L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano B orn and trained in Mi- lan, Italy, where his outstanding talent earned him – at the age of 19 – the official acceptance to the prestigious Dis- ney Academy, Massimiliano (Max for all his friends) Narciso's path definitely represents an emblem of the full accomplishment of the clas- sic "American Dream." In fact after his technical art studies, Max Nar- ciso took courses in cartoon ani- mation at Disney Italy, then he's been active in several Italian the- aters for quite a long time as a set designer. Since 1998, he has drawn famous comics for Disney, like the "Fantasteam" series, as a part of the Italian Topolino (Mickey Mouse) magazine. When he was only 27 years old, he founded, to- gether with his business partner Marieke Ferrari, the famous Kawaii Studio in Milan, gaining immediately a lot of success with big, major international entertain- ment companies knocking at his door. Max and Marieke started work- ing together, as visual concept de- signers, creating some of the best pitching material for new projects' presentations: among their works, various blockbusters that helped Max to get the attention of top notch American comics illustrators. They also published an official Dis- MAURIZIO RAMI CTN: during that event I had the pleasure and the great privilege to meet people like John Lasseter, who sincerely appreciated the quality of my work. When I came back home, I realized I had lots of direct connections to some of the most important recruiters, and I started keeping in consistent con- tact with them. In what ways the American experience changed your life? First of all on a private level, because I have a son that was born right when Warner Brothers asked me to come over here! It was a difficult decision to make: to stay in Italy with an established job and see my son growing up or come to the United States in order to follow my dream? I said to myself I wouldn't like to tell my son that dreams can't be pursued, once he grows up… so I tried a compro- mise that – so far – it's been work- ing perfectly. I do live and work here, while my partner and my son live in Italy: but we get to see each other almost every month: either they come here, or I go to Milan. Your artistic creations are very unique, strange, fascinating and peculiar: where does all of that come from? I have a very deep inner world, full of weird and bizarre things that live in my mind: but because of my being e little shy, art is the only way I can fully express what lives inside of my soul. And even if many people see my characters as something from another world, I am afraid of the supernatural and the religious. My creatures are not demons, they are part of my world. How are you living your American experience? I am definitely happy and grate- ful for all of this. It's a kind of mir- acle. I wake every morning, drive into LA, and go to work to the Paramount Studios, where I can see the famous Hollywood sign from my office: honestly what else could I ask for? What wise advise would you give to a young person who'd love to follow your steps? First of all, you have to be tough: primarily with yourself. If you want to be able to create, you have to be able to criticize your own work if you want to improve. I know some people in the industry say that I am too hard sometimes, but that's because I expect nothing less than perfection: first from my- self. Do you have something to say to the creatives who are leaving Europe to come to the USA? You can seek your fate wher- ever you want and – if you're truly passionate, talented and deter- mined – I believe you can make it. But nobody should ever deny their origins, their heritage. I am 100% an Italian product: my art, my vi- sion, my skills come from the place where I was born and where I learned to love Michelangelo, Cellini, Caravaggio. ney's "Alice In Wonderland" 95 pages visual book directly inspired by the critically acclaimed Tim Burton's feature masterpiece. After he sadly lost his father, in 2011, Max Narciso decided that it was time for a radical change in his life and he travelled – for the first time – to the States, to attend the renown San Diego Comicon. He met lots of colleagues and pro- fessionals who strongly encour- aged him, with compliments and sincere enthusiastic appreciation for his artworks. "Why aren't you already here, in the US, working?" was the recurring question: but at that moment he was mainly a car- toonist. So he went back to Italy and embraced a kind of monastic lifestyle to achieve even more im- pressive technical and artistic skills. One year after, he went back to the USA to attend one of the firstCTN Animation eXpo where he came in touch with lots of iconic animators, who invited him to stay in touch and send them his fantastic works. The result was a meeting at Dreamworks, with some of the highest ranking exec- utives, eager to know in person the creator of those bizarre, spectacu- lar creatures. If fact, they had got to know him also through his Bur- bank's exhibition,"Canapazzi," where he introduced to the Amer- ican audience his own rich and imaginary world of bizarre, dark and intriguing creatures. Eventually, between 2014 and 2015, Warner Brothers (where he worked for more than a year and half) officially sponsored him, so that he could permanently stay in the USA. Then, out of the blue, a year af- ter came another offer that he couldn't refuse: it was from Para- mount, which wanted him to work on some important animation movies. And so Max Narciso, who started as a freelance character de- sign artist specialized in character research, relentlessly followed his passion for graphic, animation and sculpture and ended up working with huge companies such as Dis- ney, Disney Publishing, Laika, Warner Bros. and Paramount. In what way the sad loss of your father pushed you to make such a radical change in your life? My dad used to work very hard for all his life and, when he passed away, I truly wondered if what he accomplished was what he really wanted to do with his existence. Was he dreaming of something else? Was he willing to make something different with his life? I'll never know because I lost him before asking him those funda- mental questions. Therefore I asked the same to myself and the answer was: follow you dreams, no matter what! How were you discovered by the major US companies you have worked for? During my second trip to in California, during the CTN Ani- mation eXpo, some Italians saw my artworks and wanted to intro- duce me to other lead animators who could help boost my career. In particular Marco Regina (cur- rently Lead Animator at Dream- Works) immediately recognized and appreciated my visionary style and wanted me to get in touch with as much people as I could in the industry. I still vividly remember my first meeting at DreamWorks: I didn't speak a word of English and Marco kindly rushed to help me translate my presentation to all the other executives! Did you start working with DreamWorks? No I didn't, probably because the peculiarity of my visual style is also represented by its weirdness and its darkness: and they were clearly looking for something brighter in terms of characters' de- velopment. But right after that meeting, I started working for an- other big company: LAIKA. They were working on a new concept that ended up being "The Missing Link," an animation movie that is about to be released. How did you start making your first American connections in the business? Many big companies already knew me because of my job in Italy, but the life-changing mo- ment was after I attended the first Massimiliano Narciso: an imaginative Italian talent in the heart of Hollywood LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY The visionary and creative work of Max Narciso @Max Narciso

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