Tag Archives: Brad Bird

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DUNCAN STUDIO PROVIDES ANIMATION FOR NEW SEQUENCES FEATURED IN

“THE IRON GIANT: SIGNATURE EDITION”

DIRECTOR BRAD BIRD’S CLASSIC ANIMATED FILM HAS BEEN RE-MASTERED WITH TWO NEW SEQUENCES AND COMES BACK TO THEATERS THIS FALL FROM WARNER BROS. AND FATHOM EVENTS

Pasadena, California, September 15, 2015 – Duncan Studio is proud to announce their collaboration with director Brad Bird and Warner Bros. Pictures on the re- mastered version of the animated action adventure, “The Iron Giant: Signature Edition.”

“Brad had storyboarded two additional sequences during the production of the original film that were never finished due to time and budget constraints,” said Ken Duncan, head of Duncan Studio. “So when Warner Bros. approached us earlier this year about setting up a team to help bring Brad’s vision to fruition, we jumped at the chance to work on this beloved classic. Coincidentally, we already had several key artists and animators who worked on the original film working at our studio, so it seemed like a great fit,” he continued.

Director Brad Bird added, “When the opportunity arose to produce new scenes originally planned for “The Iron Giant,” my first thought was Duncan Studio. Beyond the fact that Ken Duncan himself is a brilliant animator, his staff was blessed with several veterans of the original “Iron Giant” team, which helped immeasurably in our effort to have the new scenes blend in seamlessly with our original footage. Duncan Studio did a wonderful job.”

Among the veterans from the original film, animation supervisors Chris Sauve and Wendy Perdue reprised their roles and animated their characters Dean and Annie, along with the help of animator Sandro Cleuzo; original background department head, Dennis Venizelos, oversaw backgrounds for the new sequences; and effects animation was again supplied by Michel Gagné. Additionally, a crew of approximately 20 artists at the studio animated the CG Giant, created layouts, painted the backgrounds, cleaned up the hand-drawn animation, inked and painted the characters, and composited all elements digitally over the course of four months.

“The Iron Giant: Signature Edition” arrives in theaters for a special event screening on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:00PM local time, with an encore event in select markets on Sunday, October 4 at 12:00PM local time. Tickets are on sale now, through www.FathomEvents.com, with “The Iron Giant: Signature Edition” available on digital platforms, including iTunes later this fall. Click here for a recently released trailer tied to re-mastered version of the film.

When “The Iron Giant” arrived in theaters, it was hailed as an “instant classic” (Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal). “Imagine E.T. as a towering metal man, that’s the appeal of this enchanting animated feature” (the late Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). And the world soon learned another “giant” had arrived as well: filmmaker Brad Bird, who made his stunning directorial debut with this film and has gone on to win two Oscars®, as well as worldwide acclaim for his work on both animated and live-action features.

Winner of nine Annie Awards, “The Iron Giant” is the tale of an unlikely friendship between a rebellious boy named Hogarth (voiced by Eli Marienthal) and a giant robot, voiced by a then little-known actor named Vin Diesel. The voice cast also includes Jennifer Aniston and Harry Connick Jr.

Directed by Brad Bird, the film was produced by Allison Abbate and Des McAnuff, with the screen story by Bird and the screenplay written by Tim McCanlies and Bird. Adapted from poet Ted Hughes’ book, The Iron Man,“The Iron Giant” was first released in the summer of 1999 by Warner Bros.

http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/tiffkids/the-iron-giant-signature-edition

ABOUT DUNCAN STUDIO

Duncan Studio has produced a broad range of work for a variety of entertainment mediums, from feature films and theme park entertainment to commercials. Under the supervision of Ken Duncan, the versatile artists and animators at Duncan Studio are able to deliver top-quality work on projects from the earliest stages of development (character and production design, storyboarding, modeling and rigging) through animation (both 2D and CG), lighting, compositing and final rendering.