Bill Plympton is a one-man animation factory. Since 1977, he has cranked out 5 feature-length animated films and countless shorts, hand-drawing and colouring every frame himself.
Plympton's commitment to animation independence is profound: he once turned down a 7-figure offer from the Walt Disney Company to work on 1992's Aladdin because it would mean losing control of his intellectual property. Currently promoting his latest feature-length film, Idiots and Angels, and his short "Santa: The Fascist Years," he is already gearing up to produce his sixth feature.
In Part #1 of this exclusive interview, Suite 101 chatted with Plympton about his acclaimed Dog series of animated shorts (the first, 2004's "Guard Dog" received an Oscar nomination). He makes several appearances at the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto, which includes a master class, happening Friday June 19th at the Royal Ontario Museum's Classroom 6 from 6 - 8 pm.
S101: So what have you been doing recently?
Bill Plympton: “A lot of traveling, which I like, promoting my feature Idiots and Angels. But obviously I’m looking forward to coming up to Canada for the short film festival.”
Are you promoting Idiots and Angels as well?
“Not really, although I believe that’s coming out in Canada in August. But for Toronto, I’ll be promoting my Master Class.”
What’s that about?
“It's a wonderful 2-hour event: I show a lot of my new short films: “Horn Dog,” “Mexican Standoff,” and “Santa: The Fascist Years.” I’ll show some classics too, talk about my career. I talk about how I’m able to remain independent: I don’t take government money, I don’t take Hollywood money, I don’t take corporate money, everything is all financed by the success of my shorts. So I show Canada, where I know there’s a lot of interest in animation, how it’s possible to make independent films.
“Then I talk about the creative aspects, how I come up with my ideas, how I write the stories, do the drawings, secrets of creating interesting characters, and having them come alive in film. And then I’ll have a big easel and I’ll give drawing examples, show people how I draw, and then at the end everybody gets a free Bill Plympton drawing.”
Three of your shorts will also be shown at the Shorts For Shorties program at the WSFF? Which ones are those?
“Three of the shorts from my Dog series: “Guide Dog, “ “Guard Dog” and “Hot Dog.” (Writer's note: They're part of the Trilogy of Trilogies: Animation Extravaganza, happening at the ROM on Saturday, June 20th)
How did the Dog series come about?
“That was sparked by an incident that happened in a park near where I live in mid-town Manhattan. I saw this dog barking at a little bird and I wondered, ‘Why was this dog was afraid of a little birdie? ‘
“So I went inside the dog’s brain and realized that he was afraid that the bird would attack his master and leave him homeless. So I took that premise and built on it with all sorts of flora and fauna that have evil plans on his master.
"The film was such a success that it was nominated for an Oscar. Everybody loved the dog, so I did a sequel called “Guide Dog” where he leads blind people around, and that was even more popular, much to my surprise.
“So I did a third one, called “Hot Dog,” where he joins the fire department, and I just finished a 4th one, called “Horn Dog,” where he falls in love.
For you, what’s the source of the comedy with this dog?
“Everybody can relate to it because the dog is looking for a master or a companion. And every time he tries to do something good, to get him a companion, they always die because he tries so hard. It’s very dark and macabre and kids love it. For some reason, kids love that stuff.”
A lot of your work tends to be pretty macabre –
“I usually have a lot of sex and violence in my stuff. For the Dog series, there’s no sex and the violence is toned down: you don’t see a lot of blood or anything like that. It still has that Plympton strangeness to it.”
What’s the source of that ‘Plympton strangeness’? Who inspires you?
“I grew up reading a lot of comics and watching a lot of animation. Charles Addams (The Addams Family) was a big influence, Tex Avery of course, and Bob Clampett. Those are the main influences for these films because you have this cute dog and then everything turns dark and violent.
“It’s funny because, in France, when “Guard Dog” came out they thought it was a metaphor for George W. Bush. Everything he touched turned to crap and that’s what happens with this dog.”
So this dog just wants someone to love.
“That’s it. It’s a very simple concept. In “Hot Dog,” he’s passing by a fire house and he sees a picture with a fireman hugging a Dalmation and he puts himself in there, saying, ‘I wanna be that Dalmation, I wanna be loved.’
“He tries to put out these fires and everything goes wrong and the building burns down and everybody gets burned so it’s a typical plot for him.
“These shorts have been very successful, they’ve played all over the world, there’s no dialogue and it’s all coloured pencil. I do all my own animation, and the budgets are about $5,000. It’s pretty easy to make that money back from just a few showings.”
(In Part #2, Plympton talks about making his animated films, and his thoughts on CGI)
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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