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Production InformationUniversal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment invite you and your family to

their inaugural 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me. From producer CHRIS MELEDANDRI (Ice Age, Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!) comes the story of one of the world’s greatest super-villains who meets his biggest challenge when three children enter his life.

In a happy suburban neighbourhood surrounded by white picket fences and flowering rose bushes sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbours, hidden deep beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by an army of mischievous little minions, we discover Gru (STEVE CARELL of Get Smart, Horton Hears a Who!, television’s The Office) planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!).

Gru 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. That is, 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.

Starring alongside Carell in Despicable Me are comedy stars JASON SEGEL (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man), MIRANDA COSGROVE (Nickelodeon’s No. 1 live-action show iCarly) and legendary Academy Award winner JULIE ANDREWS (The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, The Princess Diaries series).

The troupe of established and emerging comedic actors who joins them includes RUSSELL BRAND (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), KRISTEN WIIG (Date Night, TV’s SNL), WILL ARNETT (Monsters vs Aliens, Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!), DANNY MCBRIDE (Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express) and JACK MCBRAYER (TV’s 30 Rock, Forgetting Sarah Marshall).

Despicable Me is directed by Oscar-nominee CHRIS RENAUD (Annie Award-winning short No Time for Nuts, director of upcoming Dr Seuss’ The Lorax) & PIERRE COFFIN (Pat et Stanley). The film is produced by Meledandri, JANET HEALY and JOHN COHEN. Leading the talented behind-the-scenes team are editors PAMELA ZIEGENHAGEN-SHEFLAND (Open Season, The Emperor’s New Groove) and GREGORY PERLER (Enchanted, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit), as well as production designer YARROW CHENEY and art director ERIC GUILLON.

Creating the original songs and themes for the film is Grammy Award-winning artist and blockbuster music producer PHARRELL WILLIAMS, who composes the score with HEITOR PEREIRA (It’s Complicated, Beverly Hills Chihuahua). The music is

Despicable Me - Production Information 2

produced by Academy Award winner HANS ZIMMER (The Lion King, The Dark Knight, Sherlock Holmes).

The 3-D CGI film is based on a story by SERGIO PABLOS and a screenplay by CINCO PAUL & KEN DAURIO (Horton Hears a Who!, Dinner for Schmucks). The animated comedy’s executive producers are NINA ROWAN (Oscar-winning animated short Bunny) and Sergio Pablos.

BEFORE THE PRODUCTIONFinding Illumination: Meledandri Joins Universal

In early 2007, Universal Pictures began to build its family and animation film business by bringing aboard blockbuster producer Chris Meledandri to shepherd the initiative. Meledandri had spent many years at 20th Century Fox, where he founded the studio’s animation division and oversaw the launch of its blockbuster Ice Age franchise. With the creation of Meledandri’s new production company, Illumination Entertainment, Universal would finance and distribute a slate of live-action and animated films that would be led by the successful filmmaker.

Meledandri, who had been an executive at Fox for 13 years, became founding president of 20th Century Fox Animation during his tenure at the studio. He headed that division for eight years, amassing more than $2 billion in global box-office revenue for the studio. The producer oversaw Fox’s 1998 acquisition of the East Coast-based, small visual-effects house Blue Sky Studios and its transformation into the studio’s successful CG-animation arm, which employs more than 250 artists. While there, Meledandri also supervised and/or executive produced such blockbusters as Robots, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Simpsons Movie and Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!

Offers Meledandri about the transition: “I found that I could not turn away from the extraordinary opportunity that Universal offered me: the entrepreneurial aspect, the excitement about a new company, the breadth of the production mandate to include all forms of animation, as well as live action, and the studio’s ideas about movies - specifically their commitment to quality, as well as their ideas about how to market movies in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

ABOUT THE PRODUCTIONSo Despicable: The Project Begins

“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 revelling 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 unlikeable. 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 fulfilment. 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.

Good vs Evil: Who’s Who in Gru’s World?While it’s initially a bit uncertain who is naughty and who is nice in Despicable

Me, all will be revealed as the story unfolds. Below is a guide to the dastardly and delightful players in Gru’s world:

Gru (Steve Carell) is a villain who finds great pleasure in doing deliciously wicked things to other people. Whether it’s freezing a long queue of customers ahead of him at a coffee shop or creating a balloon animal for a small boy just to pop it, Gru gets to do all of the things we only wish we could. He’s on track to become the greatest villain of all time by committing the crime of the century, but Gru’s about to face his toughest challenge yet: Fatherhood.

Gru’s nemesis, the nerdy Vector (Jason Segel), is way too geeky to be this cocky. Holed up in his sleek house/fortress, Vector can usually be found in his orange warm-up suit, playing video games while plotting his next move. His favourite weapon is a gun that fires live piranhas. Unfortunately for him, Vector has a hard time keeping the carnivores inside the gun’s barrel...

The eldest of the three orphans, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove) is naturally protective of her two sisters. Raised without a family, she distrusts most people and knows the only ones the girls can count on are one another. A tough cookie and a strong protector, Margo is not afraid to challenge Gru as he tries to parent the girls. He has finally met his match.

The kid who tests all limits, Edith (newcomer DANA GAIER) might just be the last girl in the orphanage you would run to adopt. Wearing a hat pulled down over her eyes and eager to test out Gru’s dangerous weaponry, she is seen as a bit of a scoundrel. Though this middle child needs (and wants) limits, she’ll never let you know it.

An innocent little girl who loves unconditionally and wants desperately to be loved, the youngest of the three orphans lives to hug. Agnes (scene-stealing newcomer ELSIE FISHER) is obsessed with unicorns and says random, sweet things. She longs for nothing more than parents to make her family complete…and that unicorn wouldn’t hurt.

Gru’s Mom (Julie Andrews): Behind every great villain is a disapproving mom. Nothing Gru has done has been good enough for his judgmental grump of a mother. While she believes she’s quite smart in her parenting approach, the 80-year-old still treats Gru like he’s eight years old. Her overly critical attitude has inspired him toward ever-increasing feats of villainy in order to impress his harrumphing mom.

Gru’s resident mad scientist, Dr Nefario (Russell Brand) looks to be approximately 150 years old and vacillates between flashes of brilliance and black holes of spaciness. Always hard at work building his boss the latest in incredible vehicles and weaponry, Nefario is (sometimes) sharp as a tack. His hearing, however? That began to fade at least 50 years ago.

Small, mischievous yellow creatures, the minions (Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud and JEMAINE CLEMENT) form Gru’s not-so-bright pit crew. Hardworking and devoted to their leader and his mad exploits, the minions are content to serve as his crash test


dummies. When they meet Gru’s adopted children, however, they find three little girls who are just as much fun as they are.

Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig) runs the local orphanage where Margo, Edith and Agnes live before they are sent to live with Gru. A seemingly kind and concerned caretaker, Miss Hattie is actually a stern Southern belle who believes in tough love and big business. If you’re not making your quota by selling cookies, you’re headed for Miss Hattie’s “Box of Shame.”

Gru’s noodge of a next-door neighbour, Fred McDade (Danny McBride) is, naturally, the president of the homeowner’s association. Quick to point out any minor infractions of the neighbourhood code, McDade is a constant thorn in Gru’s side. He just needs to keep an eye on his dog unless he wants to incur the wrath of Gru.

An unforgiving loan manager who runs the Bank of Evil, Mr Perkins (Will Arnett) has long funded Gru’s wicked plans. A monster of a man who has grown unsatisfied with Gru’s imperfect track record, Perkins has reached the end of his financing rope and refuses to give Gru a loan to finance his intricate plot to steal the moon.

The tackiest tourists you’ll encounter (Jack McBrayer and The Office’s MINDY KALING), this family is on vacation with their young son. Armed with wild clothes, disposable cameras and bad fanny packs, the tourists are in for a more exciting trip than they could ever dream of when they discover someone has stolen the Great Pyramid.

The Carnival Barker (also voiced by Jack McBrayer) at Super Silly Fun Land has no intention of allowing Margo, Edith or Agnes out of the park with a prized stuffed animal. Calling out taunts like “Someone’s got a frowny face!” will only motivate Gru to pull out the big guns to win Agnes her beloved unicorn.

A cross between a bulldog and a piranha with the attitude to match, Kyle is Gru’s guard dog. The recipient of many unwelcome hugs by Agnes, Kyle isn’t sure whether he wants to swallow the little girls whole, or just cuddle up next to them.

Populating Despicable Me: Casting Comic TalentWhen bringing together the cast for Illumination’s first animated feature, the

directors and producers of Despicable Me were adamant about selecting actors who could not only bring out the humour of their voices, but also channel their comic physicality to inspire the many animators who worked on the project. Cohen explains: “The way we approached the casting is that we wanted to find the absolute best improvisational comedians out there. They brought a level of spontaneity and naturalistic performances to the film.”

To choose the comedy’s primary super-villain, a character who is at his wit’s end trying to become the best in his profession, the team members had to look no further than a former collaborator. Performer Steve Carell is known to millions of fans through his roles on television’s The Office and popular films including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Get Smart and Date Night, but it was his voice that most interested the filmmakers. He first worked with Meledandri on Horton Hears a Who!, in which he vocalized the role of the Mayor of Who-ville.

“Steve has great pathos in his voice, but his voice also carries his comedy effectively,” says Meledandri. “Working with him is unique because he comes to the process as an actor, an improviser and a writer. It’s rare that Steve will not give you a


version of the scene that everybody agrees has just taken that comic or dramatic sequence and made it significantly better. The process of working with him is one of discovery. You never quite know where he’s going, and yet he always takes you to a place that’s a more elevated level than where you started.”

When the team sat down with Carell to discuss his ideas about a vocal approach to Gru, Carell made the observation that great villains in movies have very memorable voices, and he didn’t want the audience to pinpoint the accent. Explains Meledandri: “Carell started to play with different vocals that involved accents, and he came up with one that lands somewhere between Ricardo Montalban and Bela Lugosi. As soon as he started playing with that voice, it began to inform our visual conception of the character.”

It wasn’t only the opportunity to play a villain that attracted Carell to the project. “The story is really sweet,” he offers. “That’s what drew me to it. As crazy as Gru sounds and as diabolical and mean and awful as he is, there is humanity to him. It comes out in little bits, all the way through. It says a lot about how people can change, and how aspects of a person can come to the surface, given a different circumstance. People aren’t either good or evil…there’s always some good to evil and there’s always some evil within good. When you see someone who on the surface just seems despicable, and then they’re not, that’s interesting and fun to explore.”

Carell also appreciated how Gru was in competition with Vector to win the title of World’s Best Villain. “It’s very frustrating for Gru to be the second-best villain in the world, because he’s a perfectionist,” the actor adds. “He’s somebody who takes pride in his work, and he wants to be the best at being bad. But there’s someone out there who is upstaging him…and he doesn’t like it a bit.”

To play Gru’s arch nemesis, Vector, the team chose comedy actor/writer Jason Segel. A formidable opponent to Gru, Vector is described by Carell as “younger and with a lot of technology at his disposal. He really gets under Gru’s skin. When you’re competing for stealing the moon, you can’t really be friends.”

A newcomer to the world of animation, Segel was excited for his first time out. He also had a chance to tap into his geeky side when he came up with the voice for Vector. “I’d never done anything like this,” says Segel. “The closest I’d come to it was puppetry, but this was pretty spectacular. I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be working with other actors. You read all the lines on your own, so it’s a real exercise in imagination. To get into character as Vector, I tried to find my dorky self from when I was really young. I’d left it behind, but I re-channelled.”

Just as Gru is struggling to impress his considerably dour mother, Vector will do anything to get attention from his aloof and evil father. Segel explains: “My character’s relationship with his father is a bit strained in the film. He doesn’t have faith in me and that’s actually one of the driving forces, as it is with most villains. It comes down to a weird relationship with your parents.”

Teen superstar Miranda Cosgrove of television’s juggernaut hit iCarly joined the Despicable Me production as Margo, the eldest of the three sisters whom Gru adopts. A veteran of Nickelodeon since her time on Drake & Josh, Cosgrove has helped to build her show about an entrepreneurial teen who produces webcasts with her best friends into the highest rated live-action show on the network and the No. 1 series on all of television among kids 2-11. Indeed, an episode of iCarly holds the record as Nickelodeon’s highest-rated and most-watched live action telecast in the history of the network. It was


Cosgrove’s deadpan vocal timing and inherent knack for physical comedy on iCarly that snagged her the part of Margo.

As the most suspicious of the orphans whom Gru attempts to dupe into doing his malevolent deeds, Margo remains vigilant in protecting her little sisters. The directors and producers knew they wanted Cosgrove to be their Margo the moment they met her. Renaud explains their choice: “The role is a tough role, and Miranda landed something important for us. The girls are the soul of the movie, and Margo - more than even the other two - is the conscience for Gru and she’s the big sister to everybody…including Gru. It was an important choice to get Miranda, who has fantastic acting capability and gave Margo exactly the voice we needed, one with weight to it.”

What sealed the deal for Cosgrove was the chance to work with a fellow comic performer she admired. “Steve Carell is one of my favourite actors,” she says. “So when I found out he was a part of the film, it was icing on the cake. The whole story’s fun. I love that he’s the villain, and that the villain is the lead for once. Gru ends up having this amazing heart and being a really nice guy in the end. I love stories like that. I also liked being the oldest orphan, the one who is keeping it all together. I get to say a lot of witty, fun things.”

Cast as the middle sister, Edith, was newcomer Dana Gaier. Describing Edith, the young actress says: “She’s mischievous and sarcastic. She’s really a troublemaker, which is something I can almost relate to because I make trouble with my sister. Edith likes to touch lots of things when she’s told not to. She’s the kind of person that really doesn’t listen, but it’s just because she’s curious and likes to explore. It’s all in fun for me and for Edith. We really love our sisters.”

As well, the filmmakers discovered young Elsie Fisher to play Margo and Edith’s littlest sister, Agnes. Whenever the directors needed Agnes to dissolve into a fit of giggles, Fisher was always game to provide the laughs. In fact, some of the biggest laughs of the production came from off-the-cuff deliveries that Fisher gave. Whether it was when she was asked to vocalize what Agnes would say when she gets the unicorn of her dreams (“It’s so fluffy!!!”) or how she would deliver one of Paul and Daurio’s lines when Gru demands the girls not bother him (“Does this count as annoying?” - before she playfully taps her cheeks), Fisher never failed to amaze the filmmakers with her natural comic timing.

For Fisher, she loved knowing that her character would be getting a father of her own. She says, “I have a really great dad, so I know it’s important for Agnes to have one too.”

One of the greatest finds of the production was when beloved actress Julie Andrews signed on to voice Gru’s demanding, never-pleased mother. At every opportunity, she’s poo-pooed Gru’s many successful diabolical ventures and let him know he’s never good enough. Meledandri remembers his first meeting with the legend: “When we asked Julie to become involved in the movie, her reaction was an initial excitement, and then a resistance when she learned about the character. She plays a character in this film that is almost the anti-Mary Poppins, someone who is a mean and nasty and demanding mother.”

Writers Paul and Daurio had imagined a mother who wants her son to be the best that he can be, but who is also a woman with a quite awful parenting methodology. “Julie’s response was that not only had she never played anybody like this, but that she


had never met anybody remotely like this,” Meledandri continues. “That initial resistance very quickly turned into her excitement about taking on a challenge and performing a role that was unlike anything she had done before.”

When describing our super-villain’s often scowling, nagging kick-boxer of a mother, Andrews laughs: “Gru’s mother is a terrible lady. I was sometimes appalled at what my character was trying to do, and sometimes it cracked me up so badly.” However, she loved the project enough to trust Renaud and Coffin’s vision. “The film has such heart,” the actress notes. “Ultimately, it’s about the power of love and about the wonder that children have. These three little children have no idea that there’s such a thing as evil or anything else. They just want to be loved.”

Just as Carell adopted a curious accent for his character, so did Andrews find a signature voice. Of Gru’s mother’s vocals, she explains: “Her voice ends up being a little European and a little bit Jewish, German, Middle European, English white bread. I knew that Steve was going for a very low, slightly halting voice. So I thought, ‘Well, where would he have gotten that? Wouldn’t he have gotten that from Mum? Maybe they came from a sort of Middle European background, and then came over here.’”

Describing his on-screen mother, Carell laughs: “If there was a less appropriate person to play a nasty, terrible mom, it would be Julie Andrews. But she’s fantastic.” He deadpans: “Maybe there’s a side of her that’s really awful, and it comes out in this movie.”

Helping to bring Gru’s plans to fruition and protect his fortress from interlopers (be they girls selling cookies or overly friendly/nosy neighbours) is Gru’s mad scientist-in-residence, Dr Nefario. Brought onto the production to voice the dotty and hearing-impaired inventor was British comic performer Russell Brand.

Brand explains that he tried different vocal tones with the filmmakers until they found one that fit the character they’d imagined. “I looked at how Nefario walks and how he thinks and tried to have a reaction to it. He sounds sort of like a Ray Winstone-y gangster, but with a mellowness underneath. I also had to add some age to the voice. I made a vocal cake out of vibrations in my throat.”

The role of the raging, blustering Mr Perkins was given to Carell’s fellow Horton Hears a Who! comic voice talent, Will Arnett. The actor, who has a number of animated films - from Ratatouille to Monsters vs Aliens - to his credit, had to delve into his wicked side when he composed the voice for the Bank of Evil’s manager. Perkins wants nothing more than to see the loan-seeking Gru grovel at his feet while his own son, Vector, beats Gru in the race to steal the moon.

“I wanted him to have a holier-than-thou, haughty accent that was snobby and moneyed,” Arnett explains. “I thought he should sound like he was working his way through sentences. He almost eats the words; he chews them over and devours every situation that he’s in. He’s a monster in human form. The writers created such a great moody world, and it was a terrific opportunity to get into a really heavy, awful, growling, animalistic and beastlike character.”

Not all of the villains in Despicable Me are male. Perhaps the most evil mastermind of the players in Gru’s world is Miss Hattie, the proprietor of the orphanage where we meet Margo, Edith and Agnes. If she is not plunking down girls in her “Box of Shame” for a perceived slight, Miss Hattie may be found sending her orphan army out into inclement weather to hawk minty mints, choco swirlies and coconutties cookies.


When the filmmakers searched for the perfect villainess, they recruited the woman of a thousand faces and voices herself, Saturday Night Live veteran Kristen Wiig. “I grew up watching animated movies; they were such a big part of my youth,” notes the actress. “I always try to do something different with my voice, especially coming from SNL. It’s really exciting to do that and then have my character built around it.”

Wiig met with the filmmakers to discuss the inspiration behind Miss Hattie. “We had an afternoon of finding her voice,” she says. “We discussed Miss Hattie sounding sweet, but not saying nice things. We found this saccharine, Southern lady who is not really meant to be trusted…but she sounds nice on the phone.”

30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer was one of the only performers who provided vocals for multiple characters in Despicable Me. “When I first met the team, they showed me pictures of what my first character would be, which is this larger, Southern gentleman…a tourist. I was also asked to play the Carnival Barker, and both of these characters look exactly like me.”

Suburban Gothic: Visual Style of the Animated ComedyWhen the filmmakers were determining what the world they had imagined would

look like on film, they instinctively knew that Gru should never plot his villainy in a boring, humdrum neighbourhood. Explains Cohen: “The look of Despicable Me and the world of the movie is very much inspired by a Charles Addams and Edward Gorey sensibility. The art director of the movie, Eric Guillon, and the production designer, Yarrow Cheney, have come up with a bright and vibrant visual aesthetic that’s unlike any other animated movie you’ve ever seen.”

Meledandri elaborates on the film’s distinctive design elements: “The characters are largely caricatures of human characters. They’ve been designed by one of the great CG character designers, CARTER GOODRICH, who among many other films designed the characters for Ratatouille. There is sophistication to the design language of this film that at first glance might skew a little bit older. The environments are designed by Eric Guillon, who is such a great talent.”

Healy, who has worked with designer Goodrich before, admits: “I love how complex, humorous and interesting Carter’s character designs are. He captures so much about humanity in each of his drawings; he is just prolific. What I love about the characters he designed is that there is a huge range of types, but the people all inhabit the same world. Carter’s work demonstrates the diversity in our world, and he always gives us a unique twist of personality. His people have appeal, and I want to know more about them. That’s always a good start for building a character performance.”

Reflecting upon the art director, she adds: “Eric has a sense of fun and humour in all of his designs. His colour palette is sophisticated and not overly flashy, allowing the shapes and whimsy to be at the forefront. He can draw in many styles, and all of them have a freshness and a unique appeal. Eric strongly contrasts shapes in his compositions, and the variety of the linework provides a dynamic movement and interest that is apparent at first glance. But it’s his imaginative view of the world that sets him apart. He made a cohesive world for Despicable Me, and I never tire of exploring all the incredible pieces of imagery because they are fun, comedic, inventive and totally his own.”

To find inspiration for the film, the team looked to one of its first drawings. Offers Renaud: “One of the first things Eric designed was Gru’s car, which remains


identical to the way he originally drew it. We looked at that car and said, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen a car like that before!’ The world grew out of that in a weird way. That was the image we first started referring to: ‘This is our world. This is Gru’s car.’”

When they imagined how Gru would move, directors Renaud and Coffin were inspired by physical comedians from Peter Sellers to Rowan Atkinson. The super-villain is a towering presence with hunched shoulders and a hooked nose. But when he needs to do so, Gru can move with the grace of a cat. Tonally, the filmmakers created a “Spy vs Spy” world in which Gru would be subject to all sorts of explosions and attacks - from rocket launchers to domestic sharks - and live to fight again.

It was clear to all involved that they had no interest in creating a universe for Gru and his extended family and foes that had a photorealistic quality to it. They wanted the film to have a unique colour palette and a distinct stylization. But the details within the world would need to be quite striking in their hyperrealism - an incredulous fantasyland for a super-villain that was populated with very true-to-life details.

Gru is deliciously wicked, and his surroundings reflect that. The keen observer of Despicable Me can find elements throughout the film that offer nods to the brooding humour. In a direct nod to the father of The Addams Family, there is a painting on the wall in Gru’s lair in which a boulder is falling off a cliff and about to squash a hapless tour bus that is motoring by. Stuffed game mounted on the wall showcase - what else? - predator swallowing prey that is swallowing weaker prey. As well, in the Bank of Evil, as Gru walks through the main corridor, the pillars progressively show hapless victims squished by the columns. These are simply some of the many tongue-in-cheek references inserted by the team.

For the environmental design, Coffin brought art director Guillon, an artist with whom he has worked for many years, onto the production. “Eric actually spoke maybe three or four words of English,” Meledandri explains. “Pierre has tremendous confidence in Eric. From the very first images that Eric drew, the suggestion of both colour and style of the world was absolutely present. His artwork is so extraordinary that when he creates a piece of what we call ‘visual development’ or ‘visual design,’ he does it in a way that when you look at it, you say, ‘Oh my gosh!’ The personality that he places in his design is extraordinary. There’s a whimsy to it; there’s warmth and a distinctive edge.”

As they considered creating locations for Despicable Me, the directors and producers knew that there had to be a significant discrepancy between the Gothic lines of Gru’s black house (first imagined by production designer Cheney) and the post-modern visuals of the spoiled-rotten Vector’s fortress. Offers Meledandri: “The array of styles was designed by Pierre and Chris and Eric to reflect how the characters fit into this world. Gru lives in a black house in this picture-perfect suburban neighbourhood where the only blight on the neighbourhood is his home, with its hint of a Gothic style. His vehicle is probably the least environmentally conscious vehicle ever placed on Earth. It’s all a bit ragged since he’s a character who is no longer at his prime.”

Conversely, Meledandri explains of Gru’s rival’s lair: “His nemesis, Vector, is a rich-kid brat who has been denied nothing in life. He lives in a very modern, state-of-the-art massive video game console, which has been paid for by his rich banker father. The duelling styles are reflective of the character conflict that’s going on between these two guys.”


Adorable Gibberish: Amassing a Minion ArmyBorn out of the animation process were the scene-stealers the production came to

know as Gru’s minions. Though not in the original pitch, the adorable (yet incredibly mischievous) minions quickly became favourites for the animators as they built Gru’s world. Renaud laughs: “Minions tend to work best when there are at least 20 of them. So that’s 20 more characters to animate. Almost every scene with them became a crowd scene, which was technically very challenging.”

According to producer Healy, the minions represent “a melding of the wonderful talents of each director.” She commends: “They are a result of the special collaboration of two of the nicest and most talented directors one can hope to work with. Chris conceived their initial design and their mission as Gru’s underground mole people, and Pierre added the silly animation style and most of the voices. But the directors brought these characters to the screen together and had huge fun defining them. The result is wonderful comedic moments that add another layer of interest and humour, and it came from the deeply funny brains and imaginations of Chris and Pierre. Once they gave them names and special funny hairstyles - and decided who was a monoc or a binoc - the personalities of the minions started to emerge. I had trouble remembering who was Jerry or Dave or Tim, but the directors always knew. The scenes just kept getting more special, and the fact that all minions are similar is what makes them funny.”

The voices of the workers were largely the creation of Coffin. While the team was pondering different vocals they could give the creatures, Coffin came to work one day with a voice test the entire crew loved. They compressed the sound, and the minions were born. The two men subsequently designed a language for Gru’s army that is intended to be an indescribable vocal expression, and the directors and New Zealand actor Jemaine Clement split up the voice work.

Coffin worked with his fellow director to develop the complex language for the minions. To help us understand them, every once in a while a word of English sneaks out during a scene. Renaud and Coffin discovered how to compress the sound of their voices so that they were able to tweak slightly both their and Clement’s voices for each little guy’s vocals.

“The language is much more about sound than it is about any kind of meaning,” says Meledandri. “Pierre works very quickly to present his ideas visually, and not just in a still form. He’s much more comfortable communicating an idea by bringing it to life with some limited animation. From the very first time we were introduced to the idea of these characters, they were immediately appealing. We had a sense from day one that the minions were slowly going to try to take over the movie; they’re irresistible in their combination of innocence and mischief.”

Adds Cohen: “They’ve created this incredibly unique language for the minions, where a lot of times it sounds like it’s gibberish. You hear all kinds of languages being incorporated into the way they speak. Then occasionally, you’d hear a word or two of English, and that gives you a sense of what the minions are actually saying.”

While the comic actors improvised certain lines in the film, it was Steve Carell who actually helped to name the minions. During vocal sessions as Gru, he would throw out a name to the minions, such as Dave or Tim. Though there were tons of them, and many look the same, Carell knew that Gru would know each of his happy workers by name. Once the directors heard Carell calling them out by name, they thought it was a


terrific idea to give several other of the minions names that would match their unique personalities.

Space for Comedy: Shooting in 3-DNot only is Despicable Me Illumination’s first film, it is also the first project that

the Meledandri team has produced in 3-D. Before the layout began, the producers and directors knew that Gru’s world would be further embraced by audiences if an extra dimension was added. They requested that Paul and Daurio look for opportunities to utilize 3-D as they crafted their script, but only when it made logical sense. The screenwriters were guided in their decision making to insert 3-D suggestions in such scenes as when Gru and Vector fire their array of missiles, when airships fly past or when smoke trails from a vehicle float out across the audience.

Whether it be during the death-defying shrink-ray heist, explosions in midair from errant missiles or on the rollercoaster ride on which Gru takes the three girls, the animators aimed to bring the audience into the journey with the characters of the movie. The filmmakers also discovered that they could use the space as an opportunity to create comedic effect. Since this was a relatively new domain for them, it gave them the chance to deliver laughs that come at very unexpected times.

Meledandri was adamant that the team consciously used the space appropriately, as opposed to a simple 3-D transfer of a 2-D look. He reflects: “The utilization of the dimensional space helps to define the visual look of the film. There are many sequences in the film where we simply take advantage of the dimensional space in subtle ways. Our goal is always to immerse the audience in the film and to make them feel like the film’s environment is expanding around them. We also use the action to put the audience right smack in the middle of it. Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin had tremendous fun in staging and boarding these sequences.”

“From the beginning, we envisioned this as a 3-D movie,” adds Cohen. “We needed to find someone who understood how to make a 3-D movie and how to tell a story from shot to shot and scene to scene. We found a fantastic stereographer in JOHN BENSON, who was 3-D specialist on Coraline. He moved to Paris and worked on this movie from the very beginning.”

From the start, the filmmakers knew that they wanted Despicable Me to be in 3-D. They explored different scenarios in which to utilize the extra space, and then began to layer the story with more and more 3D-friendly sequences. The filmmakers even built a model of the entire rollercoaster at Super Silly Fun Land to enhance the way it appears on screen in 3-D. Renaud offers: “We layered 3-D in more and more as the movie went along. We were all seeing the importance of 3-D and how the audiences embraced it. Having an element that is completely built creates a cool experience. The thing with designing in this media is that you can’t trick the camera, so everything has got to be there for it to feel like a true experience.”

A Global Production: From France to the USAs the team began preproduction for Despicable Me, Meledandri searched across

the world to find production houses that would be ideal partners in animating the film. As they built Illumination, they felt it was important to choose the shops that were the best fit for each production in the pipeline. After visiting a number of studios, the producer


travelled to France to investigate shops from that country’s tremendous traditions in animation.

The filmmaker would find the perfect fit at the Paris-based digital visual effects studio Mac Guff. Meledandri explains: “France has one of the greatest animation schools in the world called Gobelins. They have a sense of comedy in France that has a great connection to our sense of comedy here. I visited a number of studios, and within an hour after arriving at Mac Guff, I knew that these were right partners. I had a tremendous amount of confidence in the people that I met and in the work that I saw.”

As Illumination was building its production process, it set out to create a very efficient, streamlined approach to make the first of its films. Considering the technology and artistry that was available, the crew began preproduction in Los Angeles. There, they conducted a good deal of the storyboarding and engaged in the initial editing and designs. As Illumination built up its team in France, it began to transition character animation and computer graphic work to Mac Guff.

Illumination moved about 15 people to France to live full-time. There, they would work on the production under producer Janet Healy’s leadership; together, they became a very tight group. Offers Meledandri of the process: “The technology that we use to work collaboratively is relatively simple. We used Skype and iChat because there’s such an ease of use that we preferred. These are both very low-key and casual, everyday forms of communication…rather than fancy state-of-the-art teleconferencing. We had linked editing rooms and due to the time difference, we had a production working 24 hours. It was a tremendously cohesive process.”

Renaud found Mac Guff to be “a world-class studio.” He commends: “There’s a dedication to craft that is second-to-none. What’s interesting about France is that they have an education system that supports animation and the visual arts, which is not easily found everywhere on the globe.”

Healy agrees: “We initially looked at studios all over the world, and we recognized that Mac Guff had a uniquely talented crew and a very stable, full-featured set of CG tools. They had just finished a French film that showed a lot of production value. Our instincts were right: the leadership at the studio was amazing to partner with on a daily basis, and the artists have terrific talent and remarkable technical understanding. We are still astonished at how straightforward, good-natured and productive the team is, and how well they collaborate.”

The producer explains the process of bringing this international crew together: “Seven Americans came to France as the key leadership. The group included one of the directors, me as producer, the associate producer, the editor and the assistant editor, the stereographer and the production designer. Everyone else we needed was available within the Mac Guff team. We brought decades of feature animation experience from the leading American animation studios, and that experience helped the Mac Guff team undertake more complexity in their images. We understood the paradigm of driving a production with constant story improvements, always rewriting, reboarding, trying versions and making changes - no matter how far into the process we were. This dynamic ability to strive to improve the work at every stage was the key difference between how we were used to working and how European studios have usually worked in the past.”

When it came to the process discussions - such as translating artwork to modelling in CG, how rough layouts would get in stereo, or how animation would be


approved - the team had similar expectations and a mutual understanding of the workflow. There were about 14 departments that worked in CG, and the artists had unique specialties. As well, the many dependencies between departments made management of the duties complex. Initially, workflow conversations took some time, but the crew members approached the CG manufacturing work similarly and found that their ways of problem solving and past experiences shared much in common.

With the American team taking French lessons and French crew members taking English lessons, it was an education for crew on both sides of the Atlantic. Whenever Meledandri addressed the team as a whole, an interpreter was used. Of the global company, the producer adds: “We’ve got an American director and a French director. We’ve had crew working in Canada, New Jersey, Los Angeles and the Midwest. We had numerous nationalities represented on our crew, and in Paris we have people from the UK. Our philosophy was based on the notion that if you’re going to make a movie for a global audience, the complexion of your crew should be a global one.”

The trans-Atlantic process also extended to the vocal talent, as some sessions were recorded in Paris while actors were in Los Angeles. Explains director Renaud: “We did our first few sessions with each actor in person, so that we could work out who the character is.” Once Renaud and Coffin were in Paris, the filmmakers and actors iChatted or Skyped so they could see one another and try different takes of the dialogue reads. “It was very important to us to read the actors’ body language,” Renaud notes.

The production crew connected Renaud and Coffin to a high-quality ISDN audio line so that they could hear each of the actor’s performances. The actors recorded the audio in Los Angeles, which was then delivered to the studio in Paris. With the nine-hour time difference, production ran on a 24-hour cycle, as teams worked constantly on two sides of the ocean.

Working with a director via Skype was a new experience for some of the talent. “It was pretty crazy having the director all the way in Paris…strange to work with somebody but not be in the same room with them physically,” recalls McBrayer. He laughs: “I think they were nine hours ahead, so they could tell the future.”

Having a Bad, Bad Day: Music of Despicable MeIn the past several years, Grammy Award-winning artist Pharrell Williams of The

Neptunes and NERD has written and produced for such blockbuster global musicians as Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Madonna, Kanye West and Shakira. In 2009, Billboard magazine named The Neptunes producers of the decade, and Williams and his collaborators have played an enormous role in shaping the culture of the music landscape. Naturally, the next step for the artist was to explore the interplay between music and movies.

Williams has been interested in scoring music for feature films for some time, and he became more eager to work in this realm after observing Jack Johnson’s musical involvement in creating the best-selling soundtrack to Universal’s animated Curious George. Williams expressed his interest to friend and music supervisor KATHY NELSON. He remembers: “I told Kathy that the very next time something comes your way, you call me and let me know what it is. She said, ‘Pharrell, I really like you, but I’m not going to just give you anything. I’m going call you when it’s the right thing.’ And I got the call for Despicable Me.”


A long-time animation fan, Williams was eager to take on the challenge of crafting original songs and themes for his first film. “What I like about the philosophy on Despicable Me is that the filmmakers don’t make children’s films. They make films for humans that use some of the tricks and treats of youthful entertainment, but at the same time, there’s an amazing storyline.”

Though the task of scoring his first feature seemed daunting, Williams was grateful that he was surrounded by Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer as the film’s music producer and skilled guitarist Heitor Pereira as fellow composer. Says producer Meledandri: “The moment that we showed Pharrell the imagery, it took him about 30 minutes to say, ‘I’ll work on this film in any way possible.’ He was immediately struck by the character designs, the notion of the story and his enthusiasm never waned.

“Pharrell, like our directors, took on the challenge of doing something that he had never done before; this is the first time he’s scored a feature film,” Meledandri continues. “We knew that there was going to be an opportunity in the film for a number of songs that would be used as song score. What’s resulted from his songs is a group of musical themes that he’s worked on with the talented Heitor Pereira and legendary Hans Zimmer.”

Williams’ collaboration with Pereira began as Williams watched preliminary footage of the film and then created musical ideas he thought would fit into each sequence. Pereira would then expand upon some of Williams’ ideas and come up with additional creative works. On working with Pereira, Williams says: “Heitor took those pieces and songs, and he connected the dots. He is the glue in this house of cards. He scored some incredible scenes and embellished some of the scenes that I scored and took those to the next level.”

Williams composed several original songs for the film, including the title track, “Despicable Me.” The artist was inspired by the whimsical narrative of the lyrics from Annie, and he wanted to write lyrics that were as kid-friendly as that musical, but also as moody as Gru’s character. He elaborates: “I’ve never made a song about having a bad day and being in a super bad mood. So I thought I would make it really fun but, at the same time, if you were to hear it without the lyrics, it would sound like this track that you’d want to hear coming out of someone’s truck.”

Music producer Hans Zimmer’s storied career in film has resulted in his composing unforgettable scores for live-action blockbusters such as Rain Man, Twister and Thelma & Louise, as well as the worldwide hits Sherlock Holmes and films from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. But it was his instantly classic composition for 1994’s The Lion King that brought Zimmer an Oscar for Best Original Score and ignited his passion to craft the music behind such modern animated classics as Shark Tale, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. His frequent music partner and world famous guitarist, Heitor Pereira, has collaborated with him on many a project. Despicable Me is their latest effort.

****Universal Pictures Presents A Chris Meledandri Production: Steve Carell in

Despicable Me, starring Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Jack McBrayer and Julie Andrews. The original songs and themes are by Pharrell Williams; the score is by Pharrell Williams and Heitor Pereira.


Despicable Me’s editors are Pamela Ziegenhagen-Shefland and Gregory Perler; the production designer is Yarrow Cheney. The 3-D CGI film’s executive producers are Nina Rowan and Sergio Pablos. It is based on story by Sergio Pablos and from a screenplay by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio. The film is produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy, John Cohen, and it is directed by Chris Renaud & Pierre Coffin. © 2010 Universal Studios. www.despicable.me

ABOUT THE CASTSTEVE CARELL (Gru) has emerged as one of the most sought-after comedic

actors in Hollywood. He first gained recognition for his contributions as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and has successfully segued into primetime television and above-the-title status in the film world with equal aplomb.

Carell’s first lead feature, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he co-wrote with director Judd Apatow, opened at No. 1 and remained there for two straight weekends. The surprise hit of 2005 went on to gross more than $175 million worldwide and had No. 1 openings in 12 countries. The success of the film has continued as it has also generated more than $100 million in DVD sales in North America alone. AFI named the film as one of the 10 Most Outstanding Motion Pictures of the Year and it took home Best Comedy Movie at the 11th annual Critics’ Choice Awards. The film also earned Carell and Apatow a co-nomination for Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America.

Carell starred as Maxwell Smart, opposite Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin, in Get Smart. The film grossed more than $230 million worldwide. Due to the success of the film, Warner Bros. recently announced it will release a sequel in 2011. He also lent his voice as the Mayor of Who-ville in 20th Century Fox’s animated film Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, based on the children’s book written by Dr Seuss. The film was directed by Jimmy Hayward (Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc.) and Steve Martino, and Carell played opposite Jim Carrey, which helped launch the film to international success by earning more than $295 million worldwide. In 2006, he starred with Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as part of an ensemble cast in the black comedy Little Miss Sunshine, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Carell’s previous film credits include Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Bruce Almighty, Bewitched and Dan in Real Life. Carell currently stars in the American adaptation of Ricky Gervais’ acclaimed British television series The Office. The show is in its sixth season and continues to flourish in the ratings. For playing the role of Michael Scott, Carell has earned three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2006, Carell earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy and has received four more nominations since then. The show won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Carell’s endeavours and successes in acting, writing and producing were an organic segue into the creation of his new production company, Carousel Productions.

Born in Massachusetts, Carell now resides in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Nancy Walls (NBC’s Saturday Night Live), whom he met while at The Second City

http://www.despicable.me/


improv group in Chicago, where both were members. He is the proud father of a daughter and a son.

JASON SEGEL (Vector) most recently starred opposite Paul Rudd as a quirky, alpha-male stockbroker named Sydney Fife in the box-office hit I Love You, Man, for Paramount Pictures. With John Hamburg (Meet the Parents) as writer/director/producer and Donald De Line (The Italian Job) also producing, the team produced a film full of laugh-out-loud awkwardness, managing to turn Segel and Rudd into a memorable comedic duo. The film grossed more than $71 million at the domestic box office.

Segel landed his first major motion picture starring role as Peter in Universal Pictures’ Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which he also wrote. Released in April 2008, produced by Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson, and directed by Nicholas Stoller, the film went on to make more than $100 million worldwide and led Segel’s writing skills to be desired by many studios. Segel, along with Stoller, signed with Disney to write and direct the next Muppets film. Segel wrote a Dracula musical performed by puppets, which was a personal idea and passion he incorporated into Forgetting Sarah Marshall that emboldened him to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie.

As another result of the film’s success, Segel was asked to co-produce a spin-off titled Get Him to the Greek, in which Jonah Hill and Russell Brand reunited as co-stars. The film, written and directed by Nicholas Stoller, was released in June 2010.

In June 2007, Segel was summoned by Apatow to share the great success of the comedy Knocked Up, with stars Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. The film grossed more than $140 million domestically and won the People’s Choice Award for Favourite Movie Comedy. Segel’s feature film credits also include Slackers, New Jersey Turnpikes, SLC Punk!, Can’t Hardly Wait and Dead Man on Campus.

On the television front, Segel is in his fifth year starring as Marshall, opposite Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris, in the CBS hit comedy series How I Met Your Mother. TV Guide recently pegged it as a “returning favourite” and it was touted by Time magazine as one of the “Ten Best Shows of 2005.” However, it was his recurring role as Eric on Undeclared, the Fox series about college freshmen that was named one of Time magazine’s “Ten Best Shows of 2001,” that first put him in the minds and hearts of television viewers.

In 1999, Segel portrayed Nick on Freaks and Geeks, Judd Apatow’s Emmy Award-nominated television series for NBC. Segel played a lanky, fun-loving freak dreaming of stardom as a rock-and-roll drummer like his idol, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, and won the eye of Apatow.

Segel just wrapped the highly anticipated remake of Gulliver’s Travels, starring alongside Jack Black and opposite Emily Blunt. The film is scheduled to be released in December 2010.

Segel was born and raised in Los Angeles and continues to reside there.

RUSSELL BRAND (Dr Nefario) recently brought Forgetting Sarah Marshall character Aldous Snow back to life in Universal Pictures’ comedy Get Him to the Greek. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was written by and starred Jason Segel, grossed more than $100 million at the worldwide box office. The year 2008 also saw Brand star in the


Disney film Bedtime Stories, which also featured Adam Sandler and Keri Russell. It was in September 2008 that Brand cemented his fame in the US, when he hosted the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA).

The year 2009 saw the US release of Brand’s writing debut “My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up.” The autobiography, already a huge success in the United Kingdom, went on to stay on The New York Times best-seller list for five weeks in a row. Continuing his stand-up tour in the US, Brand’s third live DVD was released after originally airing on Comedy Central. The year 2009 ended on an even brighter note for Brand when he assumed the role as host of the MTV Video Music Awards for the second year in a row and garnered the biggest VMA audience since 2004, with nearly nine million viewers.

Brand recently started production on the remake of Arthur, in which he takes on the role of the title character for Warner Bros. In addition, he is due to take on the voice of the Easter Bunny in the Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment live-action/CGI-animated hybrid comedy Hop, opposite James Marsden.

In addition to acting, Brand continues to work on his second book.

A comedic star born from the Saturday Night Live stage, KRISTEN WIIG (Miss Hattie) has become one of the most sought-after talents in film and television today. Wiig recently earned her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her incredible work playing such memorable characters as the excitable Target Lady, Lawrence Welk singer Doonese, the hilarious one-upper Penelope, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Suze Orman, among others.

Wiig will soon start production as the lead in an untitled comedy that she co-wrote with Annie Mumolo. She was recently seen in MacGruber, in which she starred opposite fellow SNL cast member Will Forte and Ryan Phillippe. Her upcoming films include Greg Mottola’s Paul, co-starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and Andrew Jarecki’s All Good Things, opposite Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella. She also contributed her voice to the recently released animated feature film How to Train Your Dragon, starring Gerard Butler and Jay Baruchel, for DreamWorks Animation.

Wiig made her big-screen debut to universal high praise as Katherine Heigl’s passive-aggressive boss in Judd Apatow’s smash-hit comedy Knocked Up. Her additional film credits include Mike Judge’s Extract, with Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck and Mila Kunis; Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It, starring Ellen Page; Greg Mottola’s Adventureland, with Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg; David Koepp’s Ghost Town, with Ricky Gervais; and Jake Kasdan’s Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, another Apatow-produced film in which she starred opposite John C Reilly.

Wiig’s past television credits include guest-starring on NBC’s Emmy-winning series 30 Rock, the HBO series Bored to Death, with Jason Schwartzman, and HBO’s The Flight of the Conchords.

A native of Rochester, New York, Wiig worked as a main company member of the Los Angeles-based improv/sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings. As a Groundlings alumna, she joins the ranks of such SNL castmates as Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, Will Forte and Jon Lovitz.

Wiig lives in New York City.


MIRANDA COSGROVE (Margo) is one of Hollywood’s hottest young stars.She can currently be seen on the Emmy Award-nominated iCarly, Nickelodeon’s

highest-rated live-action show. A January 2010 episode titled “iSaved Your Life” attracted 12 million viewers, beating out its time slot competition on both broadcast and cable television. The episode also has the distinction of being the most watched telecast on cable that entire week. On the show, Cosgrove stars in the title role (Carly Shay) as a teenager who lives with her twenty-something brother/guardian and produces webcasts from a makeshift loft studio with her two best friends. Not only is the show a success in the US, it has broad international appeal as well. iCarly has won the Kids’ Choice Award (KCA) for Favourite TV Show, the Australia KCA for Favourite Comedy and the Germany KCA for Favourite TV Show.

Cosgrove received Kids Choice Award nominations for Favourite Television Actress in 2009 and 2010 and a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice TV Actress: Comedy in 2009; won the Nickelodeon UK Star of the Year Award in 2010; received a nomination for Favourite International TV Star from the 2008 Australia Kids’ Choice Awards; and received a nomination for Favourite Female TV Star from the 2008 UK Kids’ Choice Awards. iCarly was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award in 2009 and a Teen Choice Award in 2009 and won Kids’ Choice Awards in 2009 and 2010.

Cosgrove recently signed with Columbia Records and recorded her first album, “iCarly,” which features four original songs that she sings. Her debut solo album, “Sparks Fly,” hit stores on April 27, 2010. She co-wrote the first single, “Kissin’ U,” with influential producer Dr Luke.

She received rave reviews for her work in Richard Linklater’s School of Rock as Summer Hathaway, the overachieving preppy manager of Jack Black’s rock band. Her other film credits include Yours, Mine and Ours and Keeping Up With the Steins. Her theatre credits include Back Again, with the Orison group.

Cosgrove got her big break when she landed the highly sought-after role of Megan Parker on Nickelodeon’s mega-hit Drake & Josh. She played the deceptively sweet, mischievous little sister whose scene-stealing role led to her own show, iCarly. She recently appeared in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh on Nickelodeon.

Cosgrove’s voice-over credits include Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie (as Munch the mouse) and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? (as Miranda Wright).

She is also one of the faces of Neutrogena, alongside Gabrielle Union, Hayden Panettiere, Susie Castillo, Vanessa Hudgens, Jennifer Garner, Diane Lane and Emma Roberts.

In her spare time, Cosgrove enjoys horseback riding, fencing, bike riding, tennis, shopping, travelling and writing. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she currently lives there with her family.

WILL ARNETT (Mr Perkins) has been an extremely busy man of late. He can currently be seen in the Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures Western action film Jonah Hex, based on the DC comic of the same name. In the film, Arnett stars opposite Megan Fox, Josh Brolin and John Malkovich. This fall, he will return to television on Fox’s much anticipated new comedy series Running Wilde, opposite of Keri Russell. Arnett will


play an extremely wealthy Beverly Hills man who falls for an environmental activist. He will star and write for the series alongside writer/director Mitchell Hurwitz.

Arnett was most recently seen starring in the Walt Disney Pictures’ romantic comedy When in Rome, opposite Kristen Bell, and in the live-action/CGI film G-Force, opposite Penélope Cruz, Nicolas Cage, Steve Buscemi and Zach Galifianakis, for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Last year, he voiced a character in DreamWorks’ hugely successful, 3-D animated adventure film Monsters vs Aliens, alongside Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, which opened at No. 1 at the box office. He also starred in the basketball comedy Semi-Pro, opposite Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson, and lent his voice to the hugely successful, animated comedy Horton Hears a Who! In 2007, he was seen opposite Will Ferrell and Arnett’s wife, Amy Poehler, in the figure skating comedy Blades of Glory, and co-starred opposite Will Forte in The Brothers Solomon.

In 2006, Arnett earned his first Emmy nomination for his work on the critically acclaimed Fox sitcom Arrested Development, in which he portrayed Gob Bluth for three seasons. From time to time, Arnett guest stars on NBC’s 30 Rock, in which he plays Devon Banks. Last year, he earned his second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for the role. Arnett also lent his voice to Fox’s animated sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, from creator Mitchell Hurwitz

Before Arrested Development, Arnett was a regular on the NBC comedy series The Mike O’Malley Show. His additional television credits include guest-starring roles on Parks and Recreation, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Boston Public, Third Watch and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Arnett also appeared on NBC’s Will & Grace, in which he played Jack’s dance nemesis while auditioning to become a backup dancer for Janet Jackson.

Arnett’s other feature credits include Ice Age: The Meltdown; RV, opposite Robin Williams; Monster-in-Law; The Waiting Game; The Broken Giant; Southie; and Ed’s Next Move. Additionally, he can be heard in a variety of commercials, most notably as the voice of GMC trucks.

Arnett currently resides in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, actress Amy Poehler, and son, Archie.

DANNY MCBRIDE (Fred McDade) first gained industry awareness with his starring role in David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls, winner of the 2003 Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. However, it was when he returned in 2006 with the Sundance Film Festival’s smash-hit comedy The Foot Fist Way that he became a known name in Hollywood and desired by its top producers and directors. McBride, who starred in and co-wrote the film with long-time friends and college classmates Jody Hill (Observe and Report) and Ben Best (Superbad), caught the attention of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay after it debuted at Sundance. The film was supported by Ferrell and McKay’s banner, Gary Sanchez Productions, and was released by Paramount Vantage in May 2008. The Los Angeles Times proclaimed the film “the sort of nimble oddball discovery that one wishes would come along more often,” while USA Today remarked that “Foot Fist is more original and comical than such low-budget sleeper hits as Napoleon Dynamite and Hot Fuzz.” The Austin Film Critics Association bestowed McBride with its 2008 Breakthrough Artist Award for his role in the film.


McBride continued his success in 2008, starring opposite Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and James Franco in Pineapple Express. The film, which was directed by Green and co-written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad), centres on two buddies who get mixed up with a drug gang. The members of the Detroit Film Critics Society nominated McBride for Best Newcomer for his role as Red. Sony Pictures released the film in August and it opened at No. 1 at the box office, earning more than $100 million worldwide.

Immediately following the success of Pineapple Express, McBride was back on top of the box office a week later with the Paramount Pictures release of Tropic Thunder. Directed and written by Ben Stiller, the film was No. 1 for two weeks in a row and earned more than $100 million domestically. A star-studded cast joined McBride, including Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey.

McBride has starred in such comedies as Land of the Lost, Hot Rod, The Heartbreak Kid and Drillbit Taylor. He recently filmed Universal Pictures’ comedy Your Highness, which McBride co-wrote and which was directed by long-time collaborator David Gordon Green.

McBride is currently starring in HBO’s Eastbound & Down, which he wrote and executive produced with Jody Hill and Ben Best, along with executive producing partners Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy. The show features McBride as Kenny Powers, a star pitcher whose self-destructive behaviour knocks him out of Major League baseball and back home to North Carolina, where he ends up teaching physical education at the middle school he once attended. The six-episode season premiered on the network on February 15, 2009, and was recently picked up for a second season. Eastbound & Down also stars Katy Mixon (Four Christmases), John Hawkes (Me and You and Everyone We Know, HBO’s Deadwood), Jennifer Irwin (Still Standing), Andrew Daly (Semi-Pro), Steve Little (The Ugly Truth), Sylvia Jefferies (The Notebook) and Best.

Born in Statesboro, Georgia, McBride grew up in Virginia. He attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he received a BFA in filmmaking.

JACK MCBRAYER (Carnival Barker/Tourist Dad) currently stars as Kenneth, the overeager but loveable page, on NBC’s Emmy Award-winning series 30 Rock, a performance that earned him a 2009 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, a 2009 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series and SAG nominations in 2008 and 2010.

McBrayer stars as the voice of Irving on Disney Channel’s animated series Phineas and Ferb. He will next be seen on the big screen in Brian Robbins’ dramedy A Thousand Words, with Eddie Murphy and Allison Janney.

Previously, McBrayer starred with Jason Segel, Paul Rudd and Russell Brand in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, directed by Nicholas Stoller. He was also seen opposite Will Ferrell in the NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; opposite John C Reilly in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, directed by Jake Kasdan; and in Spring Breakdown, opposite Amy Poehler and Parker Posey.

McBrayer has received two Emmy Award nominations for his role in producing and starring in the 30 Rock: Kenneth the Webpage online web series for NBC.


He recently performed in select cities on the Conan O’Brien 2010 Comedy Tour throughout North America. He has made numerous appearances on Saturday Night Live, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and the Today show.

DANA GAIER (Edith) is a 12-year-old, seventh grade honours student from New Jersey. She has always loved all aspects of performing since the age of one, when she picked up a play guitar and started singing the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” for a room full of friends and family. At age five, while Gaier was “entertaining” people in a restaurant, a talent manager handed Gaier’s mother her card. At that time, Gaier’s mom decided it wasn’t the right time for Gaier to expand her interests beyond the local/community level. At age eight, Gaier was asked to open and close her school’s talent show with her rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” Gaier has great comedic timing and a terrific sense of humour, and is often compared to the television character Punky Brewster.

Gaier has always loved being on the stage, and has performed the title roles in Annie and Alice in Wonderland, Shprintze in Fiddler on the Roof, Iago in Aladdin and a Fagin’s boy in Oliver, to name a few. Last year, at an audition for Seussical: The Musical, Gaier won the role of JoJo (a male role) over the boys at the call-backs, and the show was nominated for a Perry Award (New Jersey’s theatre equivalent to the Tony Awards). In September 2009, Gaier performed at the Perry Awards ceremony, reprising her role as JoJo. She also enjoyed making two national television appearances on Nickelodeon’s ME:TV.

After hearing that she resembles Dakota Fanning throughout the first five years of her life, ELSIE FISHER (Agnes) decided she wanted to be an actress. With her parents blessing, she took the plunge and, in the very first month of her career, was cast in Despicable Me. Since doing the film, Fisher has also made appearances in several national commercials and on the hit television show Medium.

When she is not driving back and forth to auditions in Los Angeles, Fisher enjoys being in first grade, playing video games and spending time with her best friend, Deanna. When she grows up, Fisher says she would like to be a scientist, the President or a pink kitty cat.

JULIE ANDREWS (Gru’s Mother) has been a beloved and much honoured star of stage, screen and television for more than half a century. She was already a Broadway legend when she made her feature-film debut in 1964’s Mary Poppins. Andrews’ iconic performance in the title role of the magical nanny brought her an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. The following year, she earned a second Oscar nomination and won another Golden Globe Award for her unforgettable portrayal of Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. She received her third Academy Award nomination and won another Golden Globe Award for her “dual” role in Victor Victoria.

Today’s young film audiences may be more familiar with Andrews as a queen trying to train her teenage granddaughter to be a princess in the hit film The Princess Diaries and its sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Andrews also voiced the character of Queen Lillian in the blockbuster hits Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third. More


recently, she voiced the narration of the hugely successful Disney film Enchanted, The Tooth Fairy and Shrek the Final Chapter.

Her earlier motion picture credits also include The Americanization of Emily, Hawaii, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Star!, Darling Lili and 10, to name only a few.

Andrews was born and raised in England, where she first came to fame as a young musical performer on stage and on radio. She was still in her teens when she made her way across the Atlantic and to Broadway in her 1953 debut in the musical The Boy Friend. She went on to create the role of Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway musical My Fair Lady, which became an instant classic and the longest-running musical of its day. Andrews also won a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and garnered a Tony Award nomination for her performance. She received another Tony Award nomination in 1961 when she originated the role of Queen Guinevere in the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot. Thirty-five years later, Andrews returned to Broadway to star in the 1995 stage adaptation of Victor Victoria. Her career came full circle in 2005 when she directed a revival of The Boy Friend, which toured throughout North America.

Andrews has also been honoured for her work on television, beginning in 1957 with her Emmy-nominated performance in the title role of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Cinderella. She later won an Emmy Award for her own musical variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour, and also earned Emmy nominations for Julie and Carol at Lincoln Centre (with her “chum” Carol Burnett) and her performance in the special The Sound of Julie Andrews. Andrews’ more recent television movies includes One Special Night, with her friend James Garner, Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime, and she reunited with Christopher Plummer in the CBS live production of On Golden Pond.

Andrews, already an accomplished best-selling author (1971’s “Mandy,” 1974’s “The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles”), has joined talents with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton to pursue the publishing of books committed to stimulating a sense of wonder in children and young readers. “The Julie Andrews’ Collection” was launched in October 2003 and has released more than 25 books to date, including the “Little Bo” series, the “Dumpy the Dumptruck” franchise, “The Great American Mousical,” “Thanks to You: Wisdom From Mother & Child” and “Simeon’s Gift” (the musical adaptation of which toured parts of the US in 2008 and will go out on a world tour in 2010). Andrews’ autobiography “Home: A Memoir of My Early Years” was released in April 2008 to rave reviews and immediately climbed to No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list as well as several other prestigious lists in the US and abroad.

In addition to her stage and screen work, Andrews has dedicated her life to her family and to serving important causes including Operation USA, an international relief organization with which she has travelled to such places as Vietnam and Cambodia. From 1992 to 2006, Andrews was honoured as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which provides financial and technical support for low-income women in developing countries.

Andrews received her honours as a Dame of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on New Year’s Eve 1999. She was also a 2001 Kennedy Centre Honouree. For more about Andrews and her collection, please go to www.julieandrewscollection.com.

http://www.julieandrewscollection.com/


ABOUT THE FILMMAKERSHaving worked for Marvel and DC Comics from 1994 to 2000, CHRIS RENAUD

(Directed by/Dave the Minion/Additional Character Design) comes from a background in comic art. From there, he moved to production design at Shadow Projects and Big Big Productions, where he worked on the Emmy-nominated children’s programs Bear in the Big Blue House and It’s a Big Big World. With these projects, he oversaw all aspects of the animation process, including character development, creating concept storyboards and managing teams of digital modellers and artists.

He progressed to Blue Sky Studios/20th Century Fox Animation, where he worked as a story artist on a number of feature animation projects, including Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. His role was to translate the screen story into the visual language of cinema, inventing and staging both dramatic and comedic action.

In 2007, Renaud conceived, wrote and storyboarded the animated short No Time for Nuts, overseeing every creative aspect of production, including design, layout, lighting, rendering, music composition and sound design. No Time for Nuts was nominated for an Academy Award, and it went on to win the animation industry’s Annie Award for Best Short.

Renaud will next direct Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, scheduled for release on March 2, 2012.

PIERRE COFFIN (Directed by/Minion Voices) studied cinema at the Sorbonne University between 1985 and 1988. While engaged in his military service, he withdrew in order to sit for the Gobelins entry exam. He succeeded and followed the 2-D course from 1990 to 1993. Coffin then moved to England and worked for one year as a junior animator at Amblimation, Steven Spielberg’s animation studio. Back in France, he worked as a freelance CG artist for the National Centre of Pedagogical Documents, helping to create various educational programs for French television.

In 1996, Coffin began working at Ex Machina, the leading animation company at the time. He became lead animator, then head of animation, and worked on short films including Flying Fish Tobby Who Aimed for the Stars. But it was with his short film Pings (1997) that his style was recognized. Shortly thereafter, he co-directed, with SoandSau, a commercial for Pastilles Vichy.

He joined Wanda as an animation director and then Passion Pictures, which works hand in hand with Mac Guff Ligne on all its CG commercials. While there, he worked on several commercials, as well as a miniseries for BBC1 (part of The Lenny Henry Show) called Polar Bears. Recognized as the “animal-commercial director,” Coffin is famous for commercials including Dédé (for the Française des Jeux, the largest French lottery), Caisse d’Epargne (a leading French Bank) and, recently, Oasis.

In 2007, Coffin directed a seven-minute teaser for his feature film Bones Story (Les Films d’Antoine/Mac Guff Ligne). He also directed Pat et Stanley, which was awarded Special Prize for a TV Series at the 2009 French Annecy Animation Festival.

CHRIS MELEDANDRI (Produced by) is the founder (2008) and CEO of Illumination Entertainment, which makes broad audience films. The independent company has an exclusive financing and distribution agreement with Universal Pictures.


Illumination, which will produce one to two films a year over the next five years, is currently in production on a feature film version of Dr Seuss’ “The Lorax,” which continues the successful collaboration Meledandri has had with Theodor Seuss Geisel’s widow, Audrey. Other upcoming films include an original live-action/CG-hybrid film, Hop, starring Russell Brand and James Marsden and directed by Alvin and the Chipmunks’ Tim Hill, which is currently in production, and the animated feature adaptation of Ricky Gervais’ “Flanimals” books.

Meledandri was previously an executive at 20th Century Fox for 13 years. While there, he became founding president of 20th Century Fox Animation, which he headed for eight years, amassing more than $1 billion in global box-office revenue.

During his tenure, he helped Fox become a major player in the world of animated feature films and in 1998, he led Fox’s acquisition of fledgling visual effects/commercial house Blue Sky Studios, which he built into a successful producer of animated features. He oversaw the creative and business operations of Blue Sky Studios, now Fox’s wholly-owned CGI studio. While at the studio, Meledandri supervised and/or executive produced movies including Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Robots, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Simpsons Movie and Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!

Before joining Fox, Meledandri was president of Dawn Steel Pictures at Walt Disney Pictures, where he served as an executive producer on Cool Runnings.

JANET HEALY (Produced by) started her career in live-action films with such great directors as Stanley Kramer, Hal Ashby and Sam Peckinpah. She worked with Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1941, serving as associate producer on the latter. She then joined George Lucas’ premiere visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), as a co-head of production.

At ILM, Healy produced some of the era’s most groundbreaking visual effects work, including the Academy Award-winning visual effects for Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. While producing the digital character work for Casper, Healy fell in love with character animation. She joined Walt Disney Feature Animation as the head of digital production and oversaw work on the films Tarzan, Dinosaur and Mulan. She moved to DreamWorks Animation to serve as head of production for several years and, while there, produced Shark Tale.

In 2008, Healy joined Chris Meledandri as he was beginning his new venture, Illumination Entertainment, for Universal Pictures.

JOHN COHEN (Produced by) previously worked at 20th Century Fox for seven years. As the vice president of 20th Century Fox Animation, he worked closely with Blue Sky Studios on films including Ice Age, Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! He also had the idea to re-imagine the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise and developed the 2007 film.

Cohen is currently a producer at Illumination Entertainment. In addition to Despicable Me, upcoming Illumination films for Universal Pictures include Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, directed by Chris Renaud and co-directed by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio; Hop, directed by Tim Hill and starring Russell Brand and James Marsden; Flanimals, based on the book series by Ricky Gervais; and Where’s Waldo?


Before joining Fox, Cohen worked at Scott Rudin Productions. In 1998, he graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

As 3-D productions are on the way to becoming the norm, CINCO PAUL (Screenplay by) is right on trend with two high-profile 3-D animated films on his resume. He is set to co-direct the highly anticipated Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, an adaptation of the iconic environmental-themed children’s book, which is scheduled for release in March 2012.

Paul and his writing partner, Ken Daurio, are the hot Hollywood screenwriting team who penned the Horton Hears a Who! screenplay for executive Chris Meledandri during his tenure at 20th Century Fox. When Horton Hears a Who! led to a nearly $300 million worldwide box-office gross, Meledandri formed the film production company Illumination Entertainment, which specializes in animation. Illumination’s first three movies given the green light were all written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio: Despicable Me, Hop and Dr Seuss’ The Lorax.

Paul and Daurio are known throughout the entertainment industry for their unique pitching style, often singing their pitches to high-level studio executives. For the Disney film College Road Trip, they belted out the ’80s tune “Double Dutch Bus” complete with harmony and melody. An estimated 90 percent of their pitches in the last nine years have involved a musical performance.

Paul met Daurio while working on a church musical and they bonded immediately. In 1999, they sold the screenplay for their first short film, Special, and the film went on to play in the festival circuit due to the dark comedic storyline. Next came the 2001 cult classic Bubble Boy, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy Livingston (a boy without an immune system), a twisted take on the John Travolta television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Paul also turned the movie Bubble Boy into a full-length musical and wrote the music and lyrics. It will be directed by Stephen Schwartz and released in 2011. His other film credits include Disney’s mega-hit The Santa Clause 2.

Paul and Daurio had the distinct honour of being handpicked by Audrey Geisel (the widow of Theodor Seuss Geisel) to pen Horton Hears a Who! and The Lorax film projects on behalf of the estate of Dr Seuss.

Paul studied at Yale University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he attended the screenwriting program at the University of Southern California, winning a fellowship grant to pay for his second year.

As 3-D productions are on the way to becoming the norm, KEN DAURIO (Screenplay by) is right on trend with two high-profile 3-D animated films on his resume. He is set to co-direct Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, an adaptation of the iconic author’s environmental-themed children’s book that is scheduled for release in March 2012.

Daurio and his writing partner, Cinco Paul, are the hot Hollywood screenwriting team who penned the Horton Hears a Who! screenplay for executive Chris Meledandri during his tenure at 20th Century Fox. After Paul and Daurio’s work on Horton lead to a nearly $300 million worldwide box-office gross, the duo found themselves in demand in the animation world. Daurio and Paul further forged their strategic relationship with Meledandri when he formed the film production company Illumination Entertainment,


which specializes in animation. It’s no coincidence that Illumination’s first three movies that were given the green light were all written by Daurio and Paul (Despicable Me, Hop and The Lorax), something unheard of in the history of animation.

Daurio and Paul are known throughout the entertainment industry for their unique pitching style, often singing their pitches to high-level studio executives. For the Disney film College Road Trip, they belted out the ’80s tune “Double Dutch Bus,” complete with harmony and melody. An estimated 90 percent of their pitches in the last nine years have involved a musical performance.

Daurio met Paul while working on a church musical and they bonded immediately. In 1999, they sold their first screenplay, Special, which they later turned into a short film that played the festival circuit due to the dark comedic storyline. Next came the 2001 cult classic Bubble Boy, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy Livingston (a boy without an immune system), a twisted take on the John Travolta television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Paul and Daurio also had the distinct honour of being handpicked by Audrey Geisel (the widow of Theodor Seuss Geisel) to pen Horton Hears a Who! and The Lorax film projects on behalf of the estate of Dr Seuss.

Upon graduating from high school, Daurio began directing music videos for up-and-coming bands like Blink 182, AFI and Jimmy Eat World. More than 100 music videos later, he teamed up with Cinco Paul to write his first feature script. Daurio and Paul are now one of Hollywood’s most sought-after screenwriting teams.

SERGIO PABLOS (Based on a Story by/Executive Producer) was born in Barcelona, Spain, and studied character animation at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He is the creative director and CEO of Animagic SL, based in Madrid. Some of his early animation work includes Batman: The Animated Series, Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too!, A Goof Troop Christmas and A Goofy Movie.

Pablos also worked on the Disney films The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Tarzan and Treasure Planet. For his work on Treasure Planet, Pablos was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Character Animation.

He was a supervising animator and team supervisor on Asterix and the Vikings and Nocturna; was the art supervisor on Simon and Schuster’s “Trucktown”; was the character designer and team supervisor for Blue Sky Studios’ Rio; and is currently the supervision animator and team supervisor on Moonscoop’s Titeuf.

NINA ROWAN (Executive Producer) is a leader in the field of CGI. As the producer of the 1998 Academy Award-winning Best Animated Short Film, Bunny, Rowan is known for her expert knowledge of computer animation and her skill in developing teams that can tackle innovative and complex animated projects.

Rowan is the founder and CEO of Plushy Feely Corp (PFC). PFC is a children’s toy and multimedia company that focuses on building self-esteem and confidence in kids through creative educational products and animated entertainment. She invented and launched a line of award-winning educational plush toys called Kimochis - Toys With Feelings Inside that are being sold by specialty retailers across the country. PFC is dedicated to creating products with a purpose that focus on promoting social and emotional learning for parents and children.


Rowan is currently the president of TOT Industries, located in Marin County, California. For the past four years, she has helped develop and expand TOT Industries into becoming a leader in the family entertainment industry, focusing on the creative and technical aspects of original content development for books, animated feature films and animation television productions. She is currently producing a series of children’s books for Simon & Schuster titled “Trucktown,” created by renowned children’s book author Jon Scieszka. “Trucktown” has appeared on The New York Times’ Children’s Best-Sellers list.

Prior to TOT, Rowan joined Wild Brain in May of 1999 to help lead the company’s expanding computer-generated animation and visual effects division. She has been responsible for recruiting artistic and technical talent, developing a production pipeline to efficiently create and manage CG film assets and developing CG production and business strategies for the company. In an effort to keep production costs down while still maintaining high production value, Rowan has cultivated relationships with some of the world’s top overseas animation studios and has delivered high-quality animation at extremely competitive costs.

Rowan was also responsible for heading up creative development for Wild Brain. She has worked closely with writers, directors and producers, developing screenplays for feature films and television series for both animation and live-action productions. During her tenure at Wild Brain, she sold an original television series idea to the Disney Channel and an original feature film idea to Universal Pictures; both properties are currently in development. Rowan produced Wild Brain’s first CG film, Hubert’s Brain, which is an original 17-minute short that highlights the studio’s superb character animation. Hubert’s Brain won first place in its categories at the World Animation Celebration, the ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards and Synthesis 8 in Belgium; garnered the Silver Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival; and received a host of other accolades from film festivals around the world. The success of this film led Wild Brain into the feature film arena by securing a $40 million co-production partnership and a five-picture deal with Miramax Studios.

Rowan segued to Wild Brain from Blue Sky Studios in New York. In addition to producing Bunny at Blue Sky Studios, Rowan was the executive producer of the studio’s multimillion dollar feature film and commercial production. She produced the animation and digital effects for films including MTV Networks/Geffen Pictures/Warner Bros.’ Joe’s Apartment and The Bubble Factory’s A Simple Wish, and was executive producer for Blue Sky Studios on Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek: Insurrection.

Rowan’s film and commercial projects have garnered the most prestigious awards in the industry including the Oscar, the Emmy, the CLIO, the Effie and the Mobius, among others.

Prior to Blue Sky Studios, Rowan was a producer of cell animation at Broadcast Arts Productions, following her role as assistant to the director of animation at Mark Zander Productions, both in New York City.

Rowan has a BA in art history from the State University of New York at Purchase. She is the Northern California chairperson for Women in Toys and is a member of ASIFA-Hollywood and the Visual Effects Society.


YARROW CHENEY (Production Designer) attended the California Institute of the Arts from 1992 to 1995, before beginning his career as a character animator at Turner Feature Animation/Warner Bros. Feature Animation on Cats Don’t Dance, Quest for Camelot and The Iron Giant.

In 1999, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design for his opening title sequence to Sony’s Dilbert series. Cheney went on to design Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Academy Award-winning theatrical short The Chubbchubbs! and Universal Pictures’ Curious George.

In 2006, he directed, produced and production designed The Very First Noel holiday special.

In 2008, Cheney joined Illumination Entertainment as production designer for Despicable Me.

PAMELA ZIEGENHAGEN-SHEFLAND (Edited by) grew up in Minnesota and went to St Cloud State University. She lived in Los Angeles from 1980 to 2006 and moved back to Minnesota in 2006.

While in Los Angeles, she worked on commercials, rock videos and television shows like Quantum Leap, the Emmy Award-winning Northern Exposure (from 1991 to 1995) and the pilot for Melrose Place (1992). In 1995, she started working in feature animation at Walt Disney Pictures. While there, she was the editor of The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) and Mulan II (2004). While at Sony Pictures Animation, she was the editor of Open Season (2006).

Ziegenhagen-Shefland has been married to Alan Shefland, a fellow editor, since 1997 and they have one son, Gabriel, who is 14. She is currently working on a documentary in Minnesota.

GREGORY PERLER (Edited by) is a film editor who has lived and worked in Los Angeles for 20 years. A New York University film school graduate, he moved to Los Angeles in 1990 when he was hired as an assistant editor on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (the first of only two animated films to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture). He was promoted to associate editor during this production.

In addition to Despicable Me, Perler’s previous feature-animation credits include A Goofy Movie, Tarzan, the Oscar-nominated Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. His live-action credits include 102 Dalmatians, Enchanted, the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert film and two telefilms based on the classic “Eloise” children’s books.

Perler was an editor on the first season of the highly rated USA Network series Royal Pains and is currently editing Illumination Entertainment’s Hop, which will be released in April 2011.

Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer PHARRELL WILLIAMS (Original Songs and Themes by/Score by) has made history for being one of the most successful and prolific entertainers to emerge during the last decade.

Williams is part of the beat-making duo The Neptunes, with Chad Hugo, and the incredible trio NERD, with Hugo and childhood friend Shae Haley. Together, they have had multiple, critically acclaimed platinum albums, Grammy nominations and wins, and


a fan base that stretches the globe. Their newest album, “Nothing,” was released on June 15.

Additionally, Williams is an entrepreneur and a one-man conglomerate with business ventures including his clothing lines Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream; an eco-fabric company called Bionic Yarn; artistic collaborations with Murakami and the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery; and a jewellery line with Louis Vuitton.

HEITOR PEREIRA (Score by) is establishing a reputation for bringing international flavours to mainstream American scores. From a Santa Monica studio jammed with hundreds of instruments from around the world, Pereira has composed scores for It’s Complicated, Running the Sahara, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Illegal Tender, Curious George, Ask the Dust, Real Women Have Curves, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Riding in Cars With Boys.

Pereira attracted Hans Zimmer’s attention for his outstanding skills as a guitarist. Zimmer hired Pereira to play on a few scores, and soon Pereira was following in the footsteps of other well-known musicians-turned-film-composers including Zimmer, James Newton Howard and Danny Elfman. Pereira has played guitar on and/or contributed music to the scores of Mission: Impossible II, Black Hawk Down, Spanglish, As Good as It Gets, I Am Sam, The Pledge, Something’s Gotta Give, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Man on Fire, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, The Rundown, Flushed Away, The Holiday, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Simpsons Movie, The Kite Runner, Bee Movie, The Dark Knight and Angels & Demons.

Born to a family of musicians in the south of Brazil, Pereira completed his conservatory studies in guitar, harmony, counterpoint and composition in Rio de Janeiro. He quickly began playing with some of the leading artists in Brazil and attracted the attention of the producer of the band Simply Red. He entertained millions of fans around the world as that band’s lead guitarist. He has also released three solo albums of his own music. Throughout his career, Pereira has played guitar on the albums of widely diverse artists who esteem him as much for his unique sensibility as his astonishing guitar virtuosity. These artists include Sergio Mendes, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Jack Johnson, Bryan Adams, Sir Elton John, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Seal and Nelly Furtado.

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