Cleveland Conquers Pixar: Two Chagrin Falls Filmmakers Up for Animation Oscars

'Coco,' top, and 'LOU,' both directed by Clevelanders and up for Oscar

If you’re wondering who to root for during Sunday’s Oscars telecast, I have two names for you: Lee Unkrich and Dave Mullins. Both are Chagrin Falls, Ohio, natives. Both work for animation powerhouse Pixar. And both are nominated for Academy Awards in animation.

Unkrich directed Coco, the Pixar Animation Studios 2017 hit up for Best Animated Feature Film. The film tells the tale of Miguel Rivera, a 12-year-old boy who is transported to the land of the dead. There, he seeks the help of his ancestors to get back to the land of the living. The story is Unkrich’s too, although he didn’t write the screenplay.

Mullins wrote and directed the Pixar short Lou, which played alongside Pixar’s summer hit, Cars 3. Lou, the main character in the short, is made from the assorted unclaimed items of a kindergarten class. Lou’s gifts allow him to reshape the life of a class bully. Lou is up for Best Animated Short Film.

Clevelanders conquer Pixar

Unkrich was an actor in his youth, performing at Cleveland Playhouse. He would later attend the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He joined Pixar in 1994, eventually co-directing Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3.

Mullins graduated from Chagrin Falls High School and attended classes at the Cleveland Institute of the Arts. He has more than 20 years at Pixar, working as a supervising and directing animator, working in some way on nearly every Pixar film to date, including Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, all three Cars films, Up, Brave, Inside Out and the upcoming Incredibles 2.

Comments

A chat with Erik Kripke, creator of 'Supernatural' and 'The Boys'

Erik Kripke on the set of 'The Boys' Those that know Eric Kripke from when he was a boy growing up in the Toledo, Ohio, suburb of Sylvania often tell him they didn’t know that he was “secretly disturbed.” And even the filmmaker admits that his happy, idyllic life seems out of place for the guy that created the horror sensation, Supernatural . “I guess the only thing weird may have been how normal everything was,” Kripke says. Kripke’s Supernatural, which ran for 15 seasons on The CW, tells the tale of two monster-hunting brothers – Sam and Dean Winchester, played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles respectively. Think of it as a sort of Route 66 with chainsaws, muscle cars and a boatload of demons. It's a bit of a 180 for a guy who started his career as a comedy writer. Dangerously obsessed Kripke says that since he was 8 or 9 years old, his focus was on becoming a filmmaker. “I never really wanted to do anything else. You could say I was ‘dange...

Midwest Movie Belt: Zombie Apocalypse Ground Zero

'The Walking Dead's shambling walkers I love The Walking Dead . Mostly because it is a well-written, well-produced, well-acted, intense horror drama. But maybe even more so because it’s filled to the gills with zombies . And in the middle of the scare season, nothing spooks me more than shambling cadavers. Zombies - or walkers, if you’re a fan of the AMC show or Image comic - are more frightening than any fictional monster you can imagine. Vampires, werewolves, mutants, reanimated slashers, idiot teens in Halloween masks - none hold a waxy candelabra to a horde of hungry corpses. It’s the multiplying mass. It’s claustrophobic. Plus the inevitability that you’re going to bump into a dearly departed loved-one. And that your loved one will likely tug out your intestines through your belly button. The Walking Dead ’s fourth season debuts Sunday. The successful show, developed by Frank Darabont, based on Robert Kirkman’s popular comic book , owes much of its setting - the...

Everything we know about Hulu’s ‘The Land’ TV pilot

Actor Christopher Meloni hanging with the Cleveland Browns (photo Christopher Meloni) >> Does Hulu’s new streaming series, The Land , focus on the Cleveland Browns? Maybe? Here’s everything we know about Hulu’s The Land streaming series. What is The Land TV series about? Nothing official has been announced, but some digging suggests that The Land , aka 17 Sundays , is This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman‘s upcoming Hulu series set in the world of pro football, starring Christopher Meloni and William H. Macy. Meloni was spotted in Cleveland over the summer in Berea, attending a Browns' training camp session, according to News 5 Cleveland . Meloni’s Instagram account confirms it, with snaps of Meloni alongside Miles Garrett and other Browns players. Meloni also visited the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. On August 27, Deadline reported that “'The Land' … got the largest allocation (of California tax credits) … with nearly $43 milli...

Midwest Movie Maker

Search This Blog