![]() “My wife and I are enjoying living in Paris,” he says. Renaud’s 2015 project will be the final entry on his four-film contract for Illumination but he’s already signed a new contract and is happy to be staying put in France. You have to be fast on your feet because there is no one else there to fill in the blanks for you.”Ī few years later, Renaud landed a job at Blue Sky, an animation house that turned out such well-received ‘toons as “Ice Age,” “Robots” and “Epic.” Next, he signed a contract with the Paris-based Illumination where he directed “Despicable Me” and “The Lorax,” both of which were monster hits. You have a month or so to a 22-page script. “You get a script and you have to realize the whole thing yourself. “When you’re a comic book artist, you get the opportunity to be the director and the cinematographer,” he says. Drawing “Starfleet Academy,” a “Batman” book, turned out to be great training for his work as a filmmaker. There’s other people, other perspectives…those were life lessons that were extremely valuable and still serve me to this day.”Īfter graduating from Parkland High School in 1985, Renaud studied illustration at Syracuse University before landing a job in advertising at a Manhattan firm.Īlways a huge comic book fan, Renaud eventually wound up working for Marvel Comics. “It also taught me that there’s more of a world out there than what’s right in front of your face. “It taught me that it’s best to embrace change and try to make the most of it rather than try and fight it. ‘I think the biggest thing about my years in Allentown was that it taught me that things change,” says Renaud. ![]() In the early 1980s, Renaud’s father was transferred from Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point facility in Maryland to the main office in Bethlehem.Ĭhris wasn’t crazy about switching high-schools after ninth grade but he quickly adjusted to life in Pennsylvania. He was still living outside Baltimore when his first-grade teacher recognized his natural artistic ability and pointed it out to his parents Pat and Jean who quickly signed their son up for art classes. While Renaud is in charge of all aspects of the production, he takes special delight in doing some of the initial storyboards, and then transferring those early drawings to a story reel. If you don’t see eye to eye, sometimes it’s easier to and move on from there.” So we don’t want an unhappy actor, and we want something that is well-realized on all sides. “But Benjamin Bratt was another actor we were considering before Al. “ gave us some incredible contributions,” says Renaud. Originally, Al Pacino was cast as Eduardo but two months prior to the film’s release, he left the production over “creative differences” about how the character should come to life. Renaud is famous for allowing his actors to improvise in the sound booth and he was rewarded this time around with fresh input particularly from Carell and Wiig, both of whom have training in improvisational comedy. When he reacts to her, his cynical attitude comes out.” “She’s bubbly, optimistic and has a great personality. “Gru is paired with an agent named Lucy Wilde, who played by Kristen Wiig, and she’s his polar opposite,” notes Renaud. In fact, the filmmakers went out of their way to surround Gru with characters who bring out the demon in him. Gru might be a good guy but he’s far from a pushover. “But we were always looking for ways to maintain his unique sensibility and perspective on the world.” “We even talked about, `Should he still be a villain?’ But he sort of left that behind at the end of the first film when he was becoming a responsible dad,” says Renaud. But with this one, knowing that audiences really enjoyed them, we wanted to take not only Gru and the girls to the next level but also the Minions.”įor Renaud, one of the trickiest assignments of the sequel (opening Wednesday) was making sure that the kinder, gentler Gru was interesting. They weren’t even in the original story pitches or scripts. “For the first film, the Minions were developed very much along the way. “We wanted to give the Minions a more central role,” says Renaud, who lends to voice to a couple of the gibberish-spouting creatures. Hint: the yellow Minions meet their match in purple Minions. This time around, Renaud wanted to make sure there was plenty for the audience-pleasing Minions to do. ![]() It was his idea in the first film to have Gru hatch a plot to steal the moon. Renaud was integral in shaping the stories of both “Despicable Me” movies. You want to deliver something new while not betraying what people liked about the first film.” “It’s all a matter of getting the right balance. We wanted to investigate how they’ve changed and grown. “So we have exciting new characters, a new location, new gadgets and we take Gru and the girls to a new phase of life. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu ![]()
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