How Lesley Stahl wound up interviewing her tiniest subject in Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Marcel isn't the only famous face in A24's stop-motion darling Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (out Friday) — acclaimed journalist and 60 Minutes stalwart Lesley Stahl also gets in on the fun, playing herself as the film's unexpected hero.

In the movie, based on the popular shorts by Dean Fleischer-Camp and Jenny Slate, we meet the titular tiny mollusk through Fleischer-Camp, who plays a version of himself (also named Dean), a documentary filmmaker renting out an Airbnb after his divorce. Soon he discovers there's a small family already living in the home: Marcel (voiced by Slate); his grandma, Nana Connie (voiced by Isabella Rossellini); and his pet lint, Alan. Inspired by the little shell's big spirit, resourcefulness, and whimsical personality, Dean begins filming Marcel's life and adventures, which conclude every evening with a viewing party for 60 Minutes, his and Nana Connie's favorite show.

When Marcel becomes an overnight sensation thanks to Dean uploading his videos to YouTube, their favorite news program comes calling to do a story on the shell's incredible tale — and to help search for his missing family. As he eventually explains to Dean, the rest of Marcel's shell clan, including his parents and brother, were lost when the previous homeowners moved away, and he hopes his big 60 Minutes interview will help him reconnect with them.

Fleischer-Camp and fellow screenwriters Slate and Nick Paley first came up with Marcel and Nana Connie's 60 Minutes obsession as a joke. "It really came from us riffing and joking around about how there shouldn't be a television in Marcel's house, and the only access they have to pop culture should be the TV across the way that the neighbors have near the window," he tells EW. "And therefore they're limited to only watching what this middle-aged couple next door watches. And I forget why, but we just started cracking up about the idea that they've only ever seen 60 Minutes and maybe one other movie."

Gabrielle Russomango/A24 Marcel the Shell and his Nana Connie

When they realized that they'd be taking the gag a step further by casting a journalist in Marcel, Fleischer-Camp says Stahl was the "first choice, immediately," because she mirrored the fearlessness and resiliency of Nana Connie's character. "It makes perfect sense that [the character] would be obsessed with Lesley Stahl because Lesley Stahl is, as much as she's an icon and on TV and a celebrity now, she also, for most of that career, was just a hard-nosed investigative journalist, even before she was on TV, and so it made sense that Nana Connie would really respect and then admire her," he explains.

Luckily, the filmmakers had an in. Enter producer Elisabeth Holm, who had a personal connection to 60 Minutes producer Shari Finkelstein, whom she called up initially to record the phone call in the film where a producer asks to do an interview with Marcel. And so began what Holm calls a "multiyear, many-layered process and journey with many steps."

First, the filmmakers had to get 60 Minutes to approve Finkelstein playing a real 60 Minutes producer (or, you know, herself). Once that happened, about a year later, she recorded her audio portions, which went into a process of being edited, re-recorded, and re-edited. As they got further into the script and the making of the film, Holm says she went back to Finkelstein to see if Stahl and the show would be open to having a bigger role. She says the initial pitch was for the show to "actually be the heroes of our film, and help be what reunites Marcel with his long-lost community, and be sort of the counterpoint to the anonymity of empty viral fame and internet content, and really be this kind of beautiful gold standard of journalism and integrity and authentic storytelling and all the things that I think Dean and Jenny and Marcel really value."

Sounds simple enough, but Holm says that again triggered a long series of emails and discussions. It was at this point that Fleischer-Camp and Slate also wrote "a beautiful letter" to Stahl — who was not initially familiar with the character of Marcel, though her grandkids were — while Holm "worked behind the scenes with Shari and with CBS News to figure out a deal that was really respectful to the brand of both 60 Minutes and CBS."

A24 Lesley Stahl in 'Marcel the Shell With Shoes On'

That process — which involved jumping through legal hoops and convincing CBS of their pure intentions — took about another year, Holm says. It all fell into place in the summer of 2019 during the film's live-action shoot, when Stahl and her crew came to film their fictional interview with Marcel. From there, the struggle was making sure everything felt authentic. They prepped Stahl with an actual interview packet, like what she would be given before doing a real 60 Minutes story. The iconic ticking clock that has long symbolized the news program was fully approved for use in the film. And they brought in the real show's cinematographers, gaffers, sound recordists, and the actual cameras used to shoot the series were used for its segment in the film as well. "So if you notice in the film, the 60 Minutes footage looks different than the rest of the film because we wanted it to feel like a 60 Minutes piece," Holm says.

Rather than having the Marcel team try to re-create Stahl's in-studio intro, the 60 Minutes team shot it themselves. "The graphic treatment behind Lesley that you see [as in the still above] was made by their amazing graphics guy, Bruce Jensen, who's been doing this forever. And they shot that intro in their studio for us with our script — but of course, Lesley and Shari tweaked that script to be what Lesley would really say and really feel like a 60 Minutes intro," Holm says. "It was the 100 little tiny pink shoe steps to get there, but they really every step of the way were quite collaborative and supportive."

The end result was special for all involved, including Stahl. "I know that she really loves the movie and was just so honored watching the final thing," Fleischer-Camp says. "I do know that she really values the experience because it has made her very cool in the eyes of her grandchildren."

Holm, whose hard work and determination made it all happen, says she is still to this day amazed that it worked out. "As we say in the film, Lesley is fearless, and I really do get that about her. I see that about her. I think that is true. I think that this was such a unique experience for her to have to ask questions of a two-inch-tall shell puppet and improvise with Jenny sitting beneath the stool, and just engage and kind of be the straight man, but also have a sense of humor and playfulness about herself," Holm says. "I mean, she is such an incredible veteran journalist. And to, at this stage of her career, show us yet another side of her, I think, is a testament to her fearlessness. We're all still in awe of her and can't believe that she joined us, but I think that speaks volumes about Lesley."

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