American film director
Barry Cook
(born August 12, 1958) is an American film director who has worked in the animated film industry since the 1980s. Cook and
Tony Bancroft
directed
Mulan
(1998), for which they won the 1998
Annie Award for Best Animated Feature
.
[1]
Cook was also the co-director for
Arthur Christmas
(2011), directed by
Sarah Smith
. Cook also directed
Walking with Dinosaurs
(2013) with
Neil Nightingale
.
Background
[
edit
]
Cook was born in
Nashville, Tennessee
on August 12, 1958. He made his first film when he was ten years old.
[2]
Cook interned as an assistant animator beginning in December 1978 at the animation studio
Hanna-Barbera
, where he contributed as an assistant animator on "The New Fred and Barney Show" and many others. He also contributed to the pilot episode of the 1981 TV series
The Smurfs
.
[3]
In 1981,
Disney
hired Cook as an effects animator for
Tron
(1982). Cook subsequently animated or supervised effects for various films including
The Little Mermaid
(1989),
Beauty and the Beast
(1991), and
Aladdin
(1992).
[2]
He became the supervisor for the special-effects animation department at Disney. In 1992, he directed the animated short film
Off His Rockers
, which was about a child and his
rocking horse
.
Peter Schneider
, then president of feature animation, saw potential in Cook's film and supported its production.
Off His Rockers
drew the attention of director
Randal Kleiser
, who requested for the short to open his feature film
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
in 1992.
[4]
In 1993, Cook directed another animated short,
Trail Mix-Up
, which featured the cartoon character
Roger Rabbit
.
[5]
His directing experience with
Off His Rockers
and
Trail Mix-Up
led him to the opportunity to direct
Mulan
with Bancroft.
[6]
Following a five-month sabbatical break after directing
Mulan
, Cook began developing ideas for his second animated feature, and arrived at an idea he developed years earlier titled
The Ghost & His Gift
, adapted from
Oscar Wilde
's
The Canterville Ghost
.
[7]
In 2000, Cook pitched his idea to
Michael Eisner
and
Thomas Schumacher
who agreed the idea showed potential, although Eisner deterred about the simplicity while Schumacher felt the project was "too human" and more appropriate for a
live action
film.
[7]
[8]
Following the pitch, Cook began reconstructing the idea, and added seven folk art characters into the story.
[8]
During another pitch for the revised film, Cook proposed producing the film with 70 percent computer animation and 30 percent traditional animation, in which
My Peoples
was
green-lighted
with a budget of $45 million.
[8]
The project underwent a series of titles such as
Angel and Her No Good Sister
,
Elgin's People
, and
Once in a Blue Moon
before settling on
A Few Good Ghosts
, and included a voice cast of
Dolly Parton
,
Lily Tomlin
,
Hal Holbrook
, and
Charles Durning
.
[8]
On November 14, 2003,
David Stainton
announced that production on
A Few Good Ghosts
was halted,
[9]
and Disney announced the closure of the
Feature Animation Florida
studio on January 12, 2004.
[10]
Following the closure, Cook was not offered a renewed contract with the Burbank-located animation studio, and worked consecutively with
IDT Entertainment
(now known as Starz Media),
Animation Lab
, and
Laika
on a series of undeveloped animation projects.
[7]
[11]
[12]
In February 2009, Cook signed with
Aardman Animations
,
[7]
and the following April, he was announced to co-direct
Arthur Christmas
alongside
Sarah Smith
.
[13]
Because Smith previously worked in live-action television, Cook described his involvement as "help[ing] along with the animation, from designing the film and its characters to all of the storyboarding process."
[7]
In March 2010, Cook signed with
Animal Logic
to serve as co-director on
Walking with Dinosaurs
, intrigued with the idea of using computer animation against live-action backgrounds.
[14]
Inspired by the original BBC documentary series, the movie was conceived as a silent movie with no dialogue,
[14]
but following the screening of a rough cut,
20th Century Fox
executives requested a celebrity voice cast, believing it would connect audiences to the characters.
[15]
In 2011, Cook wrote the screenplay for The Jesus Film Project and
Studio 4°C
's short film,
My Last Day
.
[16]
In July 2016, it was announced that Cook was in negotiations to direct
Mean Margaret
for Astro-Nomical Entertainment.
[17]
Filmography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Annie Awards :: 26th Annie Awards"
.
annieawards.org
.
ASIFA-Hollywood
. Retrieved
December 13,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Heater, Heidi (January 23, 2008).
"
'Mulan' director to speak at Asbury"
.
asbury.edu
.
Asbury University
. Retrieved
December 13,
2013
.
- ^
Zahed, Ramin (December 15, 2013).
"Pachyrhinos' Stirring Saga"
.
Animation Magazine
. Retrieved
December 16,
2013
.
- ^
Hinman, Catherine (July 15, 1992).
"How The Disney Film Short 'Off His Rockers' Made It To The Big Screen: A Little Project That 'Blew Up'
"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
.
- ^
Boyar, Jay (March 19, 1993).
"
'Aladdin' Deserves Best Picture Anyway"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
.
- ^
Abbott, Jim (June 17, 1998).
"The Making Of 'Mulan'
"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Armstrong, Josh (July 30, 2012).
"Director Barry Cook remembers the
Peoples
of Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida"
. Animated Views
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Hill, Jim (February 21, 2011).
"Why Walt Disney Feature Animation opted NOT to make "My Peoples"
"
. Jim Hill Media
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
Eller, Claudia (November 15, 2003).
"Disney Decides It Doesn't Want 'A Few Good Ghosts'
"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
Pack, Todd (January 13, 2004).
"Disney Animation Unit Fades Away In Orlando"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
DeMott, Rick (September 18, 2007).
"Toon Vets Gobble Up Animation Lab's Wild Bunch Feature"
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
Zahed, Ramed (December 22, 2008).
"Laika Lets Go 65, Nixes Jack and Ben"
.
Animation Magazine
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
McNary, Dave (April 27, 2009).
"Aardman begins work on toon duo"
(Press release).
Variety
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Zahed, Ramin (December 15, 2013).
"Pachyrhinos' Stirring Saga"
.
Animation Magazine
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
McClintock, Pamela (January 15, 2014).
"T-Wreck: Why Fox's 'Walking With Dinosaurs' Went Extinct"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
July 5,
2015
.
- ^
"Studio 4°C Animates Campus Crusade for Christ's Jesus Short"
.
Anime News Network
. April 15, 2011
. Retrieved
March 10,
2016
.
- ^
Galuppo, Mia (July 26, 2016).
"Astro-Nomical Entertainment Launches, Developing 'Mean Margaret' Movie"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
September 25,
2018
.
External links
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