Think animatronics, and there’s a good chance that the image that comes to mind is whimsical 1980s sword-and-sorcery. A bit of Never Ending Story, maybe Jim Henson’s Dark Crystal and perhaps the conaisseur will recall the fantastic Aslan from the original BBC Narnia series. But then along came John Nolan, whose rather brutal sense of comedy and attention to detail has brought the dark art of animatronics into the 21st century.
Nolan first caught our attention with his Nolan’s Cheddar spec spot, the tale (tail? there’s a pun in there somewhere) of a bad-ass mouse working out on a mousetrap. The spot racked up well over two million hits and was even broadcast on TV comedy shows. Now he’s back with his sequel, Nolan’s Nuts, which features a squirrel whose roadside eating habits would surely get him kicked out of the Tufty Club.
Check out our original interview with John Nolan, whose impressive CV includes everything from Doctor Who to Where The Wild Things Are here.
