“It would be incredible not to include them!” : Despicable Me 5 in the project?

After a seven-year wait, one of the most iconic villains in animated history returns to theaters on Wednesday, July 10 in Despicable Me 4, the sequel fans have been waiting for!

No more hacking, stealing, or even kidnapping, Gru is now a model father and public-spirited citizen who happens to be a super agent! But his laid-back life plans are disrupted when an enemy from his past escapes from prison with the determination to destroy him.

During the event session presented at the 2024 Annecy Festival, the film was well received by the public. To talk about this sequel and the future of Minions, the third installment of which will be released in the United States on June 30, 2027, we met with the director of the four films: Chris Reno.

AlloCiné: You’ve directed all installments of the franchise. How do you keep your ideas fresh even after three films?

Chris Reno: The beauty of these characters is that they are people just like us. And in movies, they always have to juggle their professional and family lives, which we can all relate to. From this premise, we are constantly left wondering what new challenge Gru and his cronies will face and what the next enemy will be before them. We find new ideas from these two basic questions. Something like James Bond. We’re choosing a new villain, sidestepping the family dynamics we’ve created.

In this fourth film, Gru becomes a real good guy. How did the character transition from super villain to super agent?

Sure, Gru is a bad guy in the first movie, but he’s still likable. We realize from the beginning that he is insecure, especially with his relationship with his mother, who has never been kind to him. We feel a real sympathy for him and realize that he always had a good hidden background. But in the second film, to introduce Lucy, who would become his wife, he had to remain a villain to serve the story. That’s really where the transition to the good guy role started. It seemed like a natural progression as he became a father, a husband, and then a citizen. I think that’s why people love it so much. This is also to keep the audience interested in the character. If it stayed the same over the course of four movies, it wouldn’t be interesting. We all change throughout our lives and Gru is no exception.

Usually there is always one antagonist, but here there are two. How did you come up with the idea of ​​creating a duo of villains?

Again, this is just trying something new. We especially thought of Bonnie and Clyde. This idea of ​​a villain tandem is something we’ve never experienced before. All the characters Gru fought against acted alone. Plus, this new villain is Gru’s former comrade. It gives us a chance to see a different side of his life that we don’t know about yet.

Plus, these villains always have a weird sense of fashion. Do you consider it a kind of “trademark”?

Yes. (Laughs) In character design, we always try to find something special for them. The same is true of Maxime Le Mal and his girlfriend, Valentina. They are true fashionistas: she in her fluffy coat and he in his long raincoat. We have always tried to bring a very graphic appeal to our characters. We approach them with a real sensibility, especially in the uniforms, and the costume comes naturally as a second step.

The minions are back in this new opus. Do you think they are essential characters even if they have their own movie now?

Obviously. Minions is, for the most part, a saga comedy. Then they evolved enough over time to have their own films: their language became richer, they sang songs. Here they gain superpowers. Here is another area where we needed to come up with new ideas. Of course, we use certain elements already used in the first parts, but above all we try to find new ways of using them. These little creatures are so cute, it would be impossible not to include them in the story.

Minions is, for the most part, a saga comedy.

We see Gru become the father of the child, but he struggles to bond with his son. Was it important for you to deal with this difficult aspect of fatherhood?

Yes, because I think conflict and contrast are often at the heart of comedy. We also tried a version where a small child loves and imitates Gru, but it didn’t seem effective. So we wanted to show this situation that I think a lot of parents and especially dads have experienced: the one where their baby can’t stand being in their arms. That seemed like a good place to start. Then when the kid sees that his dad is acting like a bad guy, you see that’s when they start to bond. We’re brought closer to this child’s personality, like Gru must have had when he was little. He is naughty. And having that dynamic at the beginning of the film allows us to develop their relationship at the end.

With this child, the inheritance is guaranteed. Are you thinking about a fifth movie?

Not yet. I think this group of characters, unlike a lot of other movies, really cater to different chapters in life. First it was Gru with three little girls. Then I introduced my mother, then a long-lost relative. Then they moved on and had a new baby. There will always be other stages of life that you have to go through with these characters. You will see.

Comments collected by Manon Marouf on June 13, 2024 at the Hotel Imperiale Palace as part of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.