Larson and Keane at Disney.
    “he worked at Disney works under Eric Larson and Glenn Keane, big Legends of the Field”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:41:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  19. career (career): Henry Selick → Glen Keane. Selick worked under Larson and Keane at Disney.
    “works under Eric Larson and Glenn Keane, big Legends of the Field”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:41:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  20. contrast (contrast): Tim Burton → Walt Disney Pictures / Touchstone Pictures. Burton and his peers all rebelled against Disney while still loving it.
    “It's like, oh, Disney's sweet and I will be dark.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:44:26 · Michael Rianda (0.50 sure it was them)
  21. industry (industry): The Fox and the Hound → Don Bluth. Fox and the Hound is the fulcrum of American animation: Bluth's walkout and the CalArts generation's disillusion.
    “that movie is the real fulcum point of American animation in its own weird way”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:46:13 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  22. career (career): Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions → The Nightmare Before Christmas. Selick left Slow Bob to make Nightmare and sees it as his fulcrum point.
    “I left Slobob to make nightmare before Christmas and I'm always, you know, I always think of this as his fulcrum point.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:47:22 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  23. craft (craft): Joe Ranft → The Nightmare Before Christmas. Ranft is counted among the five people credited with shaping the film's story.
    “Thompson, Joe Ramped, Elfman, Selleck, Burton, all can be given a fair amount of credit for the shaping of this film.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:49:28 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  24. people (people): Henry Selick → Tim Burton. Selick says the film began as Burton's idea and he was the one who finished it.
    “it was Tim's egg, but I was the one who hatched it”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:49:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  25. theme (theme): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Henry Selick. Jack's arc is read as the animators themselves trying to make commercial art.
    “how much Jack is an analog for these guys trying to figure out how to make commercial art”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:52:14 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  26. people (people): Joe Ranft → Toy Story. Ranft was a story supervisor on Toy Story.
    “He was a story supervisor on Toy Story.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:57:56 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  27. craft (craft): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Toy Story. Like early Pixar films, this one squeezes every joke out of its premise (Halloween monsters).
    “those early Pixar movies like hit the, the concept of the movie like a piñata until all of the joy fell out of it”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:57:59 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  28. career (career): Joe Ranft → A Bug's Life. Lasseter heard Ranft's scratch recordings get laughs and pushed to make Ranft the voice of Heimlich.
    “he noticed that every time his wife was laughing, it was ramped.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:59:26 · Michael Rianda (0.50 sure it was them)
  29. craft (craft): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The film's background characters beat everything since Star Wars for feeling like a real ecosystem.
    “I think since Star Wars, no better background characters.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:01:07 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  30. career (career): Danny Elfman → Henry Selick. Elfman singing Jack while Sarandon speaks caused a long rift between Selick and Elfman.
    “this like caused a rift between Selleck and Elfman that like lasted for forever.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:03:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  31. people (people): Danny Elfman → Ed Wood. The speaking-voice dispute is why Elfman did not score Ed Wood.
    “It's why Elfman didn't do Ed Wood.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:03:21 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  32. career (career): Danny Elfman → Tim Burton. Elfman and Burton's working relationship is called very up and down.
    “I feel like Elfman and Burton have had a very up and down relationship in general, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:03:39 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  33. craft (craft): Danny Elfman → The Nightmare Before Christmas. Elfman was the main driving force in writing the film during development.
    “Elfman is basically the main driving force and writing this film for a bulk of the development.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:04:24 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  34. career (career): Danny Elfman → Forbidden Zone. Elfman had been the on-camera lead of Forbidden Zone, playing a jazzy demon like Oogie Boogie.
    “he did like Forbidden Zone, where he's, you know, the main on camera performance”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:05:42 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  35. industry (industry): The Super Mario Bros. Movie → Chris Pratt. The Mario trailer set off the argument over whether big-star casting matters in animation.
    “why does this need to be Chris Pratt?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:06:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  36. industry (industry): Kung Fu Panda → Shark Tale. DreamWorks scripts were reverse-engineered around the star personas of the cast.
    “they were also like really caricaturing the characters to match the actors”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:08:10 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  37. people (people): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Child's Play. Chris Sarandon is identified as the cop who shot Chucky.
    “We need the cop who shot Chucky.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:09:38 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  38. industry (industry): Toy Story → Pixar. Pixar stubbornly cast the right people rather than the biggest names, a lesson no studio took.
    “Pixar remains pretty stubborn for a while about like, we're going to cast the right people.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:10:24 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  39. contrast (contrast): Henry Selick → Richard Williams. Selick's insistence on live-action camera moves is like Williams hand-drawing his camera movement.
    “much like Richard Williams being like, I'll fucking hand draw the camera movement”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:14:15 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  40. craft (craft): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Vincente Minnelli. The film's constantly moving camera is compared to Minnelli (transcribed Vincent Manelli).
    “he's like moving the camera like fucking Vincent Manelli in this.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:14:33 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  41. craft (craft): Anthony Scott → The Nightmare Before Christmas. Anthony Scott animated many of the film's standout shots, and told Rianda about the green capture screen.
    “this guy, Anthony Scott, who's like animated all these amazing shots on it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:16:56 · Michael Rianda (0.80 sure it was them)
  42. craft (craft): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Busby Berkeley musicals. The swirling camera makes the musical numbers feel like Busby Berkeley.
    “it feels like a Busby Berkeley musical”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:17:23 · Michael Rianda (0.80 sure it was them)
  43. contrast (contrast): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Corpse Bride. Corpse Bride's mechanical puppet faces look frozen; Nightmare's replacement faces stay expressive.
    “Like all the characters in that movie feel kind of Botox.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:21:10 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  44. contrast (contrast): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Universal horror films. Universal horrors run 70 to 75 minutes with padding, while Nightmare zooms without simplifying.
    “And like all of those movies are pretty much 70 to 75 minutes.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:27:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  45. contrast (contrast): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Aladdin. Disney princess films open with an I-want song; Jack's opening is a triumph followed by unexplained ennui.
    “the Disney princess movies of this time have the big, I want song, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:28:15 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  46. contrast (contrast): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Edward Scissorhands. Scissorhands keeps its real and fantasy worlds firmly separate; Nightmare has no totally real reality.
    “They don't pull any punches, even, even like, you know, a movie like um, Edward Scissorhands or something”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:33:25 · Michael Rianda (0.80 sure it was them)
  47. contrast (contrast): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Hotel Transylvania. Monster-hotel comedies are enjoyed, but Halloween Town's residents are not stock archetypes.
    “I like that, look, I enjoy Hotel Transylvania.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:37:02 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  48. industry (industry): The Nightmare Before Christmas → James and the Giant Peach. The film's long tail made Disney try stop motion again, back to back with Peach, before Laika and others.
    “James and the Giant Peach is almost made like right back to back with this movie”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:40:45 · Michael Rianda (0.50 sure it was them)
  49. theme (theme): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Toy Story. The first breakthrough film in each form of animation becomes the template: CGI follows Toy Story, stop motion stays creepy.
    “And then the CGI becomes so defined by Toy Story.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:41:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  50. industry (industry): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Aardman. Aardman is the one studio working consistently in stop motion with a different tone from Nightmare's creepiness.
    “Ardaman is the only studio that's been able to work consistently at a high level and stop motion and do something totally different tonally.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:42:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  51. programming (programming): The Nightmare Before Christmas → The Haunted Mansion (Disney ride). The film's iconography now powers a seasonal Haunted Mansion overlay.
    “the haunted mansion ride is like so amazing.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:45:36 · Michael Rianda (0.60 sure it was them)
  52. career (career): Danny Elfman → The Nightmare Before Christmas. Elfman, said to have been bored at the height of Oingo Boingo, found film composing exciting again through this film.
    “it was like him at the height of Oingo, Boingo, like he became a rock star.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:57:01 · Michael Rianda (0.45 sure it was them)
  53. theme (theme): The Nightmare Before Christmas → The King of Comedy. Jack and Santa Claus are read as Rupert Pupkin and Jerry Langford (transcribed Pumpkin/Lanford).
    “the relationship between Jack and Santa Claus, excuse me, is just Rupert Pumpkin and Jerry Lanford.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:57:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  54. lineage (lineage): Cab Calloway → Minnie the Moocher (Betty Boop short). Oogie Boogie's cab Calloway flavor traces to the Betty Boop short Burton saw as a kid.
    “a cab Calloway short, a Betty Boop short with cab Calloway that I think is called Minnie the Moocher.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:00:43 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  55. craft (craft): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Prince of Darkness. A man made of bugs works for the speaker in Prince of Darkness as an adult but frightened him in Oogie at seven.
    “when I saw like Prince of Darkness later in life and there was a man made of bugs, I was like, cool.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:07:06 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
  56. contrast (contrast): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Batman Forever. Oogie Boogie's dice rules echo Two-Face in Batman Forever.
    “He does a classic, uh, two-faced Batman forever thing”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:07:50 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  57. craft (craft): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Peanuts. The present-delivery montage plays by Peanuts rules: no grown-up faces.
    “they play by like fucking peanuts rules where you're never going to see grown up faces”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:08:55 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  58. lineage (lineage): Henry Selick → Charles Addams. Selick thought kids would love Burton's work the way they love Charles Addams.
    “I thought that people, especially kids would love his work in the way they love Charles Adams”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:10:38 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  59. industry (industry): The Nightmare Before Christmas → The Three Musketeers. Nightmare beat Disney's big live-action release of the year.
    “it did a lot better than Disney's big release of that year, which was non-animated.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:17:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  60. industry (industry): The Nightmare Before Christmas → Jurassic Park. Nightmare's first-ever animated VFX nomination lost to Jurassic Park.
    “It lost to Jurassic Park.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:22:47 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  61. people (people): Jurassic Park → Dennis Muren. Muren is named as one of the Jurassic Park effects Oscar winners that beat Nightmare.
    “the winners for that Oscar are Dennis Muir and Phil Tippett and Stan Winston.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:22:52 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  62. people (people): Jurassic Park → Phil Tippett. Tippett is named as one of the Jurassic Park effects Oscar winners that beat Nightmare.
    “the winners for that Oscar are Dennis Muir and Phil Tippett and Stan Winston.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:22:52 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  63. people (people): Jurassic Park → Stan Winston. Winston is named as one of the Jurassic Park effects Oscar winners that beat Nightmare.
    “the winners for that Oscar are Dennis Muir and Phil Tippett and Stan Winston.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:22:52 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  64. people (people): Caroline Thompson → The Addams Family. Thompson was the hot goth movie writer of the era, also writing The Addams Family.
    “Which Caroline Thompson also wrote.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:23:54 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  65. people (people): The Beverly Hillbillies → Penelope Spheeris. The #1 film that weekend was directed by Spheeris.
    “directed by Penelope Spheres”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:24:42 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  66. people (people): Rudy → Jerry Goldsmith. The speaker owns the Rudy soundtrack on vinyl, by Jerry Goldsmith.
    “I own the soundtrack to Rudy on vinyl.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:29:32 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  67. people (people): The Age of Innocence → Martin Scorsese. The #10 film is Scorsese's.
    “Martin Scorsese.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:33:59 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  68. lineage (lineage): The Mitchells vs. the Machines → Pixar. Michael stole the pitch manifesto idea from the Pixar founders.
    “which I stole from the Pixar guys who made a manifesto before they made the story”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:35:31 · Michael Rianda (0.80 sure it was them)
  69. industry (industry): The Nightmare Before Christmas → The Incredibles. The studio asked Michael to make Mitchells look like The Incredibles; the crew held him to the manifesto.
    “the studio was like, just make it look like the Incredibles”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:36:51 · Michael Rianda (0.90 sure it was them)
  70. craft (craft): Henry Selick → The Nightmare Before Christmas. Selick's own rule: the stranger the imagery, the straighter the story.
    “The commercial rule for me is the stranger, the imagery, the straighter, the story.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:38:06 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (26)

  1. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Michael dodged the film as a teen because of Hot Topic, then watched it around age 20 and loved it.
    “and then I watched it in college and I was like, this movie is so wonderful.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:05:37 · Michael Rianda (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Hot Topic reclaimed the weird Disney movie: Disney did not want it, released it under Touchstone, and now Hot Topic mostly sells Disney merchandise.
    “Disney didn't even want it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:06:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Michael McDowell: Per a Caroline Thompson interview, McDowell delivered only the Elfman lyrics reformatted as a screenplay; she said he had 'snorted his salary'.
    “She put it, quote, that he had snorted his salary”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:30:30 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Sally: Thompson's job was to write Sally's story; Griffin guesses pre-Thompson Sally mooned over Jack.
    “The thing I had to do was write Sally's story.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:32:10 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Development was backwards: Burton's poem, Elfman writing songs from story beats, then Thompson writing a script to fill the gaps; animation started before a script.
    “But they are animating this movie before they have a script.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:34:44 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Stop motion: A single stop-motion shot like Jack scratching his chin took 3.5 weeks.
    “It took 3.5 weeks to have Jack scratch his chin and gesture at the moon”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:36:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Sally: See the close-up of Sally's spoon with holes and the poison going through it: a real-time live-action shot, two free seconds.
    “The one I always think of is the close-up shot of Sally's spoon with the holes in it.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:39:24 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Seepage: Michael's pitch for Selick's student short: life-size paper cutout puppets in live action, plus a dazzling horse animation in the middle.
    “it also has this like dazzling horse animation in the middle of it”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:41:56 · Michael Rianda (0.85 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Henry Selick: Selick on Burton: five set visits in two years, 8 to 10 hours total; 'it was like me adapting a book that was never actually written.'
    “it was like me adapting a book that was never actually written.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:49:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Title card shot with candy corn letters before Burton's name was added late; Selick says he understands it and will rue it until he dies.
    “I understand it, and I will rue it until the day I die.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:53:45 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Tim Burton: Burton and Selick fought over the Oogie ending (Scooby-Doo reveal that he's Finkelstein); the fight reportedly ruined an editing bay.
    “Selleck wanted the ending to be that Oogie Boogie was actually Dr. Finkelstein in disguise.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:53:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Oogie Boogie: The four big unstitched bug shots took four months each.
    “4 big bug shots once once he's sort of unstitched and each of those shots took 4 months”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:54:59 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Fans on Blu-ray message boards beg Disney to restore the Touchstone logo opening.
    “when will Disney release the version with the touchstone logo at the beginning?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:56:46 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Joe Ranft: Lasseter tested A Bug's Life reels on his wife; she laughed only at Ranft's recordings, which got Ranft cast as Heimlich.
    “every time his wife was laughing, it was ramped.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:59:26 · Michael Rianda (0.50 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Chris Sarandon: The speaking Jack may be the most enunciated performance in movie history; Elfman sings, Sarandon speaks, causing a lasting rift.
    “this like caused a rift between Selleck and Elfman that like lasted for forever.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:03:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about The Mitchells vs. the Machines: Michael voiced the Mitchells dog himself because the scratch reel tested best; studio wanted Jessica Alba.
    “What if Jessica Albez, the voice of Monchi the dog?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:07:10 · Michael Rianda (0.85 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about Vincent Price: Vincent Price was recorded as Santa but had just lost his wife and it didn't work; Don Ameche was 'insanely grouchy'; James Earl Jones shouted 'you don't know me'.
    “Vincent Price, uh, a hero of Tim Burton's”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:10:58 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about James Earl Jones: Elfman told him he'd written Santa for him and Jones angrily replied 'you don't know me'.
    “James Earl Jones got very angry and yelled, you don't know me.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:11:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Zero: Santa's grumpiness is the secret weapon: exasperated like a flight diverted to Atlanta.
    “He's exasperated in the way that you would be if like your flight got diverted to Atlanta, you know?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:12:31 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Camera moves in most shots; a motion-control rig and a green digitized screen showing only the previous two frames let animators check work.
    “But in these guys only had 3 frames to work with.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:16:52 · Michael Rianda (0.80 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about The Nightmare Before Christmas: Griffin's mom would not let him see it in theaters, so he got toys first; a lighting-fixture store near his school sold only lamps and Nightmare toys.
    “the only thing they sold aside from lamps was a nightmare before Christmas toys.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:04:26 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Emma Stefansky: Canonical to the podcast: Emma said of Oogie Boogie 'I wish I was bugs'.
    “Emma Stefansky said, I wish I was bugs.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:06:57 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Box office: The opening-weekend box-office game: Hillbillies #1, Demolition Man #2, Nightmare #3, Cool Runnings #4, Rudy #5.
    “Number 3 is Nightmare for Christmas.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:26:07 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Rudy: Rudy 'sits on the bench for 3 years, plays for 5 minutes' and still makes a compelling film.
    “The entire movie is he sits on the bench for 3 years.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:30:16 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Mrs. Doubtfire: Box-office game: Doubtfire's winter run, losing #1 to Philadelphia for two weeks then back again; the hosts are ecstatic and Michael calls it his month's highlight.
    “The fire in David and Griffin's eyes is like shining right now.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:32:22 · Michael Rianda (0.60 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about Henry Selick: 1994 Sight and Sound quote read to close: audiences are more open than Hollywood imagines; the stranger the imagery, the straighter the story.
    “But the audience is more open than Hollywood imagines.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 2:37:57 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

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