Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Paulie is a charming 1998 American adventure comedy-drama film directed by John Roberts. Bringing the lovable parrot Paulie to life required the expertise of Stan Winston Studio, similar to their work on Mouse Hunt, to mechanize a small bird puppet and deliver a comedic performance.

In the film, fourteen trained blue-crowned conure parrots portrayed Paulie on set, while comedian Jay Mohr provided his voice. For expressive close-ups, talking shots, and stunts too dangerous for real birds, the fully articulated Stan Winston animatronic parrot was planned for use.

The animatronic Paulie was capable of an impressive range of movements:
- Full head and neck movement, including nearly 360-degree rotation
- Ability to tuck its head under its wing
- Body movements such as bobbing up and down
- Rod-puppeted wings for flapping
- Chest bladder mechanism to fluff out feathers

Full story here: bit.ly/PaulieYT
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