Head from James and the Giant Peach character puppet

Head from James character puppet from the 1996 Disney stop motion animation film James and the Giant Peach produced by Tim Burton and directed by Henry Selick.

The character of James Henry Trotter is voiced by Paul Terry. Paul Terry also plays the character of 9-year-old James in the live-action sections of the film.

To give the impression of fluid and believable movement the puppet was incrementally moved between each frame of film footage recorded. There are 24 frames per one second of the finished film. One minute of the finished film could take over a week to film. The mouthpieces were painstakingly switched in and out to create the effect of the character’s changing facial features and speech. The puppet is expertly handmade and decorated.

James and Giant Peach (released 1996) was made by Walt Disney, Allied Filmmakers and Skellington Productions in the Skellington Productions studio, San Fransisco. The film is based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name, released in 1961. The directors Tim Burton and Henry Selick filmed the production over 20 stages, taking three years.