AN ANIMATED CHARACTER
Tony Bancroft became an internet sensation after he produced a set of 2D animations for the Chinese skier Eileen Gu, who won three medals at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games last month.
Her outstanding performance prompted torrents of admiration, and Bancroft wrote on his Instagram account that Gu would inspire girls and young women worldwide to get into athletics and strive to achieve their goals.
“I was so inspired by how she took her Chinese and American roots and brought them ‘Together for a Shared Future’, (the slogan of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics). She is incredible at what she does in skiing, and I love how she is an influence on the next generation of female athletes from China and the world.”
Like the character Mulan of Chinese folklore, Eileen Gu is a strong female hero, Bancroft said.
His passion for bringing memorable animated films to life has created some of the best characters we are all too familiar with. And as a film director Bancroft is best known for directing the movie Mulan.
“Disney’s Mulan was a joy to work on,” Bancroft said. “It was not without its ups and downs, though. It involved a tremendous amount of research and understanding of ancient China, its customs and culture. Of course not everything you learn in doing research on the topic of a film is used. Then you have to go through the creative yet time-consuming process of figuring out what story you want to tell.
“There are thousands of options and many ways we could have told Mulan’s story. Whenever we hit a wall in the process, we would always think of the heart of this female warrior who loved her father so much. She would sacrifice herself, so he could live.
“Mulan’s heart was what guided our decisions and helped us when things got tough. It was a four-year process creating the movie Mulan and incorporated hundreds of artists, writers, actors and technicians, but it was well worth the journey to bring her story to the world.”
Bancroft said he made it for his three daughters, so they could have a female hero to look up to, and now it is an inspiration for generations of daughters.
Tony and his twin brother Tom have a profound love of Chinese culture. They conducted years of research to create the movie that respected and honored Chinese culture. Tom, the creator of Mushu, the Chinese dragon that guards Mulan in the film, is fastidious.
“When I was creating many different character design versions of Mushu, I was referencing many things from Chinese culture. I looked at ancient wood block print artworks and sculptures of dragons at temples in China. I noticed that Chinese dragons are very different from European dragons from mythology.
“The Chinese dragons were thin and snake-like, while the European dragons were often thick and more like a crocodile. Mushu is made up of many animals — he has whiskers like a catfish, scales like a fish, cow ears, the hairy lip of a camel, horns like a goat and talons of an eagle. All these things are subtly and stylistically included in the design.”
Tony was accepted into the California Institute of the Arts in 1987, where he thrived artistically and developed a lifelong passion for animation. There his work caught the attention of Disney Studios.
In 1989 he started working in the animation department. During his 12-year career with Disney Studios, the household names of animated characters he created accompanied a generation growing up.
The release of Mulan in 1998 garnered more than $300 million at the global box office. It was also
Mulan that earned Bancroft that year the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Directing, the highest honor in the animation industry.
Bancroft could not define his style on his own perhaps, but anime lovers would easily spot his influence whenever given one without specifying Bancroft’s name.
“I love to give back from my experiences in animation to the future generations … I feel like I can give back to a generation of cultural and technology influencers who are just as interested in creating entertainment as anyone in the world. I am also fascinated to see new stories come from the Gen Zers about their culture’s past and present.”