Fiona & Justin Hall’s ‘Illusionist’

Photo by Can Türkyilmaz

Fiona and Justin Hall were fresh off the boat, virtually, when they happened upon a poster for a new animated film, “The Illusionist”, at the Angelika Theater. “I said, ‘Hmm. There’s the poster for the film we just finished working on,’” Fiona says. The couple moved from Edinburgh, Scotland, to our neighborhood with their 16-month-old son, Ethan, in December. Fiona is a production manager who worked on “The Illusionist” for about three years. Justin is an animator who put in about six months. The film, from “The Triplets of Belleville” director Sylvain Chomet, is based on a screenplay that fellow French director Jaques Tati wrote but never produced. It was nominated for a Golden Globe award, and is expected to receive an Oscar nomination as well. The Daily Telegraph called the movie “a gushing love letter to Edinburgh.” The city’s unique light, created by its low skies, is captured better in this animated film than in any live-action film, Justin says. Edinburgh is where the Halls met, fell in love and married over four years ago. “It shows the city we know and love in a really beautiful way,” Fiona says. “The city is a character in the movie as much as the actual characters.” Once the film wrapped, the Halls saw an opportunity to come to the states to pursue work. Justin, who grew up in London, has family in Dallas. “There are new opportunities here. It was a bit dry in the U.K.,” Fiona says. “Texas has a big industry, so we thought this was a good place to start.” She hired almost everyone who worked on “The Illusionist”, competing for talent directly with a Disney animated feature that was filming at the time, and she wound up hiring artists from all over the world. “If we could get a good project here, I know we could get a crew of 100 really good people,” she says. “We know some of the best people in the industry.” The Halls were honored to work with the “extraordinarily gifted” Chomet. “It’s hard work, and there are times when you hate it and you don’t want to do it any more. Your hand is cramped from drawing the same line over and over again,” Justin says. “But in the end, your product affects people. It actually has an impact on people’s lives, and there aren’t too many jobs where you get to do that.” “The Illusionist” opens at the Angelika Feb. 4, and the Halls will be on hand for a Q&A. Academy Award nominations were announced Jan. 27. At press time, the Halls didn’t know whether “The Illusionist” had been nominated, but if it is, they say they’d rather watch the awards on TV here in Dallas than go to the Oscars.