Preview for the film The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Why -- you might be wondering -- would we be sharing the trailer to a motion picture here on The Automata / Automaton Blog? It's simple: this movie features an automaton! Back in the fall of 2008, I did a post about the novel from which this movie comes: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. The automaton in the story is based in large part on the famous writing and drawing automaton by Maillardet, now housed at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

From the film description:

The film tells the tale of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. When Hugo encounters a broken automaton, an eccentric girl, and the cold, reserved man who runs the toy shop, he is caught up in a magical, mysterious adventure that could put all of his secrets in jeopardy.

Not only is the story good, the film is directed by Martin Scorsese and can list Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, and Christopher Lee among the many notable actors.

This preview was brought to my attention by Michael Start of The House of Automata whose considerable talents were put to good use; you see, he served as the Automaton and Horological Adviser to the film! Bravo!

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