Nothing Unfortunate About This Event: Nexus' 'The Littlest Elf' Hops Into Lemony Snicket's Movie

Nothing Unfortunate About This Event: Nexus' 'The Littlest Elf' Hops Into Lemony Snicket's Movie LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- It just might be the cutest minute of film in the history of the movie industry -- so cute that it could well make your skin crawl. And that's precisely the point of "The Littlest Elf," the deliriously sappy introduction crafted by directing duo Smith & Foulkes at UK animation company Nexus Productions for the beginning of Paramount Pictures' and DreamWorks SKG's not-nearly-so-sweet "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." "The idea was to really exaggerate the saccharine," says Chris O'Reilly, co-founder with Charlotte Bavasso of Nexus Productions, the company responsible for the celebrated opening credits of Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can." "The Littlest Elf" features the preternaturally perky title character giggling and frolicking with his woodland pals and provides an unexpected and unsettling overture to "Lemony Snicket," in which Jim Carrey leads a trio of orphaned children through a landscape of misery and squalor. But "The Littlest Elf" isn't simply the flip side of "Lemony Snicket." The character comes straight from the pages of "A Series of Unfortunate Events," the bestselling series of children's books in which the author regularly warns young readers that they'd be better off perusing more cheerful material. "Lemony Snicket" director Brad Silberling and producer Walter Parkes were attracted to the Littlest Elf character for the contrast he provided. The Nexus film comes to an abrupt, premature conclusion, setting the stage for the feature film but the jolly little fellow also has a life beyond his short introduction. Not only does he appear later in the main film, but Nexus created an entire history for the character, doing mockups of era-appropriate movies (including "Superfly Elf") and creating marketing materials. These were done for the company's own amusement, but Smith & Foulkes aren't ruling out an afterlife for their grinning imp. An independent animation production company with an internationally acclaimed roster of directing talent, Nexus (www.nexusproductions.com) and its international slate of directors has worked on films, TV series, commercials, music videos and title sequences. Nexus is currently working on material for MGM's new "Pink Panther" movie, which stars Steve Martin. Smith & Foulkes created the title sequence to the 2004 film "Thunderbirds," directed animated comedy sketches for the British TV series "Monkey Dust," and a recent Honda commercial, dubbed "Honda Grrr." Source: Nexus Productions CONTACT: Jane Ayer of Jane Ayer Public Relations, +1-310-581-1330, jane@janeayerpr.com, for Nexus Web site: http://www.nexusproductions.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment