Last Updated: 1 year ago
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Gerald Potterton — finest referred to as the director of the animated grownup animated basic Heavy Metal and for his work on The Beatles’ groundbreaking animated function Yellow Submarine — has died. He was 91 years previous.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Potterton handed away on the Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins Hospital in Cowansville, Quebec, Canada on Tuesday, Aug. 23. “Gerald got here to Canada and the NFB to be a part of a brand new wave of storytelling, one which was contemporary and irreverent, and he introduced nice wit and creativity to each mission,” National Film Board of Canada (NFB) chairperson and authorities movie commissioner Claude Joli-Coeur stated. “He was additionally a builder, serving to to put the inspiration for at this time’s impartial Canadian animation trade with Potterton Productions… He was an distinctive artist and a really good man.”
Potterton directed Heavy Metal — based mostly on the adult-oriented graphic novel fantasy journal of the identical identify — from a screenplay by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum. The movie was produced by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) and Leonard Mogel, the latter of whom was additionally the journal’s writer. True to the anthology nature of the journal, the movie consisted of ten quick animated chapters loosely tied collectively. Despite being one of many first animated options to obtain an R-rating from the MPAA, Heavy Metal revamped $20 million throughout its field workplace run, greater than doubling its price range of $9.3 million. It spawned a sequel, Heavy Metal 2000, although Potterton was not concerned within the latter movie.
While the journal’s focus was not music-centric, the movie featured a star-studded soundtrack that includes the likes of Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Sammy Hagar, Don Felder, Cheap Trick, Devo, Journey and Nazareth. Actors who lent their voices to the movie included Rodger Bumpass, Jackie Burroughs, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Martin Lavut, Marilyn Lightstone, Eugene Levy, Alice Playten, Harold Ramis, Percy Rodriguez, Susan Roman, Richard Romanus, August Schellenberg, John Vernon and Zal Yanovsky.
Potterton initially started his profession as an assistant animator in London earlier than returning to his Canadian dwelling to hitch the NFB in 1954. He collaborated with Buster Keaton on The Railrodder in 1965 (for which he gained “honorable point out” for finest quick movie on the Berlin International Film Festival) and Harold Pinter on Pinter’s People in 1969. Perhaps his most enduring work was as an animator on The Beatles’ 1968 movie Yellow Submarine, directed by George Dunning.
In 1968, Potterton established Potterton Productions, which labored on numerous movies earlier than closing its doorways in 1974.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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