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Benjamin Gluck
American filmmaker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ben Gluck is an American animation director, screenwriter, story editor, and story artist. He has worked as a senior creative in story development on various animated films and television specials, and has directed for studios such as Disney and Lionsgate.
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Early life
Benjamin "Ben" Gluck was born in St. Louis, Missouri. As a teenager, he showed his art portfolio to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston during their book tour for Bambi: The Story and the Film. They encouraged him to apply to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).[1] After being accepted, Gluck earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Character Animation from CalArts. Gluck's second year student film Man's Best Friend was awarded the Walter Lantz Animation Prize[2] at the CalArts Producers Show, where Gluck thanked Thomas and Johnson personally. His film premiered on MTV's network,[3] and was screened in theaters as part of the Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.
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Career
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Upon graduating from CalArts, Gluck immediately obtained a job as a storyboard and visual development artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation. Gluck contributed to several theatrical films, including Dinosaur, The Emperor's New Groove, and Home on the Range. Prior to Disney, Gluck was part of DreamWorks Animation's first story internship, working on The Prince of Egypt.
Gluck transitioned to Disneytoon Studios where he was Head of Story for Bambi II and helped adapt A.A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner into Piglet's Big Movie both of which received theatrical releases.[4] Gluck also directed the Annie Award-winning film Brother Bear II.[5][6][7]
After Disney, Gluck pursued opportunities to tell new kinds of stories told in animation.[8] He became Head of Story on the Tim Burton-produced 9 for Focus Features, contributing to character development and overseeing the story animatic. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four, contrasting it with the works of Hayao Miyazaki and saying that "the visuals are entrancing.[9]" Gluck was also a segment storyboard artist on the acclaimed adaptation of Kahlil Gibran's, The Prophet.
He directed the first film in the Alpha and Omega franchise, launched in 2010, is an animated film series distributed by Lionsgate. The original film grossed approximately $50.5 million worldwide on a $20 million budget, making it Lionsgate Family Entertainment's highest-grossing original animated franchise.[10]
Gluck played a key role in revitalizing the Peanuts franchise, serving as senior creative and head of the story department, for the Peanuts holiday special Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne (2021), the first new Peanuts holiday special in eighteen years. In this capacity, he reshaped the plot, giving Lucy a more introspective characterization. Chuck Wilson from The Village Voice wrote that this approach brought "freshness" to the character, saying that "Lucy is transformed from a character of nostalgia into a girl as self-reflective and searching as any young person watching the special might be."[11]
He also served as senior creative, head of the story department, for Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), With Love, where he oversaw the narrative development. This special "broke new ground by including a message about LGBT families."[12][13] It was nominated for a Humanitas Prize.[14]Both specials were produced by Apple TV+, and were followed by the platforms continued expansion of new Peanuts programming.[15]
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Filmography
Television
- Rugrats (TV) (2000)
- Clerks (TV) (2001)
- MTV's Cartoon Sushi's Man's Best Friend (1998)
See also
References
External links
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