Portland-area studio Laika has a live action feature film in the works, and the movie boasts star power both in front of the camera and behind it.

Laika, the Hillsboro-based studio known for stop-motion animation movies such as “Coraline” and “ParaNorman,” announced this week that it is working with Higher Ground Productions to produce an adaptation of the acclaimed novel “Audition” by Katie Kitamura.

Higher Ground was founded by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama . “Audition” landed on the former president’s 2025 summer reading list and he called it “a quiet novel about the ways we hide our true selves from others — and ourselves."

“Audition” tells the tale of a celebrated actress who is enjoying a charmed life in Manhattan with her husband until a

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