Henry Selick on why Coraline's replacement-face seams were painted out digitally

In a Sight and Sound interview by Alex Dudok de Wit, Coraline director Henry Selick describes developing replacement-face animation on commercials work (the Pillsbury Doughboy) and choosing when to use it per character rather than as a blanket house style. He says he originally wanted Coraline's replacement-face seams left visible, arguing a stop-motion puppet should still read as touched by a real person; the film's backing was uncomfortable with the visible seams, so they were painted out digitally instead -- a call Selick has since described as an unnecessary expense.

The account is a rare director's-eye rationale for a choice usually described only in mechanical terms (which parts are swapped, how faces register). Folded into the Wiki's replacement animation page as a worked example tied to Coraline.