“The Illusionist” opens in limited theaters Feb. 11. (Sony PIctures Classics)

With fiery red hair and a thick Scottish accent, Fiona Hall is not your typical Texan. Having just moved to Dallas from her home country of Scotland, Fiona and her husband, Justin Hall, have much bigger news to celebrate—their Oscar nomination.

As a producer and an animator for the critically acclaimed animated feature, “The Illusionist,” the husband-and-wife duo recall working on the traditional, two dimension, project.

“The movie was a blast to make,” Fiona said. “The crew was really driven and we had a crazy producer that really knew how to motivate people when needed.”

The film will compete for the Oscar against blockbuster hits, and computer, generated animated, films like “Toy Story 3,” and “How to Train Your Dragon.” Even though “The Illusionist,” is classically animated in the traditional format, the film is still receiving rave reviews from critics across the globe. Justin, one of the numerous animators for the film, still sees his type of animation as award worthy.

“I think we’ve gone too far to escape from CG now,” Justin said. “Everything like 3D and Pixar, are all going to get bigger. However, I still think there will still be pockets of 2D animators that just love to draw.”

While working on a film of this caliber is stressful at times, the crew of “The Illusionist,” along with Justin and Fiona, tried to lighten the mood when needed.

“The crew was very professional, but also very fun. I remember one day on set, it was called ‘Mustache Day,’ and everyone wore mustaches,” Fiona said. “Except the females of course, we were kind of exempt from that one.”

For most of their lives, Justin and Fiona have called Europe their home. However, in search for something different, the couple and their young son packed up their things and moved to Dallas, in hopes of finding more work here.

“I’m really loving Dallas so far,” Fiona said. “There is this big ball in the sky that we are not used to, some people call it the sun. Where we are from, you don’t get to see much of that thing.”

While, “The Illusionist,” is not set to open nationwide for another couple of weeks, the film is being well received by the select few of American audiences that have had chance to see the film.

“In England, people would be like ‘Oh look, a cute little British film,’ but in America, people are really attracted to the nostalgia of it all,” Fiona said. “People in the UK can go see Edinburgh anytime they wanted, but to Americans, this films is something much more special.”

“The Illusionist,” which was originally written to take place between Paris and Prague, experienced a change in location as the filmmakers felt as if Edinburgh fit the story better. Fiona and Justin, who both once lived in Edinburgh, used the Scottish city’s storybook landscape and architecture to capture the film’s spirit.

“After this film is over and all the buzz dies down from it, I think I will remember the way it made Edinburgh look,” Justin said. “Even if we never make our way back to Edinburgh, I will always have ‘The Illusionist,’ to remind me of it.”

With “The Illusionist” almost ready to hit the theaters, both Fiona and Justin can now look forward to the new projects that await them in their new home of Dallas.

“Right now, ironically, I’m actually working with an animation studio based in Edinburgh,” Justin said. “But after that project is done, I’ll be looking for more stuff to do in Dallas.”