Thoughts on Awaiting the Lightning Bolt (2025) and a talk with director Marco Russo Tribeca 2025

Marco Russo's AWAITING THE LIGHTNING BOLT is a charmer. 

This is the story of a old man who is trying to literally capture lighntning in a bottle. Why I will leave you to find out.

Russo's short film is a lovely little film. Its a genuinely funny and touching film  that will end up putting a smile on your face and tear in your eye.  Russo clearly has something special and I want to see what what he does next.

Track this film down ASAP or better yet buy a ticket for the festival and see it

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I love AWAITING THE LIGHTNING so much I reached out to director Marco Russo to see if he would talk to me about his film. He said he would. Because I wanted to make sure we could talk I asked him if he would be okay with doing an email interview. (We are hoping to schedule a meet up at the festival) 

What follows are my questions and his answers . 

I want to thank Mr Russo for taking the time to answer my questions.

STEVE: How did you come to be part of the Aardman Academy?

MARCO: I’m still kind of wondering that myself. I had zero experience in animation and didn’t think I had a shot. At the time, I was working on my exam film in film school, and things weren’t going great. I felt like I needed a change. I’ve always loved animation, so I thought, “why not give it a try?”

Honestly, the obvious answer should’ve been, “because I can’t draw at all,” but I wanted it badly enough that I decided to figure something out. I stumbled across this banner for a new course on the

Aardman website completely by chance, and suddenly stop-motion just clicked for me—it was a way to use what I’d learned in film school, just in a different medium. I still didn’t think I’d get in since I had no real background in animation, or in puppet and set building. But once I got there, the team told me they really believed in the story I submitted and were willing to teach me the rest. I’ll always be grateful they took that chance on me.

STEVE: You have a long list of credits at the end. Having interviewed someone who made their film at the Academy and did it largely alone, I was wondering how much of this you did alone and how much help did you use? How much contact did you have with the other students? 

MARCO: To be honest, most of us did pretty much everything ourselves. Aside from the soundtrack—which was done by the amazing Matt Loveridge—I handled every part of production. Some things, like the animation, I did completely on my own. For others, like puppet-making, I had guidance from tutors. For cinematography, I had a good amount of support, and for sound mixing I started the process and then worked with Will Davies at Aardman to finish it. The long list of credits includes everyone involved in the Academy’s In-Studio course. Some of them I never even met—they didn’t contribute directly to my short—but since they were part of the wider Academy environment, I felt they deserved a credit. Without all of them, this short wouldn’t exist.

STEVE: Were there any limitations placed on you by Aardman? How did you overcome them?

MARCO: There were some limitations but honestly, maybe I would’ve benefited from having even more. 

Writing a script for stop-motion without knowing anything about fabrication, animation, or compositing wasn’t exactly the smartest move. My original story was twice as long and had few more characters. I spent the first few weeks cutting it down into something actually doable with the time and resources we had. Even then, I had to work weekends and be the first one in and the last to leave during the animation process. It was intense, but the staff, especially Mark Simon Hewis, the head of the Academy, were incredibly supportive. He helped me a lot with the schedule so I could somehow finish on time.

STEVE:  Where did the idea for the film come from? What inspired how you put the tale together?

MARCO: This might sound like a cliché, but this was one of those rare stories that are sort of delivered to my brain almost fully formed. The initial spark came from a friend who said something about “being struck by lightning,” meaning of finding that spark that makes you understand your path in life. That idea grew fast and turned into something else. At first, the story was more about pride and needing recognition, but as I worked on it, I realized the heart of it was really about love. Like most meaningful stories, it has something personal in it too—my father passed away a few years ago, and while writing it, I kept wondering how far I would go to save him if I truly believed I could.

STEVE: There is a simplicity to the animation and the designs (the eyes are essentially dots), yet there is vast expression of emotion in each little motion. How did you figure out how to get so much emotion with each simple gesture?

MARCO: I really think simplicity is often the key. Some friends of mine who work in comics helped design the characters, and I asked them to stick to very basic shapes. I specifically requested dot eyes—like in Tin Tin. From there, it was a lot of trial and error during animation. But when you only have a few simple features to move—like eyebrows and mustaches—it’s all about finding the right balance to express emotion with tiny changes.

STEVE: With so many short films being viewed as proof of concepts, are you going to do more in this world or are you going to do something different next?

MARCO: Right now, I’ve gone back to writing and I’m leaning toward live-action again, which usually takes me in darker, more intense directions. That said, I still have other animation ideas, and I’m working on a couple of scripts, both stop-motion and hand-drawn.

STEVE: Do you prefer stop motion or hand drawn animation?

MARCO: As a writer, it really depends on the story. As a maker, I can’t draw at all, so I’m stuck with stop motion. As a director, I’d love to try everything. Honestly, I think every kind of animation is exciting in its own way. Sometimes the story decides the style, and sometimes the budget does. 

STEVE: Who are your favorite directors?

MARCO: For animation, definitely Tomm Moore. But most of my influences come from live-action—people like Yorgos Lanthimos, the Coen Brothers, Ruben Östlund, Jim Jarmusch, and Andrey Zvyagintsev. 

Kind of weird picks after seeing this sweet little short, I know.

STEVE: What are favorite films?

MARCO: Depends when you ask me! Right now, I’d say Inside Llewyn Davis, The Lobster, The Square. But I’m also a total Pixar kid, so Toy Story, Ratatouille, Wall-E. But also some Disney classics,especially Hercules.

STEVE:  With everyone focusing on Disney and Ghibli - what are the animated films/ directors beyond the usual that you think people should see?

MARCO: Tomm Moore and Cartoon Saloon are at the top of my list, The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers, they’re visually stunning. Then there are some lesser-known gems I love,like The Book of Life and My Life as a Zucchini, just to name a few. I could honestly keep going forever.

STEVE: Do you play role playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder? Or even LARPing? I ask this because there is a lived in quality to the film. It’s not just sets and story, but a sense of place that is there once we get to the final scene. It feels like someone who lived it and not as you get in most films from someone who studied a period in history.

MARCO: That’s such an interesting observation. Funny enough, I always wanted to play D&D but never had the chance—until recently! I finally joined my first campaign with some friends and it’s been amazing. I think I’ve always been drawn to immersive storytelling like that.

STEVE : Did someone capture lightning in a bottle for you?

MARCO: Like I said earlier, my personal story had me out kind of chasing lightning myself. But yeah, I was lucky to have some people around me who handed me a big sparkling jar when I needed it most.