Nick Park on Early Man - and the inspiration behind Wallace and Gromit

Interview by Matthew Turner

"We've often thought, just how long have we got in stop-frame? But it seems to have carried on, from strength to strength."

Best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, British animator Nick Park is still delighting audiences with his painstakingly created stop-motion crowd-pleasers.

His new feature film Early Man tells the story of a plucky caveman who unites his tribe against a mighty enemy.

Park sat down to discuss the difficulties of staging Stone Age football matches, and the origins of Wallace and Gromit.

Inspired by Ray Harryhausen

Almost 30 years after Wallace and Gromit first appeared in A Grand Day Out (losing out on an Oscar to another Aardman Animation's favourite, Creature Comforts) Park is still proud to be flying the flag for stop-motion.

"There are so many great computer generated films out there now," he notes. "But the stop-frame aspect helps us to really stand out against the crowd.

"Stop-motion is our USP and it seems fitting for the subject, somehow, as well, the sort of tactile nature.

"The characters are designed with fur fabric, things animators would often avoid, but like the very early King Kong films we get the boiling of the fur, because the animators are touching the fur each frame. That, for me, is a plus - it's part of the quality."

One man and his boar: Early Man sees a plucky caveman take on the world of sport (Photo: StudioCanal)

As for his new film - which boasts an enviable voice-cast including Eddie Redmaybe, Tom Hiddleston and Maisie Williams - it turns out that Early Man has its roots in Park's earliest influences.

"I remember sketching cavemen, quite typical cavemen with the club and everything. I'd probably had cavemen in my head for years, actually, ever since I was 11."

His love of legendary movie effects artists Ray Harryhausen was also a huge influence on both this film in particular, and his career as a whole.

"One Million Years B.C. was one of my favourite films and it was really that film that made me want to pick up a camera and make films - that's why I started doing animation myself, as a teenager. So I guess it's always been there."

Football in the Stone Age

When it came to Early Man, Park says that it seemed too obvious just to do another caveman adventure.