Charlie McKeesey, known for the Boy, Mole, Fox and Horse book series, shared a candid photo on a napkin taken in the bathroom during the Oscars ceremony. The caption captured a playful moment: “Hello! Hiding in the closet at the Oscars again.”
As the creator behind the beloved fairy tale character admits, he feared stepping onto the stage, wary of the cameras and the anticipation in the auditorium. His confession reveals a relatable tension many artists feel before a live audience.
“Sometimes I don’t even want to look at the figurine. He just sits at home wrapped in a T-shirt. I haven’t noticed him yet, and I think I might never notice him.” The Oscar-winning animator also shares these thoughts in a candid, deadline-driven moment that underscores the pressures of big events.
The story The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse draws from McKeesey’s own book of the same name and follows how a group of animals helps a lost boy find his way home. Each frame of the 35-minute animated film is hand-drawn, a labor of love that involved collaboration with 130 animators to achieve the final cut. Notable contributors include Idris Elba, Tom Hollander, Gabriel Byrne, and Jude Coward Nicholl, whose performances helped bring the tale to life.
In 2023, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, a milestone that highlighted the power of traditional animation and storytelling in a modern, digital era.
Earlier, actress Olesya Zheleznyak spoke about how Mark Zakharov’s words affected him, illustrating how words can leave lasting emotional impressions even outside the world of film and animation. [Citation: Academy Awards records; performer interviews; publisher notes]