Bill Plympton
"The Tune" was
animator Bill Plympton's first full-length feature. His short films have
been seen widely around the country, highlighting many animation festivals.
His oblique, off-center sense of the ridiculous in everyday life has made
the "Microtoons" and his other shorts a popular MTV offering.
His distinctive style has even invaded the world of advertising. Commercials
for both Trivial Pursuit and Sugar Delight (a new NutraSweet product) make
us chuckle and gasp. But it's been a lot of hard work. When Plympton first
moved to New York City, a recent college graduate with a B.A. in Graphic
Design, he tried selling belts on the street. "It was January, about
25 degrees outside. I couldn't sell a one!"
Born in Portland, Oregon on April
30, 1946 to Don (now a retired banker) and Wilda Plympton, he grew up in
a large family of three girls and three boys. For the six children it was
often far too wet to play outside. Plympton credits Oregon's rainy climate
for nurturing his drawing skills and imagination. He also was a cub scout
and played little league when the weather permitted. In 1964 he graduated
from Oregon City High School where he participated in J.V. basketball, swimming
and the art club. He went on to Portland State University, where he edited
the yearbook and was a member of the film society. It was for this film
society that he first attempted animation, making a yearbook promo that
was accidentally shot upside-down, rendering it totally useless.
To avoid the Vietnam War, Plympton
served in the National Guard from 1967 to 1972. In 1968, he moved to New
York City and began a year of study at the School of Visual Arts. Making
the Big Apple his home, Plympton served a long tenure as an illustrator
and cartoonist. Between toting his portfolio and catching cheap matinees,
he designed the magazines: Cineaste, Filmmakers Newsletter, and Film Society
Review. His illustrations have graced the pages of The New York Times, Vogue,
House Beautiful, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Screw, and Vanity Fair.
His cartoons appeared in such magazines as Viva, Penthouse, Rolling Stone,
National Lampoon, and Glamour. In 1975, inThe Soho Weekly News, he began
"Plympton," a political cartoon strip. By 1981, it was syndicated
in over twenty papers by Universal Press.
All his life Bill Plympton has
been fascinated by animation. When he was fourteen he sent Disney some of
the cartoons and offered up his services as animator. They wrote back and
told him that while his drawings showed promise, he was too young. It wasn't
until 1983 that he was approached to animate a film. The Android Sister
Valeria Wasilewski asked Plympton to work on a film she was producing of
Jules Feiffer's song "Boomtown". Connie D' Antuono, another of
the film's producers, "sort of held my hand through the whole process,"
Plympton says. "It was a great way to learn how to make a film."
Immediately following the completion
of "Boomtown", he began his own animated film, "Drawing Lesson
#2." Production of the live-action scenes was slow, due to inclement
weather, so Plympton decided to start on another film.
For this one, he contacted an old friend with whom he had performed in a
Country Western Band (he played pedal steel guitar). Maureen McElheron,
whose band it had been, agreed to score "Your Face." Due to budgetary
considerations, she also sang. Her voice, eerily decelerated to sound more
masculine, combined with a fantastically contorting visage helped garner
the film a 1988 Oscar nomination for best animation. "Suddenly people
began returning my phone calls," remembers Plympton. His work started
appearing with more and more frequency on MTV and showing in the increasingly
popular touring animation festivals. After a string of highly succesful
short films ( "One of Those Days," "How to Kiss," "25
Ways to Quit Smoking," and "Plymptoons"), he began thinking
about making a feature film. His shorts were winning prizes like crazy and
he wanted a new challenge. The result was "The
Tune". As he puts it, "I wanted to make a full-length movie
ever since I was a kid."
Plympton's life-long fascination
with animation led to the eventual genesis of "J.
Lyle". "Making 'The Tune', I had a lot of ideas I realized
wouldn't work with animation, but would be lots of fun with real people!
I took those ideas and made 'J. Lyle'. Besides, my hand needed a rest after
drawing 'The Tune'. Live action is so much quicker. I was working on 'The
Tune' for about two years and now I'm done with 'J. Lyle' after less than
a year!" Like "The Tune", "J. Lyle" has been financed
entirely by the animator himself.
Plympton's second live-action
feature,"Guns On the Clackamas", a behind-the-scenes
look at an imaginary disastrous Western, was shot in Oregon and New York.
Plympton says the idea came from the 1937 movie "Saratoga", in
which star Jean Harlow died during the filming and a stand-in was used to
finish. "It was supposed to be a drama," says Plympton, "but
it ended up being funny. Every time Harlow's stand-in was in a scene, a
box or something blocked the view."
Plympton has now completed another
animated feature, titled "I Married a Strange
Person". It's a heartwarming story of a newlywed couple on their
wedding night. Grant, the husband, starts experiencing strange, supernatural
powers and Kerry, his wife, can't cope. Whenever Grant thinks of something,
it becomes reality, yet he doesn't know where these magical powers come
from. Once again Bill Plympton has single-handedly drawn and financed an
animated feature extravaganza - only this time it's for adults and the unpolitically
correct. Get ready for the most bizarre animated film of the 90's!
Plympton's short films continue to be shown in animation
festivals around the world, and he has also released a comic book featuring
"The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton".
"Plymptoons", a video
collection of Bill's short films, is available in stores or can be ordered on-line.
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Last Updated February 1998 Email: plymptoons@aol.com |
© 1998 Animation World Network