Meet Our Director: Lee Hardcastle

A+C Studios is proud to announce the addition of award-winning stop-motion animator and animation director Lee Hardcastle to its roster. Known globally for his distinctively bold, inventive, and often subversive storytelling, Hardcastle brings a fresh creative voice to the studio’s growing body of work.

Hardcastle has built a cult following for his unique stop-motion films, which blend humour, horror, and heart in equal measure. His instantly recognisable style has attracted millions of views online and earned collaborations with leading brands, platforms, and entertainment studios.

Can you tell us about your creative journey into stop-motion, what first drew you to this craft?

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with horror film and animation. The who collided when I started messing about with clay and a camcorder. I’d spent weekends making really crude, violent little films with toy wrestlers and blobs of plasticine, and that hooked me. The beauty of stop-motion is it’s immediate, you can make something come alive right in front of you without a whole crew. That DIY spirit has always stayed with me.

Your work has such a distinctive style. How did you develop that voice in animation?

Honestly by leaning into my limitations. I didn’t have big budgets, expensive rigs, or industry training, so I embraced the rough, handmade aesthetic. It felt authentic to me, and people seemed to connect with it. Over time I mixed that scrappy energy with my love for horror, gore, and black comfy, and that became my “voice”. It’s just me putting all my weird influences in a blender.

What films, shows, or artists most inspire you creatively?

I grew up on Evil Dead, The Thing, Braindead, basically any film where the filmmakers were pushing creativity to it’s breaking point. Animation-wise, I’ve always loved Jan Švankmajer, the Quay Brothers, and early Wallace & Gromit. They showed me that stop-motion could be dark, funny, and terrifying all at once.

What made you want to join A+C Studios at this stage of your career?

Communication. Communicating with the crew is vital as they are the hands that make a stop-motion film. From the storyboards to animating the puppets, they bring the film to life. Making sure they buy into the vision and understand it is imperative, whilst ensuring there is space for them to add their craft to the project.

How do you see your style and approach complementing the work already being created here?

A+C has such a polished, high-quality output, and my work brings a rougher, edgier sensibility. Together, it’s a nice clash, you get the slick craft with that chaotic, late-night-TV weirdness I love. I think that combination can open up some new directions for  the studio.

Stop-motion often blends nostalgia with cutting-edge innovation. Where do you see the future of the medium heading?

I think it’ll always keep that nostalgic heartbeat, but the tech side is only getting wilder, 3D printing, motion control rigs, hybrid workflows with CGI. The exciting part is we can still make it feel handmade while pushing into new visual territories. Stop-motion’s strength is its tactile reality. No matter how advanced digital gets, there’s something magical about seeing an object really exist and move.

Many know your work for its boldness and originality, how do you balance creative freedom with commercial briefs?

It’s all about finding the overlap. Brands usually come to me because they wan that edge, so I try to figure out how far U can push it without losing their message. I don’t compromise on energy or weirdness, but I make sure the client still gets what they need. It’s like sneaking vegetables into the kid’s dinner, I hide the madness inside the brief.

What do you think brands can achieve through stop-motion that other forms of animation can’t?

Stop-motion has this honesty. When you see something that’s clearly been made by hand. It hits different, it feels human, and people connect with that. It’s also got a built-in surrealism; even if it’s a serious ad, there’s always a slight dreamlike quality. That’s powerful for brands because it makes the work memorable.

If you could remake any film or story in stop-motion, what would it be and why?

I’d remake The Evil Dead in stop-motion without hesitation. The original is already a practical effects carnival, but claymation would crank the spiritual horror into deranged, midnight-movie territory. That story just gets under your skin, it hypnotises you, then drags your soul into this funhouse of madness where sprints hand out in the cracks between your conscious and subconscious, in stop-motion, that descent could be even more unhinged, surreal, and gloriously grotesque.

What’s your favourite moment working on a project so far, either hilarious or unforgettable?

Doing the T is for Toilet short for The ABCs of Death was insane. I made it in my flat, thinking it was just another one of my weird projects, and suddenly it’s on the big screen worldwide. Sitting in a cinema, watching an audience squirm and laugh at something I made with clay in my living room, that was unforgettable.

For anyone just starting out in stop-motion, what advice would you give?

Don’t wait for permission. Don’t wait for perfect gear. Just grab some clay, grab a camera, and make something. The more you do it, the better you’ll get. And don’t stress about polish, roughness is part of the charm. Find your own weird angle and run with it.