Animated Renaud
Chris Renaud chats about working on creating ‘Gru,’ ‘Despicable Me’ films
bout a decade ago, when the Allentownreared Chris Renaud and his fellow animators at Illumination Entertainment began working on the first “Despicable Me” movie, protagonist Gru was quite an intimidating fellow.
One of the first animated supervillains to anchor his own movie, Gru possessed the power to terrify audiences.
“He was a scary-looking guy,” recalls Renaud. “He had a face like a skeleton. Our artist, Eric Guillon, then submitted a different version of Gru where he was very tall and slender with long, black hair. But he still looked kind of evil.
“We knew he needed have more appeal.”
In the end, Renaud and company opted to combine Gru with a sidekick character named Kyle, who was subsequently written out. Using such far-flung figures as Uncle Fester from “The Adams Family,” Blofield from “Diamonds Are Forever” and Dr. Evil from “Austin Powers” as touchstones, Gru finally came into being.
“He became rotund and stout but with really long legs. And then Eric gave him this scarf. Gru was a real hodgepodge of ideas from both [artist] Carter Goodrich and Eric, but all of these elements just to seemed to come together.”
Audiences accepted Gru and his minions almost immediately, turning “Despicable Me” into a huge hit. “Despicable Me” and its sequel as well as the spin-off “The Minions” have grossed $2.7 billion, making the series the most successful animated threequel of all time.
Remarkably, “Despicable Me” not only marked the feature film directorial debut of Renaud but also the first film from Illumination, the Paris-based company founded by Chris Meledandri, the executive who’d enjoyed enormous success at 20th Century Fox with the “Ice Age” films.
But back in 2008, when Gru still wasn’t Gru, Renaud had no idea of the success that lay ahead.
“When we started, I was new to France and we were a new company,” recalls the filmmaker who exec produced “Despicable Me 3.” “Chris had a proven track record at Fox but you never know what’s going to happen. We were a new team.
“I loved the idea of Gru because I always loved villains and supervillains. But did I believe it would spawn sequels and countless shorts? I had absolutely no idea.”
There are lots of reasons why movies from Illumination seem to connect so well with audiences: great jokes, eye-catching animation, novel plots. But at least part of the credit must go to behind-the-scenes talent like Renaud and Meledandri, both of whom insist that each sequel has its own identity.
“We try not to even repeat gags,” says Renaud. “It would be easy, for instance, to cut to a Minion saying, ‘what?’ because we know we’ll get a cheap laugh but we try not to do that. We make exceptions, like with the fart gun, but we really attempt to never repeat even the smallest gags.”
Another secret ingredient in Illumination success is the company’s determination to underpin all of the silliness with some real, surprisingly relatable situations and emotions.
The first “Despicable Me” found the villainous Gru (Steve Carell) being humanized by his three adopted daughters. Instead of simply reprising that dynamic in “Despicable Me 2,” Renaud and company introduced new elements, including love interest Lucy (Kristen Wiig) while making sure that Gru and his Minions were fighting villains instead of being villains.
And now comes “Despicable Me 3” and yet another fresh story is being spun. When the film begins, Gru is happy living with his girls and Lucy but then his slicker and more successful twin brother Dru (also Carrel) arrives and shows Dru what he’s missing by not being a villain.
“The first film is really about something very relatable and that’s bad parenting,” says Renaud. “Gru makes a lot of bad choices but his girls love him anyway. He finds the love he needs too. It’s a powerful and relatable idea.
“And in the second film, Gru finds love with Lucy as he works to manage his teenage daughter, Margo …In ‘3,’ Gru finds he has a brother and there’s this very real rivalry while Lucy’s trying hard to become a surrogate mom, so there is this new family dynamic to explore.”
Sibling rivalry and stepmotherhood aren’t the only phenomenons showcased in the new film. Gru also loses his job in the Anti-Villain League and winds up falling prey to a nasty mid-life crisis.
“Gru has to wrestle with [big questions],” says Renaud. “He has to ask himself, ‘What is my true calling?’
“Adults come to me all the time and say they respond to Gru. I think that’s because Gru is an adult; he’s probably about 40. And he’s the way into the story.”
Gru eventually comes into his own when he and Lucy team up to battle the movie’s main villain – a former child star named Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), a dastardly figure who lost his fans when he became an adult and is so angry about it, he vows revenge on those who deserted him.
Hatching a character like Bratt, who is stuck in the 1980s gave Renaud and company the chance to stuff the movies with plenty of references to the decade of shoulder pads, Rubik’s Cubes and Michael Jackson.
While Gru remains the focal point in “Despicable Me 3,” there’s plenty of Minions on hand to keep the laughs coming. This time around, the yellow walking Twinkies revolt against Gru and wind up behind bars.
Kevin, Stuart and Bob, who starred in the “Minions” spin-off, are missing in action but new Minions have been introduced to take their place, including one called Mel, who is modeled after Chris Meledandri.
“Chris, like me, is almost totally bald so we gave Mel just a ring of Minion hair,” says Renaud with a laugh.
In many ways, the Minions have becomes the franchise’s secret weapon. They not only anchor their own movie series but they have also become pop culture icons who are name checked in movies such as “Neighbors 2” and “Fist Fight” and featured online in many
“People’s love of the Minions is really surprising,” says Renaud. “Very few animated characters have made that leap into pop culture but you really see the Minions everywhere.”
As if the forthcoming “Secret Life Of Pets 2” and “Minions 2” were not enough to keep Renaud busy, he’s also helping to exec produce the animated feature “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” which will feature Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of everyone’s favorite misanthropic grump.
Originally scheduled for a 2017 release, the feature is now coming out in 2018.
“It’s such a great book to animate because there are such beautiful worlds and expressive characters to explore,” says Renaud. “We are looking for ways to expand the story and stay true to the original source material. It’s a balancing act. “
Expect the Grinch’s dog Max to be given a beefedup role.
“We want Max to be an expressive character and also dog-like in his unswerving loyalty to the Grinch,” says Renaud. “Max is important because for Max to love the Grinch so much, it proves there is something good about the Grinch.” different capacities.