L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS SILVIA GIUDICI T here is an Italian t a l e n t b e h i n d the victory of the a n i m a t e d s h o r t T h e Windshield Wiper, which won an Oscar in its category o n M a r c h 2 7 t h . M a r c o Regina has been the head of animation for the film directed by Alberto Mielgo a n d p r o d u c e d b y L e o Sanchez, which won a stat- uette at the 94th Academy Awards at the Dolby The- ater. Originally from Matera, R e g i n a m o v e d t o L o s Angeles 13 years ago to work for one of the biggest US a n i m a t i o n g i a n t s , DreamWorks. He collabo- r a t e d i n t h e m a k i n g o f numerous films including Shrek 4, Puss in Boots, The 5 Legends, Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3 (he was the main ani- mator of Kai, the villain), Larrikins (lead animator of Red, one of the 3 main char- acters), Little Yeti (animator of Xandra, the villain), How t o T r a i n Y o u r D r a g o n 2 (main animator of Valka, mother of the protagonist) a n d H o w t o T r a i n Y o u r Dragon 3. Recently, howev- er, Regina has started a new chapter of his career and is now a storyboard artist for Netflix. Marco, tell us how the s h o r t f i l m T h e Windshield Wiper came to be. I h a v e k n o w n L e o Sanchez and Alberto Mielgo for almost 13 years. Leo and I have also been neighbors in Los Feliz, so we're close f r i e n d s . A l b e r t o h a d t h i s idea, on which he started working alone about 7 years a g o , b e f o r e S p i d e r m a n Universe. It is important to e m p h a s i z e t h i s b e c a u s e b e f o r e S p i d e r m a n t h e r e were always the same styles of animated feature films. Alberto wanted to do some- thing that had his style, his way of drawing. At the time, n o o n e w o u l d f i n a n c e a n aesthetically different pro- ject. Leo Sanchez, who is a very good modeler, had just o p e n e d h i s c o m p a n y a n d decided to support Alberto. They needed other profes- sionals, so I joined together with David Corral. It was my f i r s t f r e e l a n c e j o b a f t e r many years of working for the Studios. What prompted you to fully believe in this project? A t a c e r t a i n p o i n t , Alberto was hired as pro- duction designer and art director by Sony to work on Spiderman Universe, and t h i s t h i n g m a r k e d a n i m p o r t a n t t u r n i n g p o i n t b e c a u s e t h e l o o k o f o u r short film is very similar to that of Spiderman: it broke with the type of aesthetics f a s h i o n a b l e b a c k t h e n . There was a sort of mutual influence between our pro- ject and Spiderman. Since Alberto was in a hurry to finish the short, I took care of hiring the right anima- tors to finish it, looking into my acquaintances at Disney a n d D r e a m W o r k s . T h e short film then stood still for almost two years due to the pandemic; the first offi- cial presentation was done in a big way, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. How did you react to the Oscar nomination? Did it come out of the blue or did you expect it? We knew we were doing a beautiful thing but, hon- estly, no one expected it. The nominations are also read in alphabetical order and, when there was only one title missing in the ani- mated shorts category and Disney's hadn't been called o u t y e t , I t h o u g h t i t w a s over. When they said "The Windshield Wiper," it was a shock. I've been working on movies at DreamWorks that were nominated both at the O s c a r a n d a t t h e G o l d e n G l o b e s b e f o r e , b u t t h i s short film started from a small group of friends who are passionate about anima- tion. How was the Oscars' experience? D e f i n i t e l y s u r r e a l . W e screamed like crazy when they said "The Windshield Wiper." When they opened the envelope, my legs were shaking. The first sensation was certainly that of disbe- lief. Leo Sanchez and I are very close friends so for me it was as if a brother had won it. You mentioned that the aesthetics of anima- t e d f i l m s , c h a n g e d , i t b r o k e t h e m o l d , a n d t h a t m o r e s t y l e s h a v e b e e n u s e d i n r e c e n t years. What will be, in your opinion, the next wall to crumble in the world of animation? I agree with what Alberto said when he collected the award, and it is something the Academy must under- stand. Very often, anima- tion products that win at t h e O s c a r s a r e n o t e v e n watched by the members, w h o h a v e t h e i r c h i l d r e n watch them, as if they were something of a lower value. But animation is not only f o r c h i l d r e n b u t a l s o f o r adults. This is the first time a s h o r t f i l m t a r g e t e d a t adults won. From this point of view, Netflix is helping a lot to bring adult animation to the fore, with Arcane and I Lost My Body, supported by how, in other countries such as France and Japan, a n i m a t i o n i s n o t s e e n a s something exclusively for children. What project are you working on for Netflix at the moment? I can't really say anything a b o u t i t , e x c e p t t h a t G u i l l e r m o D e l T o r o i s involved, but it's all still a secret. What have you lear- ned at DreamWorks? Many things. They have been family to me. I under- s t o o d h o w l a r g e p r o d u c - t i o n s a r e m a d e . W h e n I would receive emails from colleagues, instead of reply- ing I would get up and go to speak directly with them, especially when I worked on K u n g F u P a n d a 3 . T h i s allowed me to understand the problems of the various departments and how we could help each other. A l m o s t t h r e e y e a r s ago you have changed a n d s w i t c h e d y o u r career: you went from b e i n g a n a n i m a t o r t o being a storyboard arti- st. What's the differen- ce? Animators make charac- ters move, they make them act. Storyboard artists cre- ate the first draft of the film on a visual level, they trans- form the script into images, creating what will be seen on the screen. H o w w a s y o u r p a s - s i o n f o r a n i m a t i o n born? I always had this passion, at 16-17 I used to go to the cinema alone to see animat- ed films because no one my age wanted to see them. I h a d a n e p i p h a n y w h e n I was studying architecture in Florence and, during the Christmas holidays, while waiting to take the bus back t o M a t e r a , I s a w a d o c u - mentary about The Prince of Egypt and Notre Dame, about their making-of. After s e e i n g i t , I r e a l i z e d t h a t b e i n g a n a n i m a t o r c o u l d actually be a profession. Who did you dedicate this Oscar to? To my family, my wife, and my daughter Gaia. And t o m y t w o g r e a t f r i e n d s , Alberto and Leo. Marco Regina at work (Photo courtesy of Marco Regina) Marco Regina: head animator of an Oscar-winning short movie

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