Awards Love for ‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ Leaves Jenny Slate “Very Emotional”

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On‘s Oscar nomination for best animated feature was no easy feat: The poignant feature adaptation of the 2010 viral video almost didn’t qualify in the category because of its blend of stop-motion animation and live-action filmmaking, but award classifications were far from the minds of the creatives, according to co-writer and lead voice talent Jenny Slate. “The making of the actual film is, and should be, very separate from the aim of qualifying for or getting nominated for an award,” she says. “For Dean [Fleischer Camp, co-writer and director], Nick [Paley, co-writer], Kirsten [Lepore, animation director], Liz [Holm, co-writer] and I, and everyone we worked with, we really had this connection to a story that felt really small, but with this resounding heartbeat in it.”

Also nominated for four Annie Awards (including two for Slate: best voice acting and best writing), Marcel tells a heart-wrenching tale of celebrity, loss, aging and family, anchored by the charmingly inquisitive, often profound breathy vocal performance given by Slate. “It was actually a two-person act — [Lepore’s direction is] so responsible for so much of my performance, and it just feels so good to be connected in that way.”

Even if Slate didn’t make the movie with the goal of receiving awards recognition, that doesn’t mean the news on Oscar morning wasn’t incredibly meaningful. “Sometimes you watch the Oscars, or you see what’s been nominated, and it just feels like it’s a big group of lions,” says Slate. “Have you ever heard about how the butterflies migrate? That they go across the whole globe? I sort of feel like that, like something that has been through many transformations, that is rather fragile, but has a path to follow with the migration to make during their life.” She adds: “I’m really happy. I’m very teary. I feel like how I used to feel when I was young, and it was my birthday. Sort of that snow-day feeling. I am really emotional — it’s also bittersweet. I was just thinking I would have loved to call my nana and tell her this happened. She passed away a couple of months ago, [and] I know she would be really proud of me.”

Marcel isn’t Slate’s only project garnering film’s highest form of recognition this season: She plays a small role in A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once and earned a SAG Award nom as a member of its ensemble. “My family at Everything Everywhere All at Once — their nominations feel so good,” she says of her co-stars, who she will be rooting for on Oscar night, too. “I am so happy for Michelle [Yeoh] and Jamie [Lee Curtis] and Ke [Huy Quan] and especially for Stephanie [Hsu], who is a dear, dear friend of mine. She’s a person who inhabits true beauty, and I really burst into tears seeing all of these people get waved at by this gigantic light. It’s just the affirmation of such goodness.”

She also reserves praise for filmmaking duo Daniels — “not just for their directing, but for their writing,” says Slate. “It’s an intricate script. And they have really changed cinema forever with what they did.”

This story first appeared in the Feb. 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.