An Apple Original Film
Charlie Mackesy: The Boy, The Mole,
The Fox, The Horse and Me.
NOMINEE BAFTA Cymru Awards 2023 Director: Factual
An intimate portrait of Oscar and BAFTA-winning artist Charlie Mackesy, illuminating his life and creative world.
“Charlie’s story grabbed me because it proves beyond a doubt that art can have a profound therapeutic effect, both for the artist and for the people their work touches. This is the great value of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse – it creates a much-needed space for us to heal ourselves.”
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“Brilliant and gentle” – IMDb, Charlie Mackesy: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, The Horse and me
Set in the beautiful Suffolk countryside, this moving documentary offers a window into the life and creative world of Charlie Mackesy – author of best-selling book and award-winning film The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse.
With insights from friends and collaborators including filmmaker Richard Curtis and explorer Bear Grylls, Charlie charts the progress of the story of four unlikely friends from a wheelbarrow full of sketches to Instagram hit to international best-seller and now a BAFTA and Oscar-winning animated short film.
Featuring access to Charlie’s home, studios, artworks and personal archive, this revealing portrait connects the threads between Charlie’s artistic life and formative years. Charlie reveals the anxiety he suffered as a result of the book’s unexpected success, and what motivates him to keep going – a deep need to help and heal that has its origins in his own life experiences, including loss and grief.
Through personal testimony and insights from friends and collaborators, an unexpected story unfolds – of a gifted artist in search of freedom, expression and connection, who, after a lifetime of drawing, found renewed purpose in the creation of a book that has helped millions of people through tough times.
As Charlie adapts The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse into a hand-drawn animated short film, he shares valuable insights into his creative process – his love of ink, animals and art as redemption – and why he was so particular about the characters’ movement and voices. With the film nearing completion, Charlie reflects on his tumultuous journey so far, the value of emotional pain in his creative life and his belief that art has the power to heal us.
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For me, the power of best-selling book The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse is in the pages its author Charlie Mackesy left blank. Thumbing through, you’ll often find a clean leaf – no text, no sketch – just a place to stop and think, to pause and breathe.
Where Charlie’s words and pictures soothe and guide, the spaces between allow us to reflect on our own thoughts and feelings. In this way, the book is a catalyst for self-exploration, as complex or as simple as we make it. And the general truths it contains are broad enough to apply to most difficult life situations, so you don’t have to work too hard to find something useful.
When I first read The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, I was instantly curious about the man who wrote it. What happened in his life that led to those wisdoms? Where did the little lost boy come from?
I expected Charlie Mackesy to have the answers, as succinct and pithy as his aphorisms. But instead I found a man overwhelmed and struggling to cope with the pressures of success – vulnerable, complex and wary of the camera – as much in need of his own book as we all are.
My gentle search with Charlie was for the roots of the emotion that gave rise to the book. What emerged was a story of abandonment, loss and grief… of an old pain that, after a lifetime of drawing, culminated in the creation of a book that has helped millions of people through tough times.
From his home in Suffolk, through a series of softly spoken interviews, Charlie told me of the experiences that shaped his emotional life and how he became an artist. He revealed how pain was a necessary part of his journey to creating the book, later in life, and why he believes art has the power to heal:
“I think you can feel or see something and it can have a physical effect on you. To make images that help people feel hope or understood or not alone or held or loved or some kind of divine kindness... It's just this whole thing that we thirst for, but can't put our fingers on. I think art can heal you.”
Charlie’s story grabbed me because it proves beyond a doubt that art can have a profound therapeutic effect, both for the artist and for the people their work touches. This is the true value of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse – it creates a much-needed space for us to heal ourselves.
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DIRECTED BY Clare Sturges
PRODUCED BY Nick Taussig and Sophie Harmer
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR APPLE Alison Kirkham
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR THE BBC Alistair Pegg
COMMISSIONED FOR THE BBC BY Mark Bell
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER FOR ALOTMORE Matthew Freud
EDITORS Ariadna Fatjo-Vilas and Riccardo Servini
COMPOSER Tandis Jenhudson
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Simona Susnea
ADDITIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY Sarah Cunningham and George Nicholls
PRODUCTION MANAGER Andrea Åberg
CONSULTING PRODUCER Gareth Dodds
POST PRODUCTION BY Round Table