Cartoon Brew

THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO

I'm way overdue in mentioning this traditional hand drawn adult feature now in production at IDT Film Roman in Burbank.

I was visiting some friends on The Simpsons yesterday and wound up checking out some of the pre-production art for the Rob Zombie animated feature The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto. There's no doubt in my mind that this, at worst, will become a cult classic -- and at best, it just might inspire other traditional animators to produce something equally innovative, commercially atractive and as artistically satisfying as this.

Based on a Zombie-authored comic book from a few years back, the film is an R-rated action-comedy cartoon about a retired Luchador and his sexy secret agent sister and their battle against an evil super villian, his zombies and... oh yes... Hitler's head in a jar. It's loaded with female nudity and lots of gratuitous bloodshed... and it looks hilarious. Laugh out loud funny. It's got funny drawings and an all-star voice cast (Paul Giamatti is Dr. Satan, pictured above) -- it looks a lot better than it has any right to be.

Mr. Lawrence (Spongebob Squarepants) is the director on the project and Rob Zombie himself has a hands-on creative role as co-writer and executive producer. Bob Jaques (Ren & Stimpy) is involved with the timing. The film was originally a direct-to-video project but it's turning out so well that a theatrical release is being planned. I'll try have more info on this film as the production continues on - it'll certainly be one to keep your eye on for next year.

Mickey Mouse is Dead

If you're in Edinburgh, Scotland anytime in the next week, you may want to check out a play called MICKEY MOUSE IS DEAD writen by Jessi D. Hill. Here's the description:

A searing look into friendship, national identity and the politics of paranoia, the Happiest Place on Earth will never be the same.

Hollywood, 1952. Are the Communists coming? Senator McCarthy hunts Reds, the Rosenbergs are doomed to die, and Walt Disney spies for the FBI. Harris and Finch, scriptwriters at the Disney Studio, are plotting to unionize. Walt's just been called to name names. How much does he know about them? Can Grace, Finch's trust-fund girlfriend, penetrate Walt's private playground? How far will Walt go to save Mickey Mouse from becoming a Commie Yid?

After reading reviews of the play, the first thing I noticed is that it's about two Disney scriptwriters who write animated shorts. Notice a problem with that? Scriptwriters didn't write shorts at Disney, story artists did. Also, in this play, the writers are trying to unionize in the early-1950s, which makes no sense because at the time Disney artists had already been unionized for over a decade. I understand that it's a piece of fiction, but if the playwright hasn't even made the effort to create a semi-believable set-up, it makes one seriously question the rest of the production. For my money, a play about the actual Disney strike of '41, and the tensions between artists on the picketline and those who remained inside, would make a far more riveting and interesting production. Then again, a play like that would require a writer who actually knows his history. Reviews of this play can be found HERE, HERE and HERE.
(Thanks, Andrew Osmond)

UPDATE: Corey Klemow writes about a Disney-themed play currently being staged in Los Angeles:

There must be something in the air... there's also a play in L.A. right now set at the Disney studios. "Lobster Alice" (which I haven't seen yet; reviews range from raves to decidedly mixed) takes place during the time Salvador Dali was working at Disney in 1946 on "Destino," while production is also getting started on "Alice in Wonderland." Judging from the reviews, it's not really about animation at all (Dali helps a repressed young animator who is working on "Alice" to pursue the woman he loves), but at least the person Dali befriends at Disney is an animator and not a scriptwriter." Details HERE.

Posted by AMID at 04:21 AM

Eric Goldberg Speaks

Animated-News.com has a nice in-depth interview with recently-returned-to-Disney artist Eric Goldberg. He touches on a lot of subjects throughout the interview and also discusses A MONKEY'S TALE, the superb hand-drawn short he recently directed. I hope the film makes it onto the festival circuit but for the moment it's playing only at a Buddhist cultural center in Hong Kong.

NORMAN McLAREN

Tomorrow night, August 18th, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in Beverly Hills will present A Salute To Norman McLaren, hosted by animation critic Charles Solomon. The evening will include the screening of thirteen newly restored and remasterd 35mm prints of McLaren's pioneering work for the National Film Board of Canada. Films include NEIGHBORS (1952), A CHAIRY TALE (1957), BEGONE DULL CARE (1949), STARS AND STRIPES (1940), BLINKITY BLANK (1955) and eight others. A panel discussion will precede the screening; panelists include animator and former McLaren colleague Chris Hinton, USC animation professor Christine Panushka, McLaren colleague and Oscar nominated animator
Ishu Patel, and Simpson's director David Silverman. Tickets are $5. and the event will be presented at 8pm in the Academy's Goldwyn Theatre at 8949 Wilshire Blvd. More information is posted on the Academy's website.

George and Mahmoud

Found this piece on Cold Hard Flash. It's not clear who made it, but Aaron Simpson writes that it's "part of an anti-war campaign staged by a group of animators and illustrators in Israel." The animation and design are both pretty funny.

Recommended Blogs...

There's so many animation artist blogs out there nowadays. We can't possibly link to all of them, but we'll try to link to the best of the them. Here's a few good ones I've run across recently.

Nate Wragg works at Pixar. Consistently good design and color in his artwork.

Jamie Mason is the director of the NFB short THE MAGIC OF ANANSI, which can be seen HERE. He's got an eclectic mix of personal illustrations and animation clips posted on his blog.

Here's an artist who needs no introduction: Stephen DeStefano. Actually, he probably could use an introduction, but I'm too lazy to write one. Just check out his new blog; you won't be disappointed.

JibJab co-founder Evan Spiridellis does lots of figure drawing after-hours. He keeps track of his amazing work on this blog.

Chris George is a designer on VENTURE BROS. He takes a more illustrative approach. There's solid work throughout his blog.

Firehouse Five Plus Two

'SirPef' just posted these videos on YouTube and I had to share. If this music doesn't make you smile, then I'm flat out of ideas. It's toe-tappin', finger-snappin' goodness performed by legendary animation artists like Ward Kimball on trombone, Frank Thomas on piano and Harper Goff on banjo. Enjoy!

Flickr: Cartoon Modern Yearbook

I've been tinkering around with Flickr the past couple days (so maybe that should be spelled 'tinkring') and the results are the following Flickr set: Cartoon Modern Yearbook. It is a photo collection of Modernist animation artists who were working during the 1950s. The photo set includes directors, animators, story artists, character designers, layout artists, background painters and even a few important studio owners.

There's a similar 'yearbook' section in my new book CARTOON MODERN. Not to take anything away from the book, but I think this particular section works even better online. For one, the images can be shown at a much larger size. Also, as I uncover new photos, I can add them to the set and continue expanding the yearbook until it's complete. At some point, I'll go back and add biographical details for each of the artists and link their photos to relevant sites online. Flickr as a historical tool...who woulda thunk?

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

A bunch of fine articles were sent our way...

First, The New York Times ran a small piece in yesterday's Sunday edition, about our friends in the New York animation scene, calling them The Real Cartoon Network.

Next, Keith Lango, a character animator on The Ant Bully, discusses what it was like working on a project that he describes as "a big stinking pile of average corporate mush". Keith Lango on The Ant Bully.

And finally... think film piracy is bad in U.S.? BBC News is reporting that CARS 2 is on sale in Peru!

(Thanks Gary Meyer, Bryan Ballinger and Signe Baumane)

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??

The Sunday L.A. Times mentioned that a new film called ROMEO AND JULIET: SEALED WITH A KISS was being released in southern California this Friday. That was news to me, so I did a quick Google search and found its website.

Sheesh! Traditional 2-D animation has enough problems without theatrical releases like this! I support the efforts traditional animation artists (and in this case, the co-director of WE'RE BACK and FIEVEL GOES WEST) who choose to ignore current market trends and find funding for personal projects or commercial independent productions - but this clearly low-budget effort may set the cause back another five years. Don't believe me? Check the trailer.

This feature is being distributed by Indican Pictures, a small L.A. based outfit, and it may be fine kiddie fodder for home video - but theatrical audiences, even those who might attend Saturday matinees, have moved on from this sort of thing. At least the film gave work to several talented local animators - Indican's next release, the Norwegian import Capatin Sabertooth, looks even more aesthetically horrendous.