There will be a Yorkton connection to the Oscars this year as the film The Illusionist is up for the nod as Best Animated Film.
Former Yorkton resident Paul Dutton spent three-and-a-half years as Animation Director and Assistant Director on the film.
Being up for an Oscar is of course a huge moment for Dutton.
"My wife, Jennifer, and I were in the kitchen in our bathrobes watching the web stream from Los Angeles," he said recalling finding out The Illusionist was an Oscar finalist. "When it was announced that we had received the nomination we both shouted. Woke the kids and scared the dogs. What a great feeling! "I've had a lot of great response from family and friends - too much to get back to everybody all at once. A lot of fun!"
While planning on being at the Oscars, Dutton, who graduated from YRHS in 1990 and left for the University of Saskatchewan the following year, said he won't make it to the stage, even if The Illusionist wins.
"I won't be up on stage unless the director and producers can't make it - and they all plan to be there," he said.
Dutton said they knew they had a good film, and knew a nomination was a possibility, but it's never a sure thing.
"We had hoped for the nomination," he said. "We believed that the film was special and trusted that would be recognized when it came time for the nominations.
"Still, we were all very nervous when the nominations were announced. There were only three spots this year for the best animated feature Oscar because there were only 15 feature animated films released in 2010. We had all assumed that two spots would go to Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon and the final spot would likely come down to our film, and heavyweights Tangled and Despicable Me. When we were announced it was a huge relief and a great honor!"
The film actually brought together two noted creators, one the writer of the story, and the other the filmmaker."The film is based on a script written by French comic director Jacques Tati," explained Dutton in a 2008 feature in Yorkton This Week. "Tati is a very famous fellow in France and I suppose that he could be best compared to Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin. He was a big influence on Rowan Atkinson and his Mr. Bean character. Sylvain (Chomet) has adapted the script for animation and the film stars, an animated version of Tati himself. It is called The Illusionist. Set at the end of the 1950s the movie is about an old music hall illusionist who, as rock and roll bursts on the scene, finds himself in reduced circumstances and forced to accept increasingly obscure gigs in fringe theaters. Finally, he meets one young fan who believes his magic is real."
The films include the hit Osmosis Jones, a film that proved a prelude to working with Sylvain Chomet."In 2000 I was working as a freelance animator on Warner Brother's feature film Osmosis Jones when I heard about Sylvain's film Les Triplettes de Belleville from a friend of mine and decided that I would probably enjoy that opportunity more than the Warner's job," he said. "Sylvain's studio was in Montreal and I ended up supervising a small crew in Toronto. I would travel to Montreal once a month and Sylvain seemed to like the work my team and I were doing. When Triplettes was wrapped Sylvain returned to Europe and a couple years later he asked me to join him as Assistant Director and Animation Director on his current project, The Illusionist."
Sylvain Chomet, the Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed creator of The Triplets of Belleville, adapted the script and brought it to life in his distinctive hand-drawn animated style.
"I had worked previously with Sylvain on his film Les Triplettes de Belleville. They were behind schedule and in a bit of a panic to get it done," said Dutton. I signed up for six months and hired a number of my friends in Toronto to help me out. Sylvain enjoyed the work we did and when he started to crew up for The Illusionist he asked me if I would like to come to Scotland to serve as Animation Director and Assistant Director. I, of course, said yes."
A press package on the film explains the The Illusionist, "is a story about two paths that cross. An outdated, aging magician, forced to wander from country to country, city to city and station to station in search of a stage to perform his act meets a young girl at the start of her lifes journey. Alice is a teenage girl with all her capacity for childish wonder still intact. She plays at being a woman without realizing the day to stop pretending is fast approaching. She doesn't know yet that she loves The Illusionist like she would a father; he already knows that he loves her as he would a daughter. Their destinies will collide, but nothing - not even magic or the power of illusion- can stop the voyage of discovery."
Chomet said he was touched by Tati's work and felt the story was ideal as a project.
The film's press kit explained Chomet read The Illusionist script for the first time on his train journey to the Cannes Film Festival in 2003 for the world premiere of The Triplets of Belleville.
"It was quite beautiful and rather touching," said Chomet in the release. "The surroundings couldn't have been more appropriate either, as much of the story takes place on railways. And if The Triplets of Belleville told a complicated story in a simple way, The Illusionist was the complete opposite. Its narrative was so deceptively simple it was highly complex. Yet I could picture every single scene as I read the script, it visually spoke to me. It was something you'd never see normally done in animation. Nor did it follow the basic rules of animation as it really was squarely aimed at adults. How to make a grown-up cartoon equally appealing to kids? Those were exciting challenges.
"I added in my own characters to give further emotional resonance to the overall arc of the story which is the end of one showbiz era - the music hall - and the beginning of another teenage-oriented one - rock 'n' roll music. Parallel to that you have this universal theme about father/daughter relationships and how bittersweet they often are. The Illusionist contained everything I love about Tati and his connection to human foibles. All I had to do was add my visual poetry to his and I knew in my heart that combination was going to work. Yet it now seems natural in retrospect."
Dutton said working with Chomet was an experience, one he felt would result in something special.
"Sylvain is a very passionate man," offered Dutton. "He is a perfectionist and demands that things meet his extremely high standard. When a scene works he wants to celebrate. When he is disappointed by what he sees on screen he can make things very difficult for the offending artist.
"It was my job to deliver the good and fix the bad before he saw it. It was sometimes very stressful for everyone, including Sylvain.
"However, we all knew that the film would be special and so remained focused on delivering our best."Dutton said as much as he felt The Illusionist would be a great film, seeing it completed was a moment of mixed emotions.
"Relief. However, it is hard to watch a film so soon after it is complete because you inevitably see shortcomings - where things are not as good as you would have hoped," he said. "It's inevitable when you set your sights so high.
"However, it is very satisfying to receive the excellent critical reaction we have received."
The film actually debuted in Germany.
"I don't know the reason the producers and distributors chose to debut the film at The Berlinale, but it was a lot of fun," said Dutton. "We watched the film in an old East German theater that seated around 1,500 people. The reaction of the sold out audience was fantastic.
"It's a bit nerve wracking watching the film for a first time with an audience because you never know how they are going to react. European audiences, in particular, aren't afraid to boo if they aren't enjoying the film.
"However, we got the laughs and tears we wanted. It was a great reaction!
"Berlin is also a great city to celebrate the debut of a successful film."
Back home in Canada The Illusionist is starting to hit theatres.
"The film just came out this weekend in Calgary and I know it has also played in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal," said Dutton, adding, "I'd love to go and watch it with a Yorkton audience. I used to attend the Film Festival in Yorkton every year and it would be a lot of fun to see it there!
"I guess it is up to both the festival and the Canadian distributors (Mongrel Media.) If I get the invitation to attend and present the film it would be a huge honor."
The Oscar nomination is something Dutton said is already helping him in his career.
"It's given me a huge boost," he said. "I have been working out of Calgary for the last year-and-a-half and that is pretty far off the beaten track as far as animation is concerned. I've secured some contract work with European studios, but the first reaction of most other studios in Canada or the USA is 'get yourself to Los Angeles' or 'get yourself to Toronto'.
"However, I've been traveling all over the world for jobs for the last 15 years. I've got three children (Thomas (14), Joseph (12) and Elizabeth (10)) and my wife and I figured it was time to put down some roots. Calgary was our first choice.
"Now, with the Oscar nomination, a certain amount of credibility is there and I plan to take advantage of that to grow the studio and animation community in Calgary."
As it is Dutton is keeping busy with his animation craft.
"I have a number of things I am working on. I am currently freelancing on a french movie called "Le Jour Des Corneilles" which is being produced by the same studio that did 'Persepolis' a number of years ago. That gig runs until the end of June and is a great little film - a lot like a Hayao Miyazaki film," he said.
"I am also involved as a co-production partner with a UK producer on an adaptation of the Raymond Briggs book 'Ethel and Ernest'. The script and storyboard is already finished and there are some great actors (Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn) in the title roles. We're hoping to start animation on that project this summer.
"Finally, there is an adaptation of a book by the author Philip Pullman called 'Spring-Heeled Jack'. I love his books and it is a great honor for him to agree to this adaptation. His books have been adapted into big Hollywood blockbusters and so it is fantastic that he wants to go down the independent road. He's a bit of a throw-back like me and wants to do the picture as a hand drawn feature film.
"We're looking for development finance now and that is always the hardest part, but I've got some interest from various producers and hopefully we can get the ball rolling soon. I'd love to finish development in time for the American Film Market in Los Angeles this November and get production started after Ethel and Ernest wraps in 2012."
