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036 NOVEMBER 2015
Wind back the clock to the 1960s and the world becomes a much more
mellow – and yellow – place. The invasion has come; not from outer space,
but from our very own backyard. The MINIONS are here.
Following the unprecedented success
of the first two Despicable Me films,
Illumination Entertainment weren’t
slowing down with their third instalment.
Minions is the eighth highest-earning
animated film at the international box office,
and the 10th highest overall, beating out
Despicable Me 2 at number 26.
Illumination founder and CEO Chris
Meledandri explains that it was the Minions
themselves running the production of this
origin story – not the company: "We didn't set
out to give the Minions their own movie, the
Minions demanded it.”
The character designs
were a large part of
the appeal of the film.
“After Despicable Me
2 was finished, we
found that our team
– which is made
up of hundreds of the
most talented individuals
with whom I have ever
had the privilege of
working – could not
stop themselves from animating these
characters,” Meledandri says. And so began
their gradual world domination.
Meledandri emphasises the importance of
incorporating character as well as cuteness
into his creations. "There are unquestionably
many areas where our team has developed
expertise, and they're all important, but
we do have to pick one focal point that
we're all serving. In my mind, that's in the
development of characters that are relatable,
dimensional and frequently flawed."
It is this attention to detail that has ensured
the Minions' global popularity. “What appeals
to everyone – no matter what country they
live in or their age – is that the Minions are
subversive, childlike,
sincere, expressive
and invincible," notes
co-producer Janet
Healy. "They're also
ageless and without a
specific language. People
are eager to see them in their own movie,
and we're very excited to give them a prequel
to the Despicable Me movies that features
the Minions and the story of where they
come from."
Meledandri also cites their popularity as
one of the core reasons for diving back into
their history. “People have so many questions
about who the Minions are and where they
came from, that we realised it would be a lot
of fun to answer those."
Consequently, writer Brian Lynch dove
headfirst into all things Minion to deliver as
authentic an experience as possible for fans
of the yellow critters. "Having Minion voices
in your head can be scary, but it was really
helpful in this case," he laughs.
However, it was the dialogue that was
the tricky part. “Our three leads don't speak
English, and still [co-director] Pierre [Coffin]
is wonderful at conveying what they're trying
to say.
“As much as the Minions want a villain to
lead them, they want a family to be a part of,"
Lynch adds. "In this movie, they don't have
that yet and are trying to figure out that that's
what they really want."
While Lynch appreciated the film's focus on
the Minions’ origins, for Coffin it was all about
the creatures supporting the film themselves.
"We pushed the boundaries on this movie
to make it not about sidekicks," he says. "It's
not about funny secondary
characters. We were all-in
because we had a good
story, good characters
and felt that there was a
challenge to give people
something very special."