The filmmakers researched the film by traveling on The Canadian, north of Lake Superior, living on the train for two weeks, collecting stories. The stop motion animation took them more than five years.[1] [2] [3] Critics lauded the film for its groundbreaking stop-motion animation techniques. Portrait artist Jason Walker created the technique of adding composited human eyes to the stop motion puppets
The film is based on an interview of John Lennon by Jerry Levitan in 1969. Levitan, then 14 years old, tracked Lennon to his hotel room at Toronto’s King Edward Hotel after hearing a rumour that Lennon had been sighted at the Toronto Airport. Jerry inveigled his way into John Lennon’s suite and conducted an interview. The animation is based on Levitan’s recording of the interview, which was edited down to 5 minutes. Josh Raskin’s focus was on the interview itself. “I just wanted to literally animate the words, unfurling in the way I imagined they would appear inside the head of a baffled 14-year-old boy interviewing his idol.”
In a fancy Parisian Café c. 1960, an uptight businessman discovers he forgot to bring his wallet and bides his time by ordering more coffee. He constantly turns away a homeless man who asks him for money, but in the end, due to a curious turn of events…
French Roast was first released in France on 30 October 2008 at the Festival Voix d’Etoiles. It was later released in the Czech Republic on 3 May 2009 at the AniFest Film Festival; Canada on 19 February 2010 in Waterloo, Ontario; and in the USA on 19 February 2010, limited release.
