Acker, Shane (1971-)

Award-winning director, animator, and designer, best known as the creator of “9″, the Tim Burton- and Timur Bekmambetov- produced feature film based on his 2004 Oscar-nominated short, also titled “9″ (ten minutes, thirty-three seconds). Originally from Wheaton, Illinois, Acker graduated from UCLA where he received both an M.Arch.I (1998) and an MFA in animation (2004). His first short film, “The Hangnail” (two minutes), was completed at the UCLA Animation Workshop. While a student at UCLA he also made the one-minute “The Astounding Talents of Mr. Grenade” (2003), as well as his short, “9″, which premiered at Sundance in 2005 and garnered numerous awards, including a Student Academy Award, the Best in Show at the 2005 SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, and a student Emmy Award. Acker has stated that his inspirations in the field of animation are avant-garde artists such as Jan Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay. The Brother Quay film “Street of Crocodiles” (1986) is clearly an influence on 9. Acker said in an interview, “Their [the Brothers Quay] big thing is they use detritus, old discarded things: old dolls, old pieces of machinery, things like that. That creates a different, off-kilter kind of mind-set, brings about a lot of metaphor. I found that very inspirational and in tune with the design I wanted in 9, the experience I wanted in that world- a world that’s destroyed and all that’s left are these bits and pieces. But from all that, this form is beginning to emerge that is finding ways to negotiate a new landscape and create a life for itself.”

Acker has also worked as an animator on such films as Peter Jackson’s Academy Award-winning “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) and Sam Raimi’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” (2013).

References

Randi Schmelzer, “Cartoon Character: Shane Acker,” UCLA Magazine, April 1, 2006, magazine.ucla.edu/depts/style/acker/; “Shanke Acker,” IMDb, www.imbd.com/name/nm0009942/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1; Shane Acker’s website, www.shaneacker.com.

Taken from “The Tim Burton Encyclopedia” by Samuel J. Umland.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (US 2012)

Director: Timur Bekmambetov.

Screenplay: Seth Grahame-Smith, from the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith.

Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Jim Lemley, Tim Burton.

Executive Producers: John J. Kelly, Simon Kinberg, Michelle Wolkoff.

Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel.

Editor: William Hoy.

Original music: Henry Jackman.

Cast: Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln), Dominic Cooper (Henry Sturges_, Anthony Mackie (Will Johnson), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Mary Todd Lincoln), Rufus Sewell (Adam), Marton Csokas (Jack Barts), Jimmi Simpson (Joshua Speed), Joseph Mawle (Thomas Lincoln), Robin McLeavy (Nancy Lincoln), Erin Wasson (Vadoma).

Running time: 105 minutes. Color.

Released through: 20th Century Fox

Movie co-produced by Tim Burton based on the book of the same title written by SETH GRAHAME-SMITH. Grahame-Smith had a hit novel in “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” (2009), so it is little surprise that the producing team of Jim Lemley, Tim Burton, and TIMUR BEKMAMBETOV optioned “Abaraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” (2010) before it was even finished. Both books tap into a pop cultural desire to think of the familiar in different terms. What if honest Abe had also fought against a worldwide vampire conspiracy? What if Jane Austen’s iconic novel was set in a world replete with the living dead? Over the next few years, both Burton and Bekmambetov directed an adaptation of Grahame-Smith’s screenplay (with Burton remaining as producer). According to Gina McIntyre, Burton’s goal as a producer “has largely been to help preserve the project’s unique character to the greatest extent possible.” During the making of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”, Grahame-Smith worked with Burton on the screenplay to “Dark Shadows”. Both were released in summer 2012.

The principle conceit of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”, established early in the film and explored throughout, is that there are vampires throughout the world. These vampires have been responsible for some of the more unsavory practices in history. In the United States, they are the principal benefactors of the slave trade (it is unclear whether the South is totally under their thrall, but a scene between head vampire Adam [Rufus Sewell] and Jefferson David [John Rothman] shows that they are colluding). In this version of the nineteenth century, the causes of the Civil War are not open to debate: this is a war over slavery- and, by extension, vampirism- that is not over until both are removed from the nation. In fact, rather than grow into the role of abolitionist gradually, our Abraham Lincoln is ideologically righteous from the start. He witnesses the assault on his friend Will, a young slave boy. He vows revenge on Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), a man who he comes to learn is a slaver and a vampire. For Lincoln, Barts is doubly guilty. This vampire bites (and possible r***s) Lincoln’s mother while he watches. When he grows up (the adult version of Abe is played by Benjamin Walker), his desire for vengeance leads him to Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), an eccentric and seemingly ageless man who advises Lincoln in a long war against the vampires. Lincoln acts as Sturges’ enforcer, attacking vampires as ordered. Only later does he realize that Sturges is himself a vampire, and is carrying on against Adam and his cabal for personal reasons not unlike Lincoln’s own. In this world, vampires cannot harm other vampires. Abaraham Lincoln must act on Sturges’s behalf.

The film roughly splits into three narrative sections: Lincoln’s childhood and initial trauma; his life as a young man in Springfield, Illinois; and his time as president, including his personal stake in the Civil War. The middle section is the best executed, despite playing like an extended rethinking of John Ford’s “Young Mr. Lincoln” (1939). Here, Abe meets store owner and later political confidant Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), is reunited with Will, courts Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), debates Stephen Douglas (Alan Tudyk), and learns about the vampires’ larger set of plans. The sections of Lincoln’s time in office feel especially condensed, since they cover all of the Civil War. One of the film’s major historical liberties is that it sets up the personal and political climax at the battle of Gettysburg, where Union soldiers are fighting against Confederates and their vampire leaders. Lincoln has it out with Adam on a train carrying a supply of silver that is en route to the fashioned into weaponry that can actually harm these supernatural foes.

Although at times overly generic (its focus on some of the more well-known battles and people of the nineteenth century feels lazy, or like a pat on the back to a basic recognition of American history), “Abaraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” reflects Grahame-Smith’s and Bekmambetov’s personal interests. Grahame-Smith’s vampire mythology takes some well-known ideas (the transfer of blood through a bite, the aristocratic associations of vampires) and adds a few different ones (these vampires are able to function during daylight and are mainly impervious to silver, since Judas’ betrayal of Jesus had to do with thirty pieces of silver). The central thematic leap of the film (that the mast-slave relationship, which is founded in the uneven exploitation of one person by another, is analogous to vampirism) is rather clever, and helps explain how these vampires could find a ready supply of blood. However, this alignment between slavers and vampires does undercut the film’s relation to history. As Kim Newman notes, “Slavery was quite bad enough- indeed, worse than it’s depicted here- when it was an economic rather than supernatural phenomenon, and giving slavers fangs and dark glasses tends to excuse rather than underline a real historical human evil.”

This film has a slightly more subdued visual style than “Wanted” (2008), but still plays with a number of Bekmambetov’s favorite tricks. In particular, Bekmambetov takes advantage of digital cinema’s ability to augment time. During fight sequences, Lincoln’s skill as a warrior is rendered intelligible thanks to selected changes in speed, which variously showcase his precision with the ax and convince us of his superior strength and ability. Bekmambetov’s camera frequently moves and keeps the action coherent- it seems to avoid the kind of action-sequence immediacy suggested by shaky, handheld cameras that populate recent action films by Paul Greengrass (”The Bourne Ultimatum” [2007]) and Christopher Nolan (”The Dark Knight” [2008]).

The film opened in late June 2012 in the United States to roughly $16 million and largely negative reviews. Writing for “Wired” magazine’s “Underwire”, Hugh Hart opined that “the alt-history lessons and neck-chomping money shots deserve points for originality, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter could have truly triumphed as grand entertainment if only its anemic human characters had received the transfusion of humor and wit that such an outrageous concept demands.” Peter Travers noted that the film somehow lost the magic of the book, which “was a fun escapist read.” The film’s overblown action-theatrics left him saying that “the movie deserves a stake through the heart.” The film was defended by some critics as an occasionally worthwhile and technically competent action movie. For example, Ken Hanke says that “taken on its own terms as a po-faced presentation of goofy material, it’s rather fun.”- Kevin M. Flanagan

References

Ken Hanke, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Asheville Mountain Express, June 26, 2012, www.mountainx.com/movies/review/abraham_lincoln_vampire_hunter#.Uea0B42siSo; Hugh Hart, “Review: Bloody Serious Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Isn’t as Fun as It Sounds,” Underwire, June 12, 2012, www.wired.com/underwire/2012/06/review-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/; Gina McIntyre, “Seth Grahame-Smith Wants to Resurrect ‘Beetlejuice,’ ‘It’,” LA Times Hero Complex, August 9, 2012, herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/seth-grahame-smith-wants-to-resurrect-beetlejuice-it/#/0; Gina McIntyre, “Tim Burton on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: I Just Wanted To See That Movie”, LA Times Hero Complex, June 10, 2011, herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/tim-burton-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/; Kim Newman, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, “ Sight and Sound 22, no. 8 (August 2012): 52; Peter Travers, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Rolling Stone, June 21, 2012, www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-20120621. 

Taken from “The Tim Burton Encyclopedia” by Samuel J. Umland.

Index of Information

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The Tim Burton Encyclopedia

A113- https://www.tumblr.com/tim-burton-facts/718167360237879296/for-more-information-see-the-tim-burton?source=share

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Victor Abdalov (CA. 1950-)

Russian-born photographer who served as the cinematographer on Tim Burton’s first two films, VINCENT and HANSEL AND GRETEL. Born Viktor Abdalov in Turkmenistan, Abdalov immigrated to the United States in early 1976, some months after his marriage to former International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) student Catherine Cosman in July 1975. (Many sources incorrectly list former human rights activist Catherine A. Fitzpatrick as Abdalov’s wife. However, her ex-husband is the former political prisoner Alexander Shatravka.) Prior to immigrating, Abdalov was arrested along with Soviet dissident and Gulag survivor Alexander Ogorodnikov in July 1973 while shooting a film about young Russian Christians titled “Jesus People”. Although his camera was seized by the authorities, Abdalov managed to hide the exposed film, which eventually reached the United States by way of the US embassy. Abdalov and Ogorodnikov were subsequently interrogated by the KGB, and Ogorodnikov (and very likely Abdalov, although this is uncertain) was dismissed from the VGIK, the famed Russian film school. Three years after his immigration to the United States, Abdalov was hired as cameraman on the straight-to-video feature “I Go Pogo” (1980). (In 1989, Walt Disney Home Video reissued the film on VHS as “Pogo For President”.) Abdalov met STEPHEN CHIODO during the making of “I Go Pogo”, which led to Abdalov being hired as the Director of Photography (DP) on “Vincent”. Abdalov also served as DP on Burton’s next project, “Hansel and Gretel”. In 1989, an exhibition featuring over one hundred of his photographs of life in Russia opened in Washington, DC.

References

Koenraad De Wolf, “Dissident for Life: Alexander Ogorodnikov and the Struggle for Religious Freedon in Russia”, trans. Nancy Forest-Flier (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013); “Stephen Chiodo: The Man, The Legend,” “Stop Motion Magazine” 1 (August 2010): 6-15; “Victor Abdalov,” IMDb, www.imdb.com/name/nm0008119/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1.

Taken from “The Tim Burton Encyclopedia” by Samuel J. Umland.

For more information, see “The Tim Burton Encyclopedia”

A113

The number of the now legendary homeroom for the Program in Character Animation at the CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS (CalArts) in Valencia, California, where so many highly successful artists, storytellers, and directors, among them Tim Burton, attended classes beginning in the late 1970’s in preparation for careers at Disney. CalArts was the brainchild of Walt Disney, who before his death in 1966 sought to establish a school whose purpose was to train young animators through classes “taught by Disney artists, animators, layout people… taught the Disney way,” according to Tim Burton. Two of the cofounders of the Character Animation program were former Disney animators Jack Hannah (1913-1994), who taught animation at CalArts, and T. Hee (1911-1988), who taught caricature, both remembered by their students as great teachers. Other former Disney animators who taught at CalArts were Elmer Plummer (1910-1986), who taught life drawing, and Ken O’Connor (1908-1998), who taught layout. The legendarily difficult and demanding Bill Moore (ca. 1909-1983), formerly of the Chouinard Art Institute and a non-Disney faculty member, taught color and design.

The first class of the Program in Character Animation was admitted in 1975, and included JERRY REES and John Lasseter. Tim Burton entered the Character Animation program at CalArts in its second year, in 1976, soon after graduating from high school. In addition to Tim Burton, alumni of the CalArts Character Animation program include BRAD BIRD, John Musker, HENRY SELICK, Michael Giaimo, Gary Trousdale, Doug Lefler, Chris Buck, Rob Minkoff, Brenda Chapman, and Nancy Bieman.

The homeroom was drab white and windowless, and its number later appeared as an inside joke, in several animated films made by CalArts alumni: “The Brave Little Toaster” (the Master’s apartment number); “Toy Story” (license-plate number on Andy’s mother’s car); “Toy Story 2” (Lasset Air flight number); “A Bug’s Life” (prefix of a model number stamped on a cardboard box); “Ratatouille” (Git’s ear tag); “Cars” (head code on Trev Diesel, the freight train); “Finding Nemo” (model number on the scuba diver’s camera). It also appears in the form of Roman numerals in “Brave”.

Tim Burton attended CalArts from 1976 to 1979, the first two years on scholarship (he has stated that in his third year his scholarship was revoked, for reasons he does not disclose). In 1979, his animated short produced while at CalArts, STALK OF THE CELERY MONSTER, was considered of sufficient quality by Disney representatives to warrant his hire at Disney, where he worked until 1984.

REFERENCES:

Sam Kashner, “The CalArts Class Who Created a Great Renaissance of Animation,” Vanity Fair, March 2014, www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/03/calarts-animation-1970s-tim-burton; Mark Salisbury, “Burton on Burton”, 2nd rev. ed. (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), 8.

ARTICLE CREDIT: Samuel J. Umland, “The Tim Burton Encyclopedia”