Despicable Me - The Project Begins

11 October 2010

Despicable Me is the latest animation movie to hit the big screen this year after the success of Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon.

With Steve Carell, Jason Segel and Russell Brand on board the movie follows Gru who delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way.

Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.

The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.

"The original concept of Despicable Me was pitched to me by Sergio Pablos, who is a Spanish animator based with a small animation studio in Spain," explains Chris Meledandri. "We immediately knew that screenwriters Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio were the team to write the screenplay."

The writers had worked with the producer on the global hit Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, and Meledandri felt they had just the sensibility to bring Sergio Pablos’ original story to life.

Paul and Daurio had navigated intricate animated worlds before with Meledandri. In their last film together, they gave life to Dr. Seuss’ beloved character Horton, telling the story of a gentle elephant who hears a faint cry for help from a dust mote that’s floated past.

The film, directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, was an enormous hit and solidified the two as comedy scribes. For their newest project, they elaborated upon Pablos’ idea of one of the world’s greatest super-villains, a man who finds more to life than reveling in wicked deeds.

From the beginning, it was important to Illumination to construct a tale that would put a trademark stamp on the types of films the production house would be creating. That would not involve two-dimensional heroes or antagonists.

Reflects Meledandri: "The idea of making an animated film in which the villain is your protagonist is unusual and very challenging. By the end of the film, Gru has undergone a transformation, and it’s that transformation that’s made possible by starting him in a place where there are aspects of him that are downright unlikable.

"You would not have a sense of appreciation for the journey he’s gone on as a character had we not started him at that point."

Fellow producer John Cohen knew that Despicable Me would stand out by showing the side of our humanity of which we’re not always so proud. "For a while, we’ve wanted to make a movie about a villain told from the villain’s perspective," he says.

"Chris heard this idea that came from Sergio Pablos, who is a terrific animator. Sergio and Nina Rowan, who are executive producers, brought this original idea to Chris, and he immediately fell in love with it. It’s a great, clear concept for a movie with comedy built in and a very unique character at the core."

Cohen liked exploring the notion that each of us has a bit of wickedness inside just waiting to be expressed. He continues: "Gru offers a wish fulfillment.

When you’re waiting in line at a grocery store and the person in front of you has 25 items in the express line and decides to pay with a check that would be the perfect time to use a freeze ray. There’s a great deal of comedy that springs from a character who gets to act out some of the things we wish we could do."

When it was time to select the project’s directors, Meledandri turned to Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Chris Renaud and acclaimed Sorbonne-trained animator Pierre Coffin to helm the project.

Renaud’s years of collaboration with Marvel and DC Comics allowed him to illustrate some of the most iconic characters of the modern era. For his part, Coffin has created several of the most viewed animated shorts on YouTube, including 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

"Chris Renaud is somebody who I’ve worked with for many years, going back to Fox and Blue Sky Studios," Meledandri comments. "He came up through our story department and started out as a storyboard artist, but his experience prior to joining us involved a much deeper level of animation experience.

"His roots come from the comic book world, where early on in his career he illustrated comic books. Chris has a wonderful sense of story and how to translate that into imagery. We had a particularly successful experience with him directing a short at Blue Sky called No Time for Nuts, which was nominated for an Oscar®."

Coffin comes to this side of the industry from his work in such celebrated animated shorts such as Flying Fish Tobby Who Aimed for the Stars and Pings. "He’s worked on a number of short animation pieces that are absolutely extraordinary," continues Meledandri.

"Pierre has that gift of being able to capture and define personality with the most subtle of movements. My attention was drawn to Pierre while visiting Paris and being shown about 15 minutes of his work.

"I knew that he could bring a sense of personality and character to this film that would be wonderful in defining the character of Gru and finding his vulnerability, as well as his edge."

While Renaud’s strength is in storyboarding, fellow director Coffin’s primary work has been in animated performance. Indeed, that is primarily how the two men split their Herculean responsibilities as they crafted Despicable Me. Management of the lighting,
compositing and art direction teams would be divided between the two.