January 22, 2007
PERSEPOLIS
"When my parents came to the studio, nobody breathed. Imagine you are drawing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and suddenly a big mouse and a big duck walk in."
The above quote is Marjane Satrapi discussing the difficulties of creating an autobiographical animated feature. Yesterday's NY TIMES has an intriguing article on what is surely the most offbeat animation feature of 2007: black-and-white, hand-drawn, French, based on contemporary events, and directed by two comic-book artists. Hardly the credentials of your average animated film and quite refreshing.
Initially reported on the Brew last October, the film PERSEPOLIS is based on Satrapi's bestselling graphic novel about growing up as a teenage girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The good news: the film is scheduled for US release later this year by Sony Pictures Classics. One interesting sidenote, the article reveals that the film's executive producer and the person who made the US release possible is longtime Spielberg collaborator Kathleen Kennedy, whose animation producing credits include WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, AN AMERICAN TAIL and THE LAND BEFORE TIME.
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