Dreamworks Animation’s ‘The Bad Guys’ Filmmakers Featured in THR’s ‘Behind the Screen’ Episode

 Director Pierre Perifel, editor John Venzon and head of character animation JP Sans took inspiration from Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.

A team from Dreamworks Animation’s The Bad Guys, which Universal will release April 23 in theaters, are the guests in a new episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Behind the Screen.

Director Pierre Perifel, editor John Venzon and head of character animation JP Sans join THR tech editor Carolyn Giardina to talk about the new animated crime comedy, based on the book series by Aaron Blabey.

To tell the story, they took inspiration from the work of filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and Martin Scorsese. And Japanese and French animation, including the work of Hayao Miyazaki, influenced the look.

At DWA, Perifel’s credits include serving as an animator on Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens, and lead character animator and supervising animator on Rise of the Guardians. He received an Annie Award in character animation for his work on Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five. The Bad Guys marks his feature directorial debut.

Venzon’s editing credits include South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Flushed Away, Storks, The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie.

Sans was supervising animator on Trolls World Tour and an animator on titles including Rise of the Guardians, Rio and Ice Age 3. Perifel and Sans, with Liron Topaz, also directed 2018 animated short Bilby.

In this episode, they cover topics including character development and creating scenes such as an opening car chase, museum heist and a song performance by Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) accompanied by a guitar-playing snake.