LINO DISALVO

Director, Playmobil: The Movie ON Animation

“When I was a kid, if a TV show or movie had animation or puppets in it, I watched it!” recalls Lino DiSalvo, the director of this summer’s eagerly awaited Playmobil: The Movie.“Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Tom and Jerry, The Warner Bros. shorts ... but my favorites were Bugs Bunny, The Aristocats and The Jungle Book!” He also recalls being more interested in drawing than anything else, so that got him in trouble at school. “Then, I remember being a teenager and realizing that animation could be a job; the idea that people got paid to draw, to play make believe, blew my mind! I went to Vancouver Film School after seeing Toy Story in 1995. That movie changed everything for me. I knew, at that moment, being a CG animator was what I was going to do.”

After graduating from VFS, DiSalvo was hired by Disney’s Dream Quest Images. His first big project was animating the little dashboard robot character on Inspector Gadget, followed by work on projects suchas Reign of Fire, 102 Dalmatians and Kangaroo Jack. Eventually, he moved to Disney Feature Animation to work on Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons and Bolt. He was then tapped to work as supervising animator on Tangled and became the head of animation on Frozen.

Over the past few years, he used everything he learned at Disney to bring to life ON Animation’s world of Playmobil characters. “If I learned anything working at Disney it’s that you have to do the research I have two kids, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl and a five-and-a-half-year-old boy. We have a lot of toys at home, including both LEGO and Playmobil. We love them both, but my kids play with those toys very differently. I would say what LEGO is to construction, Playmobil is to role playing. I wanted to make sure I reflected that idea in the film. Marla, a human character, literally gets turned into a toy and ends up in a magical world.”

DiSalvo says he strove to make sure the movie had an honest, emotional core to it. “Yes, it has to be funny and entertaining, but I wanted to make something that would take you through an emotional journey,” he notes. “It’s something I think Disney films do really well. They have simple plots with complex characters.”

The creative talent says he will always look to Disney’s Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Milt Kahl as role models. “I was also lucky enough to work with Glen Keane for many years. Glen made me a better animator. I love Glen’s acting choices — honest and subtle, but pushed at the same time. The experience of working withhim on Tangled was one I’ll never forget.”

Offering advice for animators, he suggests that they should study acting and acting theory.“Take life drawing. Take improv. Read The Illusion of Life twice a year for the rest of your life. If your demo reel only has a few scenes, make sure they are well acted. I could live with an animation test lacking polish, but the acting choices have to be legit. Get the acting right and you’ll get a job anywhere. I’ll hire you!” he says with a smile.