Anomalisa

Anomalisa is a 2015 American adult animated film directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson from a screenplay written by Kaufman, based on a 2005 audio play of the same name by Kaufman that explores the Fregoli delusion, a term that Kaufman used as a pen name for himself. Incorporates elements of psychological drama, romantic comedy and self-reflexive fiction, a similar vein of Kaufman's own screenwriting film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Anomalisa follows the British middle-aged customer service expert Michael Stone (David Thewlis), who perceives everyone (Tom Noonan) as identical except for Lisa Hesselman (Jennifer Jason Leigh), whom he meets in a Cincinnati hotel.

Kaufman's audio play premiered in Los Angeles, and featured the voices of Thewlis, Noonan, and Leigh. He opposed adapting the play into a film, fearing loss of artistic merit, but began exploring the idea in 2012 after incorporating edits to the script. Filming faced delays as Starburns Industries initially secured production funding on Kickstarter only to adapt the play as a short film, with stop-motion animation beginning in late 2013. The filmmakers faced struggles with animation technology, a notoriously laborious medium. This was alleviated after Paramount Pictures joined production, enabling the film to be expanded to a feature.

Anomalisa premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4, 2015, and was theatrically released in the U.S. on December 30 by Paramount Pictures. The film received critical acclaim, with praise for its screenplay, direction, and thematic content. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the first R-rated animated film to be nominated in this category, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, the first animated film to do so.