I understand that it was a love of drawing that got you into animation in the first place.
do you still keep in touch with your first love?
I do, but in a different way.
My drawing now is a lot cruder than it used to be, but its mainly communication.
Its more about planning of a shot, or staging of a particular gag.
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What are your animation influences?
Theres a lovely sense of Hanna Barbera underneath parts of the film, I thought.
Especially because the minions arent using language thats discernible, Charlie Chaplin is instantly in mind.
Peter Sellers, although he spoke in his movies, most of his comedy was visual.
He had so many of the same ideas that Chaplin did, but could be a little more subtle.
Chaplin, its almost always a full shot, you see the entire body.
Did you have similarly close working relationships with the likes of Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm?
What did the minions get themselves into by working for this woman?
And then when she does freak out, its a little bit more contrasting.
A lot of that was coming from Sandra.
You seemed to have an awful lot of fun with the Villain Con sequence.
I saw Dr Nefario in there, and there was all sorts in the background.
Was there a lot of stuff there that didnt make it in?
Oh there was a lot!
We tried so many ideas, and a lot of it comes down to what you have time for.
We had little kiosks and booths with different gags.
Ultimately, it came down to whats the most entertainment, while staying on scene.
I went directly ontoMinions.I had a little break, butMinionsstarted about six weeks or so afterThe Loraxwas released.
I was thrilled to have a chance to work with these guys.
At the beginning we werent quite sure how we were going to approach it.
That was always the huge risk here.
So what was your eureka moment?
When did you crack it?
We started to approach it by having the minions working with a human character, but not Scarlet.
She was always going to be there, but somebody else, their custodian in a way.
But whenever we were playing with it, it always became about the human character and not the minions.
The minions in theDespicable Memovies were played as a group.
The key scene that helped with that was the hitchhiking scene, and the scene where Kevin recruits them.
Because thats where we get to know who these guys are.
I read that you worked onDay Of The Tentaclefor LucasArts earlier in your career.
I once interviewed David Soren, who directedTurbofor DreamWorks, and it turned out hed worked onToonstruck.
It was always writing at the core, I thought.
Day Of The Tentaclewas such a narrative game, such a story-driven game.
To work on a game that was so driven by story and characters.
Kyle Balda, thank you very much!
Minions is out in UK cinemas on Friday
