Biography of legendary director and producer Chris Renaud

Chris Renaud has had many careers in the film industry: he has tried his hand as an illustrator, director, voice actor, storyboard artist, and graphic designer.

He claimed an Oscar for his work with a short animated film from 2006 "It's no time for nuts."featuring a character called Scrat, who was involved in the "Ice Age.". His work with the "Ugly I" franchise, co-directed with Pierre Coffin, has been most popular. They also worked together on voicing the minions from the animation.

The director's youth

Chris Renaud came into our world in the state of Maryland in 1966 in the city of Baltimore. At the age of fifteen, he and his parents moved to Pennsylvania, as Reno's father was employed by the Bethlehem Steel and he was transferred to the main office of the company. Chris had a twofold attitude to the fact of the move: on the one hand he was upset about the change of his familiar environment, and on the other hand he found himself in a completely different world, much bigger in comparison with the one he had to live in before.

During high school, Renaud was constantly involved in the design of school newspapers and yearbooks, and even then discovered a desire to draw various intricate plots and comic strips. In 1985, he left the school bench in Allentown and went on to study at the Baum School of Art, where he was paid a stipend of a thousand dollars.

Chris Renaud's career

Following his education at Syracuse University, he earned a degree in illustration in 1989. After that, Chris began his graphic design career in the recreational sports industry. His work includes mascots and logos for the NHL and the NBA. He also worked as an illustrator and designer for a number of different agencies and publications. His attraction to comic books never went away, and Reno continued to draw them for Marvel Comics and DC Comics.. His projects included illustrations for the Star Trek comic book, the further story of which flowed into Batman: Cataclysm.

Next it was time to try his hand in the world of children's TV. Renaud became a production designer "Pooh Books." at the Disney Channel. After gaining new experiences, Chris learnt how to invent virtual sets and puppet characters for a whole series of animation projects. On Blue Sky Studios Renaud had the opportunity to work as a storyboard artist on animated films. "Robots."the second part of the "Ice Age."as well as in "Hortone.". He worked on writing the script and became the director of the animated film "No Time for Nuts". Chris's efforts were not in vain, as the film won not only an Oscar in 2007, but also the Annie Award. Also the picture hit in 2006 in the "Animation Show of Shows".

Reno then decided to move to the French capital to work for Illumination Entertainment. While working on "Ugly Me," he and Coffin paired up started working on the minion concept.. At first, the plan was to create yellow personalities based on all sorts of creatures. But Renault came up with the idea of putting glasses on the minions. As he himself later recounted, he made a quick sketch of a few elements combined to make the so-called "mole with glasses" and sent it to Coffin.

Realisation of a grand idea

He then discussed the image with art director Eric Guillon. As a result, some of Chris's ideas were taken into the final image. In the process of perfection, the minions became more and more yellow and cylindrical. But Eric wanted maximise image of the minion to the fact that it is successfully perceived by children, that's why they became so bright and funny.

After successfully completing work on two instalments of 'Ugly Me', 'The Lorax' and 'The Secret Life of Pets', Chris has decided to sign a new deal to work with the Illumination Entertainment. He motivated his decision by the fact that he really enjoyed being part of this company. It gave him a unique opportunity to work almost non-stop. It was often the case that animators work on one project, and then a long time to create another. In Illumination has all the conditions to both work and to make films. So Chris considered himself very lucky in this regard.

Speaking to the press in 2012, Reno recalled that reading the Dr Seuss books as a child made it easier to work on a film like The Lorax. He was once asked if he had any plans to work on the animator with live fightersBut Chris replied that he has such thoughts, so it is not excluded that this may happen in the future, but for now he prefers to stay in the field of animation.

Chris Renault has a beautiful wife Laurenwith whom he has lived since 2008. The couple have two children, named Keeley and John.

Interesting facts about minions

Minions from "Ugly I" certainly do not leave the viewer indifferent. And toy manufacturers all over the world are certainly grateful to the creators of animation Koffen and Reno. Therefore, it is worth highlighting a few entertaining facts that may escape attention during the viewing process:

- The language of the minions is a symbiosis of many adverbs from around the world, with capitalisation of some words and the addition of culinary terms;
- At the very end of the first part of the cartoon, when the crazy disco starts, you can see a sign on the DJ's remote. "Gru-ray disc."which is a parody of the well-known Blu-ray disc markings.
- Gru's final dance happens at the same party. It's what John Travolta did in the film "Saturday Night Fever.".

- After kidnapping the girls, Vector decides to leave a message for Gru in the form of the letter "V", which is framed by a circle. It's kind of a reference to the film. "V for Vendetta.".
- A parody of The Godfather also occurs in the animation. The head of the doll in the bed that Gru finds is reminiscent of horse's head from the aforementioned film.
- Gru receives a ticket from the girls for their concert at school, which has the number 072069 on it. That's the date the Americans landed to the moon.