Grace fills her lonely life by hoarding all the snail-themed products and collectibles she can find.
Primarily, shes based on a very good friend of mine who was born with a cleft palate.
So she had a very, traumatic childhood.
‘Memoir of a Snail’IFC Films
Yet now shes a very confident, well-adjusted.
In fact, shes quite an extrovert.
And what fascinated me was, how did she transform?
How did she she get over that trauma, or did she actually get over it at all?
Grace has a tough life by Elliots design.
He says he wanted to really inflict a lot of pain on Grace.
But there is a vein of humor that runs through the film as well.
I drag her through the mud, he said.
Despite the horrific, things I do to her.
Graces friend Pinky is another scene-stealer with her flamboyance and outlandish stories to tell.
She appears throughout the film sharing glimpses of past husbands and other experiences.
When I was writing Pinky, I really wanted her to be extreme, Elliot said.
I wanted her to be more than just an eccentric old woman.
I wanted her to be all the things that Grace wasnt.
I wanted her to be proactive.
I wanted her to be a risk taker.
I wanted her to be not afraid of being embarrassed.
And so, I really just pushed the boundaries.
A lot of her anecdotes and vignettes, are based on real people.
So I was in a very luxurious position of picking who would be best.
But I chose Sarah because she really ticked all the boxes.
She has a beautiful, quietness.
She shes a very quiet person.
And though its animation, its not kid stuff.
My films are very mild compared to the stuff kids watch, unfortunately.
Check out the panel video above.
