Kent Melton, a celebrated maquette sculptor for animation studios Disney and LAIKA who passed away in early 2024, will be the subject of a new indie documentary undertaken by director/producer/puppet-maker Maria Andreotti. The untitled project has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
Melton was a creative force during the Disney Animation Renaissance, crafting maquettes for Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), Tarzan (1999) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), as well as Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). His work in 2D animation also covers DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado (2000) and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), and Don Bluth and Gary Goldman’s Thumbelina (1994). In the aughts, he went north to Portland to work on LAIKA’s Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012) and The Boxtrolls (2014).
Andreotti met Melton when she started at LAIKA working on The Boxtrolls in 2011, and the two quickly formed a strong inter-generational friendship as the young artist enjoyed his stories of working on many of her childhood favorites. They remained close even after they both left Portland, and began collaborating on the documentary in 2020. When Melton passed away due to Lewy Body Dementia in February, Andreotti became even more determined to tell his story.
The Kent Melton Documentary will recreate the sculptor’s life and career using stop-motion, starring a Kent puppet based on his own self-portrait sculpts. The film will also feature interviews with other animation legends who worked with Melton, including Brad Bird, Henry Selick, Rob Minkoff, Eric Goldberg, Floyd Norman, Chris Butler, Anthony Stacchi, Shannon Tindle, Don Hahn, Ron Clements and John Musker.
Support the Kent Melton on Kickstarter.
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