Having a Bad, Bad Day: Music of Despicable Me

Having a Bad, Bad Day:

Music of Despicable Me

In the past several years, Grammy Award-winning artist Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. has written and produced for such blockbuster global musicians as Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Madonna, Kanye West and Shakira.  In 2009, Billboard magazine named The Neptunes producers of the decade, and Williams and his collaborators have played an enormous role in shaping the culture of the music landscape. Naturally, the next step for the artist was to explore the interplay between music and movies.

Williams has been interested in scoring music for feature films for some time, and he became more eager to work in this realm after observing Jack Johnson’s musical involvement in creating the best-selling soundtrack to Universal’s animated Curious George. Williams expressed his interest to friend and music supervisor KATHY NELSON. He remembers: “I told Kathy that the very next time something comes your way, you call me and let me know what it is. She said, ‘Pharrell, I really like you, but I’m not going to just give you anything. I’m going call you when it’s the right thing.’ And I got the call for Despicable Me.”

A longtime animation fan, Williams was eager to take on the challenge of crafting original songs and themes for his first film. “What I like about the philosophy on Despicable Me is that the filmmakers don’t make children’s films. They make films for humans that use some of the tricks and treats of youthful entertainment, but at the same time, there’s an amazing storyline.”

Though the task of scoring his first feature seemed daunting, Williams was grateful that he was surrounded by Academy Award^® winner Hans Zimmer as the film’s music producer and skilled guitarist Heitor Pereira as fellow composer. Says producer Meledandri: “The moment that we showed Pharrell the imagery, it took him about 30 minutes to say, ‘I’ll work on this film in any way possible.’ He was immediately struck by the character designs, the notion of the story and his enthusiasm never waned.

“Pharrell, like our directors, took on the challenge of doing something that he had never done before; this is the first time he’s scored a feature film,” Meledandri continues. “We knew that there was going to be an opportunity in the film for a number of songs that would be used as song score. What’s resulted from his songs is a group of musical themes that he’s worked on with the talented Heitor Pereira and legendary Hans Zimmer.”

Williams’ collaboration with Pereira began as Williams watched preliminary footage of the film and then created musical ideas he thought would fit into each sequence. Pereira would then expand upon some of Williams’ ideas and come up with additional creative works. On working with Pereira, Williams says: “Heitor took those pieces and songs, and he connected the dots. He is the glue in this house of cards. He scored some incredible scenes and embellished some of the scenes that I scored and took those to the next level.”

Williams composed several original songs for the film, including the title track, “Despicable Me.” The artist was inspired by the whimsical narrative of the lyrics from Annie, and he wanted to write lyrics that were as kid-friendly as that musical, but also as moody as Gru’s character. He elaborates: “I’ve never made a song about having a bad day and being in a super bad mood. So I thought I would make it really fun but, at the same time, if you were to hear it without the lyrics, it would sound like this track that you’d want to hear coming out of someone’s truck.”

Music producer Hans Zimmer’s storied career in film has resulted in his composing unforgettable scores for live-action blockbusters such as Rain Man, Twister and Thelma & Louise, as well as the worldwide hits Sherlock Holmes and films from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. But it was his instantly classic composition for 1994’s The Lion King that brought Zimmer an Oscar^® for Best Original Score and ignited his passion to craft the music behind such modern animated classics as Shark Tale, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. His frequent music partner and world famous guitarist, Heitor Pereira, has collaborated with him on many a project. Despicable Me is their latest effort.

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Carell’s first lead feature, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he co-wrote with director Judd Apatow, opened at No. 1 and remained there for two straight weekends.  The surprise hit of 2005 went on to gross more than $175 million worldwide and had No. 1 openings in 12 countries.  The success of the film has continued as it has also generated more than $100 million in DVD sales in North America alone.  AFI named the film as one of the 10 Most Outstanding Motion Pictures of the Year and it took home Best Comedy Movie at the 11^th annual Critics’ Choice Awards.  The film also earned Carell and Apatow a co-nomination for Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America.

Carell starred as Maxwell Smart, opposite Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin, in Get Smart. The film grossed more than $230 million worldwide. Due to the success of the film, Warner Bros. recently announced it will release a sequel in 2011. He also lent his voice as the Mayor of Who-ville in 20^th Century Fox’s animated film Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, based on the children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. The film was directed by Jimmy Hayward (Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc.) and Steve Martino, and Carell played opposite Jim Carrey, which helped launch the film to international success by earning more than $295 million worldwide. In 2006, he starred with Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as part of an ensemble cast in the black comedy Little Miss Sunshine, which earned an Academy Award^® nomination for Best Picture and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. 

Carell’s previous film credits include Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Bruce Almighty, Bewitched and Dan in Real Life. Carell currently stars in the American adaptation of Ricky Gervais’ acclaimed British television series The Office.  The show is in its sixth season and continues to flourish in the ratings. For playing the role of Michael Scott, Carell has earned three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.  In 2006, Carell earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series—Musical or Comedy and has received four more nominations since then. The show won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Carell’s endeavors and successes in acting, writing and producing were an organic segue into the creation of his new production company, Carousel Productions.

Born in Massachusetts, Carell now resides in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Nancy Walls (NBC’s Saturday Night Live), whom he met while at The Second City improv group in Chicago, where both were members.  He is the proud father of a daughter and a son.

Segel landed his first major motion picture starring role as Peter in Universal Pictures’ Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which he also wrote. Released in April 2008, produced by Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson, and directed by Nicholas Stoller, the film went on to make more than $100 million worldwide and led Segel’s writing skills to be desired by many studios. Segel, along with Stoller, signed with Disney to write and direct the next Muppets film. Segel wrote a Dracula musical performed by puppets, which was a personal idea and passion he incorporated into Forgetting Sarah Marshall that emboldened him to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie.

As another result of the film’s success, Segel was asked to co-produce a spin-off titled Get Him to the Greek, in which Jonah Hill and Russell Brand reunited as co-stars. The film, written and directed by Nicholas Stoller, was released in June 2010.

In June 2007, Segel was summoned by Apatow to share the great success of the comedy Knocked Up, with stars Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. The film grossed more than $140 million domestically and won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy. Segel’s feature film credits also include Slackers, New Jersey Turnpikes, SLC Punk!, Can’t Hardly Wait and Dead Man on Campus.

On the television front, Segel is in his fifth year starring as Marshall, opposite Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris, in the CBS hit comedy series How I Met Your Mother. TV Guide recently pegged it as a “returning favorite” and it was touted by Time magazine as one of the “Ten Best Shows of 2005.” However, it was his recurring role as Eric on Undeclared, the Fox series about college freshmen that was named one of Time magazine’s “Ten Best Shows of 2001,” that first put him in the minds and hearts of television viewers.

In 1999, Segel portrayed Nick on Freaks and Geeks, Judd Apatow’s Emmy Award-nominated television series for NBC. Segel played a lanky, fun-loving freak dreaming of stardom as a rock-and-roll drummer like his idol, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, and won the eye of Apatow.

Segel just wrapped the highly anticipated remake of Gulliver’s Travels, starring alongside Jack Black and opposite Emily Blunt. The film is scheduled to be released in December 2010.

Segel was born and raised in Los Angeles and continues to reside there.

The year 2009 saw the U.S. release of Brand’s writing debut “My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up.” The autobiography, already a huge success in the United Kingdom, went on to stay on The New York Times best-seller list for five weeks in a row. Continuing his stand-up tour in the U.S., Brand’s third live DVD was released after originally airing on Comedy Central. The year 2009 ended on an even brighter note for Brand when he assumed the role as host of the MTV Video Music Awards for the second year in a row and garnered the biggest VMA audience since 2004, with nearly nine million viewers.

Brand recently started production on the remake of Arthur, in which he takes on the role of the title character for Warner Bros. In addition, he is due to take on the voice of the Easter Bunny in the Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment live-action/CGI-animated hybrid comedy Hop, opposite James Marsden.

In addition to acting, Brand continues to work on his second book.

Wiig will soon start production as the lead in an untitled comedy that she co-wrote with Annie Mumolo. She was recently seen in MacGruber, in which she starred opposite fellow SNL cast member Will Forte and Ryan Phillippe. Her upcoming films include Greg Mottola’s Paul, co-starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and Andrew Jarecki’s All Good Things, opposite Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella. She also contributed her voice to the recently released animated feature film How to Train Your Dragon, starring Gerard Butler and Jay Baruchel, for DreamWorks Animation.

Wiig made her big-screen debut to universal high praise as Katherine Heigl’s passive-aggressive boss in Judd Apatow’s smash-hit comedy Knocked Up. Her additional film credits include Mike Judge’s Extract, with Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck and Mila Kunis; Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It, starring Ellen Page; Greg Mottola’s Adventureland, with Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg; David Koepp’s Ghost Town, with Ricky Gervais; and Jake Kasdan’s Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, another Apatow-produced film in which she starred opposite John C. Reilly.

Wiig’s past television credits include guest-starring on NBC’s Emmy-winning series 30 Rock, the HBO series Bored to Death, with Jason Schwartzman, and HBO’s The Flight of the Conchords.

A native of Rochester, New York, Wiig worked as a main company member of the Los Angeles-based improv/sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings. As a Groundlings alumna, she joins the ranks of such SNL castmates as Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, Will Forte and Jon Lovitz.

Wiig lives in New York City.

She can currently be seen on the Emmy Award-nominated iCarly, Nickelodeon’s highest-rated live-action show.  A January 2010 episode titled “iSaved Your Life” attracted 12 million viewers, beating out its time slot competition on both broadcast and cable television. The episode also has the distinction of being the most watched telecast on cable that entire week.  On the show, Cosgrove stars in the title role (Carly Shay) as a teenager who lives with her twenty-something brother/guardian and produces webcasts from a makeshift loft studio with her two best friends.  Not only is the show a success in the U.S., it has broad international appeal as well.  iCarly has won the Kids’ Choice Award (KCA) for Favorite TV Show, the Australia KCA for Favorite Comedy and the Germany KCA for Favorite TV Show.

Cosgrove received Kids Choice Award nominations for Favorite Television Actress in 2009 and 2010 and a Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice TV Actress: Comedy in 2009; won the Nickelodeon U.K. Star of the Year Award in 2010; received a nomination for Favorite International TV Star from the 2008 Australia Kids’ Choice Awards; and received a nomination for Favorite Female TV Star from the 2008 U.K. Kids’ Choice Awards. iCarly was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award in 2009 and a Teen Choice Award in 2009 and won Kids’ Choice Awards in 2009 and 2010.

  Cosgrove recently signed with Columbia Records and recorded her first album, “iCarly,” which features four original songs that she sings.  Her debut solo album, “Sparks Fly,” hit stores on April 27, 2010. She co-wrote the first single, “Kissin’ U,” with influential producer Dr. Luke.

  She received rave reviews for her work in Richard Linklater’s School of Rock as Summer Hathaway, the overachieving preppy manager of Jack Black’s rock band. Her other film credits include Yours, Mine and Ours and Keeping Up With the Steins. Her theater credits include Back Again, with the Orison group. 

  Cosgrove got her big break when she landed the highly sought-after role of Megan Parker on Nickelodeon’s megahit Drake & Josh.  She played the deceptively sweet, mischievous little sister whose scene-stealing role led to her own show, iCarly.  She recently appeared in Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh on Nickelodeon.

Cosgrove’s voice-over credits include Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie (as Munch the mouse) and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? (as Miranda Wright).

She is also one of the faces of Neutrogena, alongside Gabrielle Union, Hayden Panettiere, Susie Castillo, Vanessa Hudgens, Jennifer Garner, Diane Lane and Emma Roberts.

 In her spare time, Cosgrove enjoys horseback riding, fencing, bike riding, tennis, shopping, traveling and writing.  Born and raised in Los Angeles, she currently lives there with her family. 
WILL ARNETT (Mr. Perkins) has been an extremely busy man of late. He can currently be seen in the Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures Western action film Jonah Hex, based on the DC comic of the same name. In the film, Arnett stars opposite Megan Fox, Josh Brolin and John Malkovich. This fall, he will return to television on Fox’s much anticipated new comedy series Running Wilde, opposite of Keri Russell. Arnett will play an extremely wealthy Beverly Hills man who falls for an environmental activist. He will star and write for the series alongside writer/director Mitchell Hurwitz.

Arnett was most recently seen starring in the Walt Disney Pictures’ romantic comedy When in Rome, opposite Kristen Bell, and in the live-action/CGI film G-Force, opposite Penélope Cruz, Nicolas Cage, Steve Buscemi and Zach Galifianakis, for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Last year, he voiced a character in DreamWorks’ hugely successful, 3-D animated adventure film Monsters vs. Aliens, alongside Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, which opened at No. 1 at the box office. He also starred in the basketball comedy Semi-Pro, opposite Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson, and lent his voice to the hugely successful, animated comedy Horton Hears a Who! In 2007, he was seen opposite Will Ferrell and Arnett’s wife, Amy Poehler, in the figure skating comedy Blades of Glory, and co-starred opposite Will Forte in The Brothers Solomon.

In 2006, Arnett earned his first Emmy nomination for his work on the critically acclaimed Fox sitcom Arrested Development, in which he portrayed Gob Bluth for three seasons. From time to time, Arnett guest stars on NBC’s 30 Rock, in which he plays Devon Banks. Last year, he earned his second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for the role. Arnett also lent his voice to Fox’s animated sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, from creator Mitchell Hurwitz

Before Arrested Development, Arnett was a regular on the NBC comedy series The Mike O’Malley Show. His additional television credits include guest-starring roles on Parks and Recreation, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Boston Public, Third Watch and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Arnett also appeared on NBC’s Will & Grace, in which he played Jack’s dance nemesis while auditioning to become a backup dancer for Janet Jackson.

Arnett’s other feature credits include Ice Age: The Meltdown; RV, opposite Robin Williams; Monster-in-Law; The Waiting Game; The Broken Giant; Southie; and Ed’s Next Move. Additionally, he can be heard in a variety of commercials, most notably as the voice of GMC trucks.

Arnett currently resides in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, actress Amy Poehler, and son, Archie.

McBride continued his success in 2008, starring opposite Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) and James Franco in Pineapple Express. The film, which was directed by Green and co-written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad), centers on two buddies who get mixed up with a drug gang.  The members of the Detroit Film Critics Society nominated McBride for Best Newcomer for his role as Red. Sony Pictures released the film in August and it opened at No. 1 at the box office, earning more than $100 million worldwide.

Immediately following the success of Pineapple Express, McBride was back on top of the box office a week later with the Paramount Pictures release of Tropic Thunder. Directed and written by Ben Stiller, the film was No. 1 for two weeks in a row and earned more than $100 million domestically. A star-studded cast joined McBride, including Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black, Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey.

McBride has starred in such comedies as Land of the Lost, Hot Rod, The Heartbreak Kid and Drillbit Taylor. He recently filmed Universal Pictures’ comedy Your Highness, which McBride co-wrote and which was directed by longtime collaborator David Gordon Green.

McBride is currently starring in HBO’s Eastbound & Down, which he wrote and executive produced with Jody Hill and Ben Best, along with executive producing partners Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy. The show features McBride as Kenny Powers, a star pitcher whose self-destructive behavior knocks him out of Major League baseball and back home to North Carolina, where he ends up teaching physical education at the middle school he once attended. The six-episode season premiered on the network on February 15, 2009, and was recently picked up for a second season. Eastbound & Down also stars Katy Mixon (Four Christmases), John Hawkes (Me and You and Everyone We Know, HBO’s Deadwood), Jennifer Irwin (Still Standing), Andrew Daly (Semi-Pro), Steve Little (The Ugly Truth), Sylvia Jefferies (The Notebook) and Best.

Born in Statesboro, Georgia, McBride grew up in Virginia. He attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he received a BFA in filmmaking.

            McBrayer stars as the voice of Irving on Disney Channel’s animated series Phineas and Ferb.  He will next be seen on the big screen in Brian Robbins’ dramedy A Thousand Words, with Eddie Murphy and Allison Janney.

            Previously, McBrayer starred with Jason Segel, Paul Rudd and Russell Brand in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, directed by Nicholas Stoller.  He was also seen opposite Will Ferrell in the NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; opposite John C. Reilly in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, directed by Jake Kasdan; and in Spring Breakdown, opposite Amy Poehler and Parker Posey.

            McBrayer has received two Emmy Award nominations for his role in producing and starring in the 30 Rock: Kenneth the Webpage online web series for NBC.

            He recently performed in select cities on the Conan O’Brien 2010 Comedy Tour throughout North America.  He has made numerous appearances on Saturday Night Live, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and the Today show.   
DANA GAIER (Edith) is a 12-year-old, seventh grade honors student from New Jersey. She has always loved all aspects of performing since the age of one, when she picked up a play guitar and started singing the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” for a room full of friends and family. At age five, while Gaier was “entertaining” people in a restaurant, a talent manager handed Gaier’s mother her card. At that time, Gaier’s mom decided it wasn’t the right time for Gaier to expand her interests beyond the local/community level. At age eight, Gaier was asked to open and close her school’s talent show with her rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” Gaier has great comedic timing and a terrific sense of humor, and is often compared to the television character Punky Brewster.

Gaier has always loved being on the stage, and has performed the title roles in Annie and Alice in Wonderland, Shprintze in Fiddler on the Roof, Iago in Aladdin and a Fagin’s boy in Oliver, to name a few. Last year, at an audition for Seussical: The Musical, Gaier won the role of JoJo (a male role) over the boys at the callbacks, and the show was nominated for a Perry Award (New Jersey’s theater equivalent to the Tony Awards). In September 2009, Gaier performed at the Perry Awards ceremony, reprising her role as JoJo. She also enjoyed making two national television appearances on Nickelodeon’s ME:TV.

When she is not driving back and forth to auditions in Los Angeles, Fisher enjoys being in first grade, playing video games and spending time with her best friend, Deanna. When she grows up, Fisher says she would like to be a scientist, the President or a pink kitty cat.

Today’s young film audiences may be more familiar with Andrews as a queen trying to train her teenage granddaughter to be a princess in the hit film The Princess Diaries and its sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Andrews also voiced the character of Queen Lillian in the blockbuster hits Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third. More recently, she voiced the narration of the hugely successful Disney film Enchanted, The Tooth Fairy and Shrek the Final Chapter.

Her earlier motion picture credits also include The Americanization of Emily, Hawaii, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Star!, Darling Lili and 10, to

name only a few.

Andrews was born and raised in England, where she first came to fame as a young musical performer on stage and on radio. She was still in her teens when she made her way across the Atlantic and to Broadway in her 1953 debut in the musical The Boy Friend. She went on to create the role of Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway musical My Fair Lady, which became an instant classic and the longest-running musical of its day. Andrews also won a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and garnered a Tony Award nomination for her performance. She received another Tony Award nomination in 1961 when she originated the role of Queen Guenevere in the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot. Thirty-five years later, Andrews returned to Broadway to star in the 1995 stage adaptation of Victor Victoria. Her career came full circle in 2005 when she directed a revival of The Boy Friend, which toured throughout North America.

Andrews has also been honored for her work on television, beginning in 1957 with her Emmy-nominated performance in the title role of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Cinderella. She later won an Emmy Award for her own musical variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour, and also earned Emmy nominations for Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (with her “chum” Carol Burnett) and her performance in the special The Sound of Julie Andrews. Andrews’ more recent television movies includes One Special Night, with her friend James Garner, Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime, and she reunited with Christopher Plummer in the CBS live production of On Golden Pond.

Andrews, already an accomplished best-selling author (1971’s “Mandy,” 1974’s “The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles”), has joined talents with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton to pursue the publishing of books committed to stimulating a sense of wonder in children and young readers. “The Julie Andrews’ Collection” was launched in October 2003 and has released more than 25 books to date, including the “Little Bo” series, the “Dumpy the Dumptruck” franchise, “The Great American Mousical,” “Thanks to You: Wisdom From Mother & Child” and “Simeon’s Gift” (the musical adaptation of which toured parts of the U.S. in 2008 and will go out on a world tour in 2010). Andrews’ autobiography “Home: A Memoir of My Early Years” was released in April 2008 to rave reviews and immediately climbed to No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list as well as several other prestigious lists in the U.S. and abroad.

In addition to her stage and screen work, Andrews has dedicated her life to her family and to serving important causes including Operation USA, an international relief organization with which she has traveled to such places as Vietnam and Cambodia. From 1992 to 2006, Andrews was honored as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which provides financial and technical support for low-income women in developing countries.

Andrews received her honors as a Dame of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on New Year’s Eve 1999. She was also a 2001 Kennedy Center Honoree. For more about Andrews and her collection, please go to www.julieandrewscollection.com.