Production Information

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Having worked for Marvel and DC Comics from 1994 to 2000, CHRIS RENAUD (Directed by/Dave the Minion/Additional Character Design) comes from a background in comic art. From there, he moved to production design at Shadow Projects and Big Big Productions, where he worked on the Emmy-nominated children’s programs Bear in the Big Blue House and It’s a Big Big World. With these projects, he oversaw all aspects of the animation process, including character development, creating concept storyboards and managing teams of digital modellers and artists.

He progressed to Blue Sky Studios/20^th Century Fox Animation, where he worked as a story artist on a number of feature animation projects, including Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. His role was to translate the screen story into the visual language of cinema, inventing and staging both dramatic and comedic action.

In 2007, Renaud conceived, wrote and storyboarded the animated short No Time for Nuts, overseeing every creative aspect of production, including design, layout, lighting, rendering, music composition and sound design. No Time for Nuts was nominated for an Academy Award^®, and it went on to win the animation industry’s Annie Award for Best Short.

Renaud will next direct Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, scheduled for release on March 2, 2012.
PIERRE COFFIN (Directed by/Minion Voices) studied cinema at the Sorbonne University between 1985 and 1988. While engaged in his military service, he withdrew in order to sit for the Gobelins entry exam. He succeeded and followed the 2-D course from 1990 to 1993. Coffin then moved to England and worked for one year as a junior animator at Amblimation, Steven Spielberg’s animation studio. Back in France, he worked as a freelance CG artist for the National Center of Pedagogical Documents, helping to create various educational programs for French television.

In 1996, Coffin began working at Ex Machina, the leading animation company at the time. He became lead animator, then head of animation, and worked on short films including Flying Fish Tobby Who Aimed for the Stars. But it was with his short film Pings (1997) that his style was recognized. Shortly thereafter, he co-directed, with SoandSau, a commercial for Pastilles Vichy.

He joined Wanda as an animation director and then Passion Pictures, which works hand in hand with Mac Guff Ligne on all its CG commercials. While there, he worked on several commercials, as well as a miniseries for BBC1 (part of The Lenny Henry Show) called Polar Bears. Recognized as the “animal-commercial director,” Coffin is famous for commercials including Dédé (for the Française des Jeux, the largest French lottery), Caisse d’Epargne (a leading French Bank) and, recently, Oasis.

In 2007, Coffin directed a seven-minute teaser for his feature film Bones Story (Les Films d’Antoine/Mac Guff Ligne). He also directed Pat et Stanley, which was awarded Special Prize for a TV Series at the 2009 French Annecy Animation Festival.

Illumination, which will produce one to two films a year over the next five years, is currently in production on a feature film version of Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax,” which continues the successful collaboration Meledandri has had with Theodor Seuss Geisel’s widow, Audrey. Other upcoming films include an original live-action/CG-hybrid film, Hop, starring Russell Brand and James Marsden and directed by Alvin and the Chipmunks’ Tim Hill, which is currently in production, and the animated feature adaptation of Ricky Gervais’ “Flanimals” books.

Meledandri was previously an executive at 20^th Century Fox for 13 years. While there, he became founding president of 20^th Century Fox Animation, which he headed for eight years, amassing more than $1 billion in global box-office revenue.

During his tenure, he helped Fox become a major player in the world of animated feature films and in 1998, he led Fox’s acquisition of fledgling visual effects/commercial house Blue Sky Studios, which he built into a successful producer of animated features. He oversaw the creative and business operations of Blue Sky Studios, now Fox’s wholly-owned CGI studio. While at the studio, Meledandri supervised and/or executive produced movies including Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Robots, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Simpsons Movie and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!

Before joining Fox, Meledandri was president of Dawn Steel Pictures at Walt Disney Pictures, where he served as an executive producer on Cool Runnings.
JANET HEALY (Produced by) started her career in live-action films with such great directors as Stanley Kramer, Hal Ashby and Sam Peckinpah.  She worked with Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1941, serving as associate producer on the latter.  She then joined George Lucas’ premiere visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), as a co-head of production. 

At ILM, Healy produced some of the era’s most groundbreaking visual effects work, including the Academy Award^®-winning visual effects for Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park.  While producing the digital character work for Casper, Healy fell in love with character animation.  She joined Walt Disney Feature Animation as the head of digital production and oversaw work on the films Tarzan, Dinosaur and Mulan.  She moved to DreamWorks Animation to serve as head of production for several years and, while there, produced Shark Tale. 

In 2008, Healy joined Chris Meledandri as he was beginning his new venture, Illumination Entertainment, for Universal Pictures. 
JOHN COHEN (Produced by) previously worked at 20^th Century Fox for seven years.  As the vice president of 20^th Century Fox Animation, he worked closely with Blue Sky Studios on films including Ice Age, Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! He also had the idea to reimagine the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise and developed the 2007 film.
Cohen is currently a producer at Illumination Entertainment.  In addition to Despicable Me, upcoming Illumination films for Universal Pictures include Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, directed by Chris Renaud and co-directed by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio; Hop, directed by Tim Hill and starring Russell Brand and James Marsden; Flanimals, based on the book series by Ricky Gervais; and Where’s Waldo?
Before joining Fox, Cohen worked at Scott Rudin Productions.  In 1998, he graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

As 3-D productions are on the way to becoming the norm, CINCO PAUL (Screenplay by) is right on trend with two high-profile 3-D animated films on his resume. He is set to co-direct the highly anticipated Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, an adaptation of the iconic environmental-themed children’s book, which is scheduled for release in March 2012.

Paul and his writing partner, Ken Daurio, are the hot Hollywood screenwriting team who penned the Horton Hears a Who! screenplay for executive Chris Meledandri during his tenure at 20^th Century Fox. When Horton Hears a Who! led to a nearly $300 million worldwide box-office gross, Meledandri formed the film production company Illumination Entertainment, which specializes in animation.  Illumination’s first three movies given the green light were all written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio: Despicable Me, Hop and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.  

Paul and Daurio are known throughout the entertainment industry for their unique pitching style, often singing their pitches to high-level studio executives. For the Disney film College Road Trip, they belted out the ’80s tune “Double Dutch Bus” complete with harmony and melody. An estimated 90 percent of their pitches in the last nine years have involved a musical performance.

Paul met Daurio while working on a church musical and they bonded immediately. In 1999, they sold the screenplay for their first short film, Special, and the film went on to play in the festival circuit due to the dark comedic storyline. Next came the 2001 cult classic Bubble Boy, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy Livingston (a boy without an immune system), a twisted take on the John Travolta television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Paul also turned the movie Bubble Boy into a full-length musical and wrote the music and lyrics. It will be directed by Stephen Schwartz and released in 2011. His other film credits include Disney’s megahit The Santa Clause 2.

Paul and Daurio had the distinct honor of being handpicked by Audrey Geisel (the widow of Theodor Seuss Geisel) to pen Horton Hears a Who! and The Lorax film projects on behalf of the estate of Dr. Seuss.

Paul studied at Yale University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he attended the screenwriting program at the University of Southern California, winning a fellowship grant to pay for his second year.
As 3-D productions are on the way to becoming the norm, KEN DAURIO (Screenplay by) is right on trend with two high-profile 3-D animated films on his resume.  He is set to co-direct Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, an adaptation of the iconic author’s environmental-themed children’s book that is scheduled for release in March 2012.

Daurio and his writing partner, Cinco Paul, are the hot Hollywood screenwriting team who penned the Horton Hears a Who! screenplay for executive Chris Meledandri during his tenure at 20^th Century Fox.  After Paul and Daurio’s work on Horton lead to a nearly $300 million worldwide box-office gross, the duo found themselves in demand in the animation world.  Daurio and Paul further forged their strategic relationship with Meledandri when he formed the film production company Illumination Entertainment, which specializes in animation.  It’s no coincidence that Illumination’s first three movies that were given the green light were all written by Daurio and Paul (Despicable Me, Hop and The Lorax), something unheard of in the history of animation.

Daurio and Paul are known throughout the entertainment industry for their unique pitching style, often singing their pitches to high-level studio executives. For the Disney film College Road Trip, they belted out the ’80s tune “Double Dutch Bus,” complete with harmony and melody. An estimated 90 percent of their pitches in the last nine years have involved a musical performance.

Daurio met Paul while working on a church musical and they bonded immediately. In 1999, they sold their first screenplay, Special, which they later turned into a short film that played the festival circuit due to the dark comedic storyline. Next came the 2001 cult classic Bubble Boy, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy Livingston (a boy without an immune system), a twisted take on the John Travolta television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Paul and Daurio also had the distinct honor of being handpicked by Audrey Geisel (the widow of Theodor Seuss Geisel) to pen Horton Hears a Who! and The Lorax film projects on behalf of the estate of Dr. Seuss.

Upon graduating from high school, Daurio began directing music videos for up-and-coming bands like Blink 182, AFI and Jimmy Eat World. More than 100 music videos later, he teamed up with Cinco Paul to write his first feature script. Daurio and Paul are now one of Hollywood’s most sought-after screenwriting teams.
SERGIO PABLOS (Based on a Story by/Executive Producer) was born in Barcelona, Spain, and studied character animation at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He is the creative director and CEO of Animagic SL, based in Madrid. Some of his early animation work includes Batman: The Animated Series, Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too!, A Goof Troop Christmas and A Goofy Movie.

Pablos also worked on the Disney films The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Tarzan and Treasure Planet. For his work on Treasure Planet, Pablos was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Character Animation.

He was a supervising animator and team supervisor on Asterix and the Vikings and Nocturna; was the art supervisor on Simon and Schuster’s “Trucktown”; was the character designer and team supervisor for Blue Sky Studios’ Rio; and is currently the supervision animator and team supervisor on Moonscoop’s Titeuf.
Nina Rowan (Executive Producer) is a leader in the field of CGI. As the producer of the 1998 Academy Award^®-winning Best Animated Short Film, Bunny, Rowan is known for her expert knowledge of computer animation and her skill in developing teams that can tackle innovative and complex animated projects.

Rowan is the founder and CEO of Plushy Feely Corp (PFC). PFC is a children’s toy and multimedia company that focuses on building self-esteem and confidence in kids through creative educational products and animated entertainment. She invented and launched a line of award-winning educational plush toys called Kimochis—Toys With Feelings Inside that are being sold by specialty retailers across the country. PFC is dedicated to creating products with a purpose that focus on promoting social and emotional learning for parents and children.

Rowan is currently the president of TOT Industries, located in Marin County, California. For the past four years, she has helped develop and expand TOT Industries into becoming a leader in the family entertainment industry, focusing on the creative and technical aspects of original content development for books, animated feature films and animation television productions. She is currently producing a series of children’s books for Simon & Schuster titled “Trucktown,” created by renowned children’s book author Jon Scieszka. “Trucktown” has appeared on The New York Times’ Children’s Best-Sellers list.

Prior to TOT, Rowan joined Wild Brain in May of 1999 to help lead the company’s expanding computer-generated animation and visual effects division. She has been responsible for recruiting artistic and technical talent, developing a production pipeline to efficiently create and manage CG film assets and developing CG production and business strategies for the company. In an effort to keep production costs down while still maintaining high production value, Rowan has cultivated relationships with some of the world’s top overseas animation studios and has delivered high-quality animation at extremely competitive costs.

Rowan was also responsible for heading up creative development for Wild Brain. She has worked closely with writers, directors and producers, developing screenplays for feature films and television series for both animation and live-action productions. During her tenure at Wild Brain, she sold an original television series idea to the Disney Channel and an original feature film idea to Universal Pictures; both properties are currently in development. Rowan produced Wild Brain’s first CG film, Hubert’s Brain, which is an original 17-minute short that highlights the studio’s superb character animation. Hubert’s Brain won first place in its categories at the World Animation Celebration, the ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards and Synthesis 8 in Belgium; garnered the Silver Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival; and received a host of other accolades from film festivals around the world. The success of this film led Wild Brain into the feature film arena by securing a $40 million co-production partnership and a five-picture deal with Miramax Studios.

Rowan segued to Wild Brain from Blue Sky Studios in New York. In addition to

producing Bunny at Blue Sky Studios, Rowan was the executive producer of the studio’s

multimillion dollar feature film and commercial production. She produced the animation and digital effects for films including MTV Networks/Geffen Pictures/Warner Bros.’ Joe’s Apartment and The Bubble Factory’s A Simple Wish, and was executive producer for Blue Sky Studios on Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek: Insurrection.

Rowan’s film and commercial projects have garnered the most prestigious awards in the industry including the Oscar^®, the Emmy, the CLIO, the Effie and the Mobius, among others.

Prior to Blue Sky Studios, Rowan was a producer of cell animation at Broadcast

Arts Productions, following her role as assistant to the director of animation at Mark Zander Productions, both in New York City.

Rowan has a BA in art history from the State University of New York at Purchase. She is the Northern California chairperson for Women in Toys and is a member of ASIFA-Hollywood and the Visual Effects Society.

In 1999, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design for his opening title sequence to Sony’s Dilbert series.  Cheney went on to design Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Academy Award^®-winning theatrical short The Chubbchubbs! and Universal Pictures’ Curious George.

In 2006, he directed, produced and production designed The Very First Noel holiday special. 

In 2008, Cheney joined Illumination Entertainment as production designer for Despicable Me.

While in Los Angeles, she worked on commercials, rock videos and television shows like Quantum Leap, the Emmy Award-winning Northern Exposure (from 1991 to 1995) and the pilot for Melrose Place (1992). In 1995, she started working in feature animation at Walt Disney Pictures. While there, she was the editor of The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) and Mulan II (2004). While at Sony Pictures Animation, she was the editor of Open Season (2006).

Ziegenhagen-Shefland has been married to Alan Shefland, a fellow editor, since 1997 and they have one son, Gabriel, who is 14. She is currently working on a documentary in Minnesota.
GREGORY PERLER (Edited by) is a film editor who has lived and worked in Los Angeles for 20 years. A New York University film school graduate, he moved to Los Angeles in 1990 when he was hired as an assistant editor on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (the first of only two animated films to be nominated for an Academy Award^® for Best Picture). He was promoted to associate editor during this production.

In addition to Despicable Me, Perler’s previous feature-animation credits include A Goofy Movie, Tarzan, the Oscar^®-nominated Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and the Oscar^®-winning Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. His live-action credits include 102 Dalmatians, Enchanted, the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert film and two telefilms based on the classic “Eloise” children’s books.

Perler was an editor on the first season of the highly rated USA Network series Royal Pains and is currently editing Illumination Entertainment’s Hop, which will be released in April 2011.
Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer PHARRELL WILLIAMS (Original Songs and Themes by/Score by) has made history for being one of the most successful and prolific entertainers to emerge during the last decade.

Williams is part of the beat-making duo The Neptunes, with Chad Hugo, and the incredible trio N.E.R.D., with Hugo and childhood friend Shae Haley. Together, they have had multiple, critically acclaimed platinum albums, Grammy nominations and wins, and a fan base that stretches the globe. Their newest album, “Nothing,” was released on June 15. 

Additionally, Williams is an entrepreneur and a one-man conglomerate with business ventures including his clothing lines Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream; an eco-fabric company called Bionic Yarn; artistic collaborations with Murakami and the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery; and a jewelry line with Louis Vuitton.
HEITOR PEREIRA (Score by) is establishing a reputation for bringing international flavors to mainstream American scores.  From a Santa Monica studio jammed with hundreds of instruments from around the world, Pereira has composed scores for It’s Complicated, Running the Sahara, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Illegal Tender, Curious George, Ask the Dust, Real Women Have Curves, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and Riding in Cars With Boys.

Pereira attracted Hans Zimmer’s attention for his outstanding skills as a guitarist.  Zimmer hired Pereira to play on a few scores, and soon Pereira was following in the footsteps of other well-known musicians-turned-film-composers including Zimmer, James Newton Howard and Danny Elfman.  Pereira has played guitar on and/or contributed music to the scores of Mission: Impossible II, Black Hawk Down, Spanglish, As Good as It Gets, I Am Sam, The Pledge, Something’s Gotta Give, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Man on Fire, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, The Rundown, Flushed Away, The Holiday, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Simpsons Movie, The Kite Runner, Bee Movie, The Dark Knight and Angels & Demons.

Born to a family of musicians in the south of Brazil, Pereira completed his conservatory studies in guitar, harmony, counterpoint and composition in Rio de Janeiro.  He quickly began playing with some of the leading artists in Brazil and attracted the attention of the producer of the band Simply Red.  He entertained millions of fans around the world as that band’s lead guitarist.  He has also released three solo albums of his own music.  Throughout his career, Pereira has played guitar on the albums of widely diverse artists who esteem him as much for his unique sensibility as his astonishing guitar virtuosity.  These artists include Sergio Mendes, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Jack Johnson, Bryan Adams, Sir Elton John, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Seal and Nelly Furtado.

—despicable me—