The gay man’s Krumpet

He’s short, tanned to golden perfection, and is a muscular step-up from the lopsided grey-skinned rotund body of his creation Harvie Krumpet.

Claymation artist Adam Elliot has found a new muse in the form of one of America’s greatest gods, known simply as Oscar.

Elliot, in case you haven’t heard, is the queer genius behind the short film Harvie Crumpet -“ starring the wee lad of the same name who helped propel his creator to the ultimate high of Hollywood’s night-of-nights on Monday.

The 23-minute short tells the story of an ordinary man cursed with bad luck. Born in a Polish forest with Tourette’s syndrome (a neurological disorder characterised by involuntary and rapid tics), Krumpet is the son of a lumberjack father and a mother with lead poisoning.

Elliot was considered a long-shot to win the right to hold Oscar’s perpetually folded hands, but the St Kilda director beat a field of multi-million-dollar short films by the likes of Salvador Dali and Walt Disney to earn the Best Short Animation title.

While Oscar and Harvie, be they ever-so-cute and ever-so-famous, saw the 32-year-old become the toast of Tinseltown it was the director’s last-minute thank you to boyfriend of two months, Dan Doherty, that seemed to create the biggest stir.

The comment, Finally, we’d like to thank two very special people, my friend Juliet and my beautiful boyfriend, Dan, proved a journalist’s dream with links being made to America’s bubbling gay marriage debate.

Elliot told reporters after the awards that he had no idea the small thank you would create a huge stir.

Actually, it just popped into my head; it wasn’t something I planned to do, Elliot said.

I’ve only been going out with him two months. In Australia, homosexuality isn’t that big of a deal, so it wasn’t a problem as far as I could see.

Speaking with the ABC’s AM program on Tuesday, Elliot said his nerves held him in good stead during the Oscar ceremonies.

My nerves went out the window. It’s weird, you sort of forget the fact the fact that there’s a billion people watching.

I think I was more nervous at the AFI awards, and I’ve won five of those.

Adam Elliot’s films have screened at more than 300 film festivals, and he has earned more than 50 awards including five Australian Film Industry awards.

Elliot has been receiving awards and recognition since the release of his first short film Uncle in 1996, which won first prize in Queer Screen’s My Queer Career competition in 1997, followed by an AFI award.

He completed a trilogy with Cousin (1998) and Brother (1999), both eight minutes in length.

Harvie Krumpet is his fourth film and it features the voices of Geoffrey Rush, Julie Forsyth and Kamahl.