People Behind the Scenes: Interview with Despicable Me animator Maxime Maleo : Bollywood News

How did you find yourself as Animation Supervisor for Marathons MBC? Was it luck?

A friend of mine overheard a conversation of a director at Marathon Productions, who needed an animator, so he spoke to the director about me and said that I would fit the bill. Usually the French dont go out of their boundaries to find work, and the job required the artist, to expatriate himself to India for a few months to supervise animation for MBC in Mumbai.

At this time, I just finished my short film Burning Safari. I was at my parents place when somehow, that director rang and asked me if I wanted the job. I didnt think twice, I said yes and hopped on the bus. Two weeks later I started preparing for the animation and two months thereafter I was in Mumbai. When I look back, I think it was luck because, I didnt apply for the job it just happened for me. This was my first gig in the animation industry.

What else have you dabbled in after your stint at Marathon?

After supervising MBC, I got hired by DreamWorks at San Diego where I interned for a few months. Right after my internship, I started working on Madagascar Escape 2 Africa as an animator. After my stint at DreamWorks I went back to Marathon production where I supervised animation again. When my time was through with Marathon, I went back to France and joined Mac Guff, an award winning studio situated in Paris. In 2009, was a start to an amazing adventure when I bagged Despicable Me as an animator. I met a lot of great animators who worked on the film they taught me a lot of tricks of the trade. I mostly animated Gru and a little bit of the girls as well. Early 2010, I started work on pre-production for my short film that Im directing. The film is being produced by Kawa Animation a studio in Paris. Currently, Im hired as a director for an undisclosed TV show from Marathon Productions again.