A group of “Minions” rest on apple boxes between takes on our stage in Culver City. Other talent involved in this three-ring-circus of a shoot were Steve Carell, Jason Segel, and Miranda Cosgrove. In the upcoming animated feature “Despicable Me”, Carrell and Segel play rival super-villains. The Minions are the slightly twitty, very funny, assistants to Carrell’s character “Gru”. And Cosgrove plays the little orphan girl who melts Gru’s heart and pushes the story through a series of transformations that are, in the context of a massive techno-comedy, surprisingly delicate and offbeat.But what do you do to sell a movie like this, releasing hot on the heels of Shrek 4 and Toy Story 3 in the middle of a very crowded summer of entertainment? I can’t tell you exactly, but it involves a white cyc, a jib arm, four cameras, five “little people”, a choreographer, the song “Boogie Fever“, and me. I must also mention the great peeps at New Wave Entertainment, who brought me on and dreamed up most of the material, as well as the marketers at Universal Studios theatrical who brought to the table an awesome set of cutting-edge challenges, not to mention a truly cool product. And did I mention Boogie Fever?It was fun - that insane mix of high pressure and extreme goofiness that you only find in Hollywood. We had to work fast and I had to yell a lot. As I kept on telling myself, with talent like this in front of the camera, we can’t go wrong. And judging by the laughter and applause on the set, we must have been doing something right. Please find some pictures below. Just to explain the image at the top - minions get tired. Even though their suits have little fans in them, they are so hot and heavy that the performers they contain need to rest after only a few minutes of Minionhood.Thanks to my DP Wolf Austad for gathering these photographs, the people who took them, and everyone else!Miranda Cosgrove and friends collecting Easter eggs.A Minion receives instructions on how to walk off stage - they can barely see or hear.Choreographer Tony G works with Jason and Miranda.Jason Segel throws down.Miranda Cosgrove and Steve Carell, ditto.Did someone say Conga Line?Minions getting ready for a Mexican Hat Dance.Despicable me.

One of a slew of “talent” spots I directed for this Universal Pictures release, this one with Miranda Cosgrove. Here’s another one for the World Cup, here’s one for Earth Day, and here’s one about being a good big sister, also with Miranda. For more on this shoot, see this post.