Show #23: Bill Plympton
Bill Plympton is one of the great independent animation filmmakers of our era. I hope you’ll excuse our quickie sound set up. We only had a brief window to chat with Bill out on the patio of the Magic Castle hotel, in Hollywood, where he was staying while promoting his feature film, “Hair High” (see still on the right). There were quite a few things going on; room service, checking in, checking out, kids in the pool, air conditioners, cars, and us … trying to conduct an interview with Bill Plympton, so our sound is not the best. But, we think you’ll find it interesting enough to bear with the interruptions. In this interview, Plympton talks about “Hair High”, as well as how he got his start, and how he’s able to produce feature length animation, with a whisper of a staff.
Plympton grew up in Portland, Oregon, one of six children. He credits Oregon’s rainy weather for keeping him indoors most of the time, where he began his interest in drawing. When he was fourteen he sent Disney some of his cartoons. They sent back a rejection … his drawings showed promise, but … their loss. After high school, Plympton enrolled in the New York’s School of Visual Arts. His illustrations and cartoons began to appear in national magazines and newspapers. One day he was approached by Jules Feiffer to work on, “Boomtown”, his first animation job, which were followed by his own shorts, with “Your Face”, winning an Oscar nomination. His Oregon indoor experience paid off.
Thus began one of the most unique careers in animation. Fast on the heels of “Your Face”, came a string of highly successful shorts; “One of Those Days,” “How to Kiss,” “25 Ways to Quit Smoking,” and “Plymptoons”, all created, designed, produced, directed, animated, and financed by Plympton, himself. Although, Plympton has usually had a small staff of people to help animate and do the other myriad of tasks it takes to turn out an animated film. His first feature, The Tune, was also financed entirely by Plympton. Constantly coming up with new solutions to accomplish such a task, Plympton released sections of the feature as short films to help generate funds for production. These include “The Wiseman” and “Push Comes to Shove,” the latter of which won a Prix du Jury at the Cannes. He also animated big budget television commercials to bring in additional funds. Since then, Plympton has continued to turn out shorts and features, including Guard Dog and Fan & the Flower, at breathtaking speed, always maintaining his unique and entertaining style. He talks about his passions and techniques in our interview with him that day, out on a noisy patio, on a sunny day in Hollywood.
This episode is sponsored by The UPA Legacy Project.