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So Despicable:
The Project Begins

“The original concept of Despicable Me was pitched to me by Sergio Pablos, who is a Spanish animator based with a small animation studio in Spain,” explains Chris Meledandri. “We immediately knew that screenwriters Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio were the team to write the screenplay.” The writers had worked with the producer on the global hit Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, and Meledandri felt they had just the sensibility to bring Sergio Pablos’ original story to life.
Paul and Daurio had navigated intricate animated worlds before with Meledandri. In their last film together, they gave life to Dr. Seuss’ beloved character Horton, telling the story of a gentle elephant who hears a faint cry for help from a dust mote that’s floated past. The film, directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, was an enormous hit and solidified the two as comedy scribes. For their newest project, they elaborated upon Pablos’ idea of one of the world’s greatest super-villains, a man who finds more to life than reveling in wicked deeds.
From the beginning, it was important to Illumination to construct a tale that would put a trademark stamp on the types of films the production house would be creating. That would not involve two-dimensional heroes or antagonists. Reflects Meledandri: “The idea of making an animated film in which the villain is your protagonist is unusual and very challenging. By the end of the film, Gru has undergone a transformation, and it’s that transformation that’s made possible by starting him in a place where there are aspects of him that are downright unlikable. You would not have a sense of appreciation for the journey he’s gone on as a character had we not started him at that point.”
Fellow producer John Cohen knew that Despicable Me would stand out by showing the side of our humanity of which we’re not always so proud. “For a while, we’ve wanted to make a movie about a villain told from the villain’s perspective,” he says. “Chris heard this idea that came from Sergio Pablos, who is a terrific animator. Sergio and Nina Rowan, who are executive producers, brought this original idea to Chris, and he immediately fell in love with it. It’s a great, clear concept for a movie with comedy built in and a very unique character at the core.”
Cohen liked exploring the notion that each of us has a bit of wickedness inside just waiting to be expressed. He continues: “Gru offers a wish fulfillment. When you’re waiting in line at a grocery store—and the person in front of you has 25 items in the express line and decides to pay with a check—that would be the perfect time to use a freeze ray. There’s a great deal of comedy that springs from a character who gets to act out some of the things we wish we could do.”
When it was time to select the project’s directors, Meledandri turned to Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Chris Renaud and acclaimed Sorbonne-trained animator Pierre Coffin to helm the project. Renaud’s years of collaboration with Marvel and DC Comics allowed him to illustrate some of the most iconic characters of the modern era. For his part, Coffin has created several of the most viewed animated shorts on YouTube, including “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
“Chris Renaud is somebody who I’ve worked with for many years, going back to Fox and Blue Sky Studios,” Meledandri comments. “He came up through our story department and started out as a storyboard artist, but his experience prior to joining us involved a much deeper level of animation experience. His roots come from the comic book world, where early on in his career he illustrated comic books. Chris has a wonderful sense of story and how to translate that into imagery. We had a particularly successful experience with him directing a short at Blue Sky called No Time for Nuts, which was nominated for an Oscar®.”
Coffin comes to this side of the industry from his work in such celebrated animated shorts such as Flying Fish Tobby Who Aimed for the Stars and Pings. “He’s worked on a number of short animation pieces that are absolutely extraordinary,” continues Meledandri. “Pierre has that gift of being able to capture and define personality with the most subtle of movements. My attention was drawn to Pierre while visiting Paris and being shown about 15 minutes of his work. I knew that he could bring a sense of personality and character to this film that would be wonderful in defining the character of Gru and finding his vulnerability, as well as his edge.”
While Renaud’s strength is in storyboarding, fellow director Coffin’s primary work has been in animated performance. Indeed, that is primarily how the two men split their Herculean responsibilities as they crafted Despicable Me. Management of the lighting, compositing and art direction teams would be divided between the two.

SHARLTO COPLEY (H.M. ‘Howlin’ Mad’ Murdock) began directing and acting in his own short films at the age of 12. His love for improvisation and characterization lead to him writing, directing and appearing in numerous stage plays throughout his school years. During this time he studied Speech and Drama at Trinity College of London.
Copley co-founded his first company at the age of 19. Over the last 14 years, he has been responsible for co-founding and managing Channel 69 Studios (television broadcasting & production) Atomic Visual Effects (post production & visual effects) Slaves Talent Management (talent agency) and Inspired Minority Pictures (film production).
In 1998 Channel 69 became one of the founding companies of ETV, South Africa’s first private terrestrial broadcast network. At age 24, Copley became the youngest executive in the history of South African television to own and control a daily five-hour block of programming. During this time he oversaw over 1300 hours of content and worked closely with Warner Brothers Television, a partner in the channel.
After leaving ETV, Copley was a producer and director on numerous commercials, music videos and short films. In addition, he continued to oversee the visual effects work produced by Atomic. His work has won him numerous awards and recognition in South Africa including the Avanti Awards, The Stone Awards and the Loeries.
Copley’s short film 2001: A Space Oddity, which he co-produced and directed, is South Africa’s most popular short of all time. It reached over 18 million people on the Internet and continues to be broadcast on a range of platforms.
His next short, Hellweek, was a spoof at animation training in Africa that was designed to promote Atomic VFX. It features Copley as an American visual effects veteran/ drill sergeant. Both shorts were screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005.
In 2005 Copley produced the short film Alive in Jo Burg for his longtime friend, director Neill Blomkamp. Copley also played a small role in the film. In 2006 Copley co-wrote, produced, directed and edited his first feature film Spoon, a supernatural thriller that used innovative production management systems, camera technology and visual effects to deliver high-end production values on an independent film budget. It will be distributed by Distant Horizon. Shortly thereafter, Copley won a UK Film Council script writing competition for Judgement Day, a project he co-wrote.
In 2007, Neill Blomkamp began work on a film version of Alive in Jo Burg and asked Copley to perform “an Afrikaans bureaucrat” character for a short test he wanted to film. The purpose of the shoot was creative exploration, but the positive response from Neill and producer Peter Jackson led Copley to accept the lead role in District 9. Copley improvised his dialogue in the film. District 9 premiered at Comic-Con in 2009 and received a standing ovation, followed by massive Internet and media buzz. Copley’s performance as Wikus Van Der Merwe received widespread critical acclaim and District 9 became the surprise hit of the summer – grossing over $200million worldwide – and garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The unlikely “Wikus” won the “Favorite Hero” award at IGN’s Summer Movie Awards. IGN is one of the most popular film websites, with several million subscribers.

MARION COTILLARD (Mal) won a Best Actress Academy Award® for her performance in the 2007 film “La Vie en Rose,” making her the first actress to earn an Oscar® for a performance in the French language. For her captivating portrayal of legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf in that film, Cotillard also won a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and a César Award, and received Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® and Critics’ Choice Award nominations. In addition, she was named Best Actress by critics organizations worldwide, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the London Film Critics Circle.
Cotillard will next be seen in ”Little White Lies,” written and directed by Guillaume Canet and slated for release in France this fall. The film follows a successful restaurant owner and his eco-friendly wife who stage a grand vacation for friends at their beach house. The vacation leads to a moment when the mood sobers as characters begin to confess their innermost concerns.
This summer, Cotillard begins filming Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” starring opposite Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson in a romantic comedy that explores the illusion people have that a life different from their own is better. Following that, she starts production on Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion,” opposite Jude Law, Matt Damon and Kate Winslet. The action drama is centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the potential worldwide epidemic. Additionally, Cotillard is attached to star opposite Colin Farrell in David Cronenberg’s thriller “Cosmopolis,” an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel, which follows a multimillionaire on a 24-hour odyssey across Manhattan.
Cotillard’s other credits include the successful French “Taxi” film series, written by Luc Besson; Yann Samuell’s “Love Me If You Dare”; and Tim Burton’s “Big Fish.” She garnered her first César Award, for Best Supporting Actress, for her performance in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “A Very Long Engagement.” She went on to star in Ridley Scott’s “A Good Year”; Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies”; and Rob Marshall’s “Nine,” the screen adaptation of the hit musical. Her performance in the last brought her Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award nominations, and she also shared in a SAG Award® nomination for Outstanding Motion Picture Cast Performance.
In 2010, Cotillard was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, for her contribution to the enrichment of French culture. Born in Paris, she studied drama at Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique in Orléans.

ABOUT THE CAST

STEVE CARELL (Gru) has emerged as one of the most sought-after comedic actors in Hollywood. He first gained recognition for his contributions as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and has successfully segued into primetime television and above-the-title status in the film world with equal aplomb.
Carell’s first lead feature, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he co-wrote with director Judd Apatow, opened at No. 1 and remained there for two straight weekends. The surprise hit of 2005 went on to gross more than $175 million worldwide and had No. 1 openings in 12 countries. The success of the film has continued as it has also generated more than $100 million in DVD sales in North America alone. AFI named the film as one of the 10 Most Outstanding Motion Pictures of the Year and it took home Best Comedy Movie at the 11th annual Critics’ Choice Awards. The film also earned Carell and Apatow a co-nomination for Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America.
Carell starred as Maxwell Smart, opposite Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin, in Get Smart. The film grossed more than $230 million worldwide. Due to the success of the film, Warner Bros. recently announced it will release a sequel in 2011. He also lent his voice as the Mayor of Who-ville in 20th Century Fox’s animated film Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, based on the children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. The film was directed by Jimmy Hayward (Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc.) and Steve Martino, and Carell played opposite Jim Carrey, which helped launch the film to international success by earning more than $295 million worldwide. In 2006, he starred with Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as part of an ensemble cast in the black comedy Little Miss Sunshine, which earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Picture and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Carell’s previous film credits include Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Bruce Almighty, Bewitched and Dan in Real Life. Carell currently stars in the American adaptation of Ricky Gervais’ acclaimed British television series The Office. The show is in its sixth season and continues to flourish in the ratings. For playing the role of Michael Scott, Carell has earned three Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2006, Carell earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series—Musical or Comedy and has received four more nominations since then. The show won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Carell’s endeavors and successes in acting, writing and producing were an organic segue into the creation of his new production company, Carousel Productions.
Born in Massachusetts, Carell now resides in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Nancy Walls (NBC’s Saturday Night Live), whom he met while at The Second City improv group in Chicago, where both were members. He is the proud father of a daughter and a son.

JASON SEGEL (Vector) most recently starred opposite Paul Rudd as a quirky, alpha-male stockbroker named Sydney Fife in the box-office hit I Love You, Man, for Paramount Pictures. With John Hamburg (Meet the Parents) as writer/director/producer and Donald De Line (The Italian Job) also producing, the team produced a film full of laugh-out-loud awkwardness, managing to turn Segel and Rudd into a memorable comedic duo. The film grossed more than $71 million at the domestic box office.
Segel landed his first major motion picture starring role as Peter in Universal Pictures’ Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which he also wrote. Released in April 2008, produced by Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson, and directed by Nicholas Stoller, the film went on to make more than $100 million worldwide and led Segel’s writing skills to be desired by many studios. Segel, along with Stoller, signed with Disney to write and direct the next Muppets film. Segel wrote a Dracula musical performed by puppets, which was a personal idea and passion he incorporated into Forgetting Sarah Marshall that emboldened him to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie.
As another result of the film’s success, Segel was asked to co-produce a spin-off titled Get Him to the Greek, in which Jonah Hill and Russell Brand reunited as co-stars. The film, written and directed by Nicholas Stoller, was released in June 2010.
In June 2007, Segel was summoned by Apatow to share the great success of the comedy Knocked Up, with stars Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. The film grossed more than $140 million domestically and won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy. Segel’s feature film credits also include Slackers, New Jersey Turnpikes, SLC Punk!, Can’t Hardly Wait and Dead Man on Campus.
On the television front, Segel is in his fifth year starring as Marshall, opposite Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris, in the CBS hit comedy series How I Met Your Mother. TV Guide recently pegged it as a “returning favorite” and it was touted by Time magazine as one of the “Ten Best Shows of 2005.” However, it was his recurring role as Eric on Undeclared, the Fox series about college freshmen that was named one of Time magazine’s “Ten Best Shows of 2001,” that first put him in the minds and hearts of television viewers.
In 1999, Segel portrayed Nick on Freaks and Geeks, Judd Apatow’s Emmy Award-nominated television series for NBC. Segel played a lanky, fun-loving freak dreaming of stardom as a rock-and-roll drummer like his idol, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, and won the eye of Apatow.
Segel just wrapped the highly anticipated remake of Gulliver’s Travels, starring alongside Jack Black and opposite Emily Blunt. The film is scheduled to be released in December 2010.
Segel was born and raised in Los Angeles and continues to reside there.

Production Information

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment invite you and your family to their inaugural 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me. From producer CHRIS MELEDANDRI (Ice Age, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!) comes the story of one of the world’s greatest super-villains who meets his biggest challenge when three children enter his life.
In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences and flowering rose bushes sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden deep beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by an army of mischievous little minions, we discover Gru (STEVE CARELL of Get Smart, Horton Hears a Who!, television’s The Office) planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!).
Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. That is, until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.
Starring alongside Carell in Despicable Me are comedy stars JASON SEGEL (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man), MIRANDA COSGROVE (Nickelodeon’s No. 1 live-action show iCarly) and legendary Academy Award® winner JULIE ANDREWS (The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, The Princess Diaries series).
The troupe of established and emerging comedic actors who joins them includes RUSSELL BRAND (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), KRISTEN WIIG (Date Night, TV’s SNL), WILL ARNETT (Monsters vs. Aliens, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!), DANNY MCBRIDE (Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express) and JACK MCBRAYER (TV’s 30 Rock, Forgetting Sarah Marshall).
Despicable Me is directed by Oscar®-nominee CHRIS RENAUD (Annie Award-winning short No Time for Nuts, director of upcoming Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax) & PIERRE COFFIN (Pat et Stanley). The film is produced by Meledandri, JANET HEALY and JOHN COHEN. Leading the talented behind-the-scenes team are editors PAMELA ZIEGENHAGEN-SHEFLAND (Open Season, The Emperor’s New Groove) and GREGORY PERLER (Enchanted, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit), as well as production designer YARROW CHENEY and art director ERIC GUILLON.
Creating the original songs and themes for the film is Grammy Award-winning artist and blockbuster music producer PHARRELL WILLIAMS, who composes the score with HEITOR PEREIRA (It’s Complicated, Beverly Hills Chihuahua). The music is produced by Academy Award® winner HANS ZIMMER (The Lion King, The Dark Knight, Sherlock Holmes).
The 3-D CGI film is based on a story by SERGIO PABLOS and a screenplay by CINCO PAUL & KEN DAURIO (Horton Hears a Who!, Dinner for Schmucks). The animated comedy’s executive producers are NINA ROWAN (Oscar®-winning animated short Bunny) and Sergio Pablos.

Finding Illumination:
Meledandri Joins Universal

In early 2007, Universal Pictures began to build its family and animation film business by bringing aboard blockbuster producer Chris Meledandri to shepherd the initiative. Meledandri had spent many years at 20th Century Fox, where he founded the studio’s animation division and oversaw the launch of its blockbuster Ice Age franchise. With the creation of Meledandri’s new production company, Illumination Entertainment, Universal would finance and distribute a slate of live-action and animated films that would be led by the successful filmmaker.
Meledandri, who had been an executive at Fox for 13 years, became founding president of 20th Century Fox Animation during his tenure at the studio. He headed that division for eight years, amassing more than $2 billion in global box-office revenue for the studio. The producer oversaw Fox’s 1998 acquisition of the East Coast-based, small visual-effects house Blue Sky Studios and its transformation into the studio’s successful CG-animation arm, which employs more than 250 artists. While there, Meledandri also supervised and/or executive produced such blockbusters as Robots, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Simpsons Movie and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!
Offers Meledandri about the transition: “I found that I could not turn away from the extraordinary opportunity that Universal offered me: the entrepreneurial aspect, the excitement about a new company, the breadth of the production mandate to include all forms of animation, as well as live action, and the studio’s ideas about movies—specifically their commitment to quality, as well as their ideas about how to market movies in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”