Why Neil Gaiman stuck with Coraline director Henry Selick

Neil Gaiman's fanatics may be dismayed by the changes Coraline has undergone in transition from novel to screen, but Gaiman himself is pleased with both versions and admits he even encouraged director Henry Selick to branch out on the film version. "In Henry's first draft, he was incredibly faithful to the book," Gaiman said in a group interview in Los Angeles last week. "I read his first draft, and the problem with the first draft is it's about a little girl who nobody is talking to. In the novel, it's fine, because you're looking at everything through her eyes, and I get to tell you what's happening." Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of a new character named Wybie (short for "Why Born?"). "Selick brought in [Wybie] just to give her somebody to talk to so some of the background could happen in dialogue," Gaiman explains. (link)