Ratatouille Wins Best Animated Feature Film at 80th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony

At this evening's 80th Annual Academy Awards, Pixar's Ratatouille won for best Animated Feature Film. It was also nominated for Original Screenplay, Achievement in Sound Editing, Achievement in Sound Mixing, and Original Score. Congratulations to all the talented artisans at the studio, at Disney, and all the other folks who helped make the "anybody can cook" movie a success!

A full list of winners is available at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.

Also a congratulations goes out to all the winners and nominees including those in the Best Animated Short Film category!

Thunder Chunky Interviews Pixar's Susan Bradley

Thunder Chunky recently interviewed Pixar's Susan Bradley, who works as a type and graphic designer at the studio. Her most recent work can be seen in Ratatouille. From the interview:

One of your roles on the film was graphic designer; what sort of things did this entail?

There were a few of us working with the talented Harley Jessup and we basically took different scenes and developed them graphically. Our research, done in and about Paris, was vast and we tried to keep a consistent style going for Brad; a touch of whimsy, but not too much. My biggest scene was the design of the rat poison products for the front window of the Paris exterminator shop – which is a real place! It was strange developing something evil in the world of our adorable little friends, but that was the point.

Head over to the website at the link above to read the full interview.

Thanks to Jon for the pointer!

Ratatouille Nearly Sweeps Annie Awards

Pixar's Ratatouille swept up most of the Annie Awards at the recent awards ceremony. From Variety (via Animated News):

"Ratatouille" ranked tops with Hollywood's animation community, taking home nine trophies - including best animated feature - Friday night at the 35th annual Annie Awards.

[Ratatouille] can also boast wins for short subject for its DVD extra "Your Friend the Rat" and for the "Ratatouille" vidgame.

In a near-sweep, Pixar's popular "anyone can cook" parable shut out every bigscreen contender except Sony Pictures Animation's "Surf's Up," which scored two individual achievement awards, while Oscar nominee "Persepolis" went home empty-handed.

Before presenting one of "Ratatouille's" many trophies, actor James Hong (Mr. Ping in DreamWorks' forthcoming "Kung Fu Panda") reminded the crowd that the Chinese New Year kicked off a day earlier. "This is the Year of the Rat, so that's why you are winning all the awards," he mused. "We are psychic, you know."

The coup marks a major improvement over Pixar's performance the year before, where "Cars" earned only two awards. Among "Ratatouille's" more prominent individual honorees were Brad Bird (writing, directing), Michael Giacchino (music) and Ian Holm (who voiced the pint-sized chef, Skinner).

Be sure to check out the full report at Variety.com

Congratulations also to Surf's Up, which I thought was one of the most enjoyable animated films I've seen and easily one of Sony's best works. Even though Persepolis was recently shown here in Banff, but I didn't have the chance to see it. Nice to read that it was nominated though.

Rent Pixar Movies on Apple's iTunes

For those of you into online video renting, Pixar's Ratatouille is featured as one of Apple's new iTunes Movie Rentals services:



More information can be found at the official Apple site.

Ratatouille Artwork Charity Auction

Rebecca let us know about a current Ratatouille art auction on eBay that is going to benefit the Sonoma Children's Home:

An unprecedented donation has been made to the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home: and it’s going up for auction on EBAY this week! The donated item is a one-of-a-kind animation artwork created by Darryl Bellach of Kenwood, California.

The artwork, entitled “What’s Cooking” from Pixar’s Ratatouille is a rare piece of collectable art. Pixar has authorized only one artist, Darryl Bellach, to create his unique, three-dimensional art.  To date, there exist only 25 original artworks in Darryl Bellach’s inimitable style.   These 3-dimensional pieces, including “Finding Nemo”, “Monsters, Inc.”, “The Incredibles”, and “Cars”, hang in homes of elite animation art collectors, the last piece selling at auction for $42,000.

From Academy Award-winning director Brad Bird and the amazing storytellers at Pixar Animation Movie Studios, RATATOUILLE, is an original comedy of about one of the most unlikely friendships imaginable. The film's protagonist is a rat named Remy who dares to dream the impossible dream of becoming a gourmet chef in a five-star French restaurant. Together with a down-and-out garbage boy named Linguini, the pair carves their own imaginative path to becoming the greatest chef in Paris.

This one-of-a-kind artwork features the Parisian five-star French restaurant kitchen along with "Remy" (voiced by Patton Oswalt) and "Linguini" (voiced by Lou Romano) who are the star characters of the film. This substantial piece of art is 52" high by 38" wide by 2" deep. The entire piece is offset with the "Ratatouille" logo that is also three dimensional.


This exclusive, creative, and unique artwork is signed by 12 of Pixar's most famous including John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Brad Lewis, David Eisenmann, Jason Deamer, Mark Walsh and other celebrity talents from the movie. Jason Deamer who is the Character Art Director for Pixar Animation Studio's has drawn a one-of-a-kind picture of Remy on the back of this piece.

The winner will receive a framed, companion photograph of the signatures on the backside of the artwork to hang along side “What’s Cooking?”.

The artist, Darryl Bellach, has generously donated this one-of-a-kind piece, “What’s Cooking?” to the Valley of the Moon Children's Home.  The entire proceeds, less any EBay fees, will go DIRECTLY TO THE VALLEY OF THE MOON CHILDREN’S HOME.  The high bidder may find that all or part of the amount paid is considered a donation to a non-profit is tax deductible. 

The Valley of the Moon Children’s Home is Sonoma County’s only home for children who are victims of abuse, abandonment, or neglect.  Its mission is to positively impact the present and future lives of the children and to assure the children have positive opportunities in becoming productive and equal members of the community. More than 1,200 children from infants to age 18 are served at the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home each year.  For more information of the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home please visit their website at http://www.vomchildrensfoundation.org/.

Anyone interested in bidding or following the exciting auction, go use the link above or go to EBAY, type in PIXAR, RATATOUILLE, ANIMATION ART. The auction ends Monday November 19.

Details on Ratatouille and Pixar Short Film Collection

Thanks to Dan for the following tip regarding the upcoming Ratatouille and Pixar Short Films Collection Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases. Cars will also debut on Blu-ray Disc. The Man Room reports:

'Ratatouille' will carry an SRP of $34.99 and be presented in widescreen 2.39:1 1080p video and 5.1 uncompressed 48 kHz/24-bit audio. Extras will include the exclusive short 'Your Friend the Rat;' deleted scenes; a never-before-seen documentary with Brad Bird; and the following Blu-ray exclusives: Gusteau's Gourmet Game; and Cine-Explore, dubbed the ultimate behind-the-scenes innovative experience.

In addition, 'Pixar Short Film Collection' will also carry an SRP of $34.99 and include 'Pixar Shorts: A Short History,' audio commentaries, never-before-seen footage, and other as-of-yet announced supplements.

You can expect a ton of cross-promotion as these three Pixar titles head towards their November 6 launch.

It looks like most of Pixar's short films (including those featuring movie characters) will be on the Pixar Short Film Collection. No word if Knick Knack will be the original or edited version though. As is the case with any pre-release details, the actual content on the disc could be revised before release.

Image: Courtesy of The Man Room and Copyright Disney•Pixar.

Ratatouille Artwork Showing In New Jersey

We received this press release from Pam and Bob at Cel-ebration! Animation, Rock & Pop-Art Gallery in Red Bank, New Jersey:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RATS INVADE RED BANK!

(Red Bank NJ)-Aug. 11—Sept. 8

Mix French rodents, a gourmet cake, prizes from Disneyland Paris, and the premiere of new art from the Disney/Pixar film “Ratatouille”, and you’ll find a simply ‘delicious’ show at CEL-EBRATION! Gallery in Red Bank.

CEL-EBRATION! is the first animation gallery on the East Coast to premiere artwork from “Ratatouille”, Disney/Pixar’s newest animated feature film. Show dates are August 11 through September 8. A variety of vintage-flavored “Ratatouille” posters and photo-real giclee images will be available for fans and collectors to view and purchase through September.

Food Network TV Chef Buddy Valastro from Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken has been commissioned to create a ‘themed’ gourmet cake for the Kick-off Party on Saturday August 11th, 3-6 PM. Buddy and fellow baker Mauro Castano most recently appeared on the Food Network Challenge ‘Villain Cakes’ competition filmed at Disney World in Florida. The show aired throughout June of this year. Buddy and/or Mauro will appear at CEL-EBRATION! Gallery on August 8th for the “Ratatouille” Kick-Off event. The public is invited but RSVP’s are a must.

CEL-EBRATION! Gallery is located at 30 Monmouth Street, Red Bank NJ.
For more information please call 732 842-8489, or visit the website at www.cel-ebration.com.

Image courtesy of Disney•Pixar and Cel-ebration!

Cook Your Own Ratatouille

Enjoyed the Disney•Pixar film and now looking to cook up some Ratatouille for yourself?

Head over to Sunset Magazine to scrounge up a few recipes including one for a quick, delicious version called 'One-Pan Ratatouille' that should be ready in no time!

Thanks to Sheila for the link!

Photo: James Carrier

Pixar Cooks Up A Story

The Reporter (Vacaville, California) recently published an article on how Ratatouille's designers, including Mark Andrews, conducted their research for the animation studio's latest film:

"It was fun, but not in a recreational sense. We didn't have a whole lot of time to just hang out," Andrews said. "It was very structured. You're really trying to put on your observer's hat because what you retain goes back into the movie."

The trip included a motorcycle tour of Paris, visits to the city's sewer system and an exterminator's shop, as well as a few gut-busting gourmet meals. It also became a shared experience for the director and his story supervisor - and aided the creative process of making a great movie.

"Brad would go, 'You know this part where Linguini is going to kill Remy. We need someplace really moody and we need to get out into Paris,' " Andrews said, recalling a collaborative story session. "I'm like, 'What if we do it down by the Seine? Remember there was this bridge that we rode under during our motorcycle tour? And remember how the mist came off the river?' And Brad was like, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah! Let's put it there.' "

"We could pick locations because we had been there," Andrews said.

Research for "Ratatouille" continued inside Pixar's Emeryville studios with live rats and cooking lessons for the nine members of Andrews' storyboarding team and many of the film's animators.

"To really observe how rats move, you got to be with them 24/7," Andrews said. "To know how to chop correctly or put stuff in a bowl correctly, or prep your food correctly, you have to learn how to do it."

The article also goes on to discuss how the film went from Jan Pinkava's tale to Brad Bird's direction:

While most everyone liked Pinkava's wildly inventive idea of this plucky little rat who aspires to be a great chef, Bird was brought on board to spice up a story that wasn't quite working. Unfortunately, the clock was ticking and Bird was facing a tight 18-month deadline. The preferred production schedule for an animated film is three years.

One of the things Bird had to do in taking over "Ratatouille" was to make it his movie, Andrews said.

"(Pinkava) had got 'Ratatouille' up to this point where we had all these assets," he said. "We had sets, we had characters, we had all this stuff, so that helped greatly. But we didn't have a lot of time. We had to get the story to Brad and get it working solid."

It was a bit of a struggle at first. But after enjoying a break for the Christmas holiday, Andrews said both he and Bird came back inspired.

"Brad says, 'I have some radical ideas,' and I say, 'I've got a radical idea,' " Andrews said. "I tell him mine and he's like, 'That's perfect.' And then he tells me his and I'm saying, 'That's fantastic.'

"(Bird) cut out most of the rat family. Remy had more brothers, sisters, a mother, an uncle. There were, like, eight storylines. We cut it down to one: It's Remy's story.

"I killed off the rat family when they go down the sewer drain and Remy gets separated. That was my radical idea - get the rats out of the picture and then bring them back at the most inopportune time. It put the focus on Remy and worked out great.

"Then Brad killed Gusteau (a chef Remy idolized who believed that anyone can cook). Gusteau's dead; he's a figment of Remy's imagination."

The plot and the structure were basically the same, but the whole story sort of transformed.

So be sure to head over to The Reporter to read the rest of the informative article.

Thanks Leo for sending us the story!

Win The Art of Ratatouille at FPS Magazine

The fine folks at Frames Per Second Magazine are giving away not one, but two (!) copies of The Art of Ratatouille so be sure to head over there and enter to win. The contest closes June 29.

If you're unsuccessful in winning, you can support Luxo by ordering the book below.

Thanks to Tamu for the heads up and good luck to all!

Hello again.

Ken and I have both been pretty busy co-producing panels for nextMEDIA 2007 and I will be representing The Banff Centre at the Banff World Television Festival over the next week. So Luxo postings have been light as of late.

Ratatouille is earning early positive reviews. Rumors are flying in about Pixar's upcoming feature film slate, including possible live-action films, and Pixar video games continue to be developed. We've been tracking it all and we're just as excited about these developments as you.

In the meantime, while you wait for some of our upcoming stories, please check out the many other great Disney/Pixar news sites out there. Links are on our sidebar.

And thanks to all of you who are supporting our past and present efforts at Luxo by pre-ordering The Story of Pixar Animation Studios and other products. It's much appreciated!

Cheers.

Ratatouille European Posters

Check out these great Ratatouille consumer product posters by Stephane Kardos:



Larger versions available on his blog.