Eric Darnell
| Eric Darnell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 (age 51–52) Kansas |
| Occupation | Film director, Animator, Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1990-Present |
Eric Darnell (born 1960 in Kansas) is an American director, writer, voice actor, songwriter and animator. He is best known for co-directing Antz with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa with Tom McGrath.
Darnell attended Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas, where he was a writer for the school newspaper the Harbinger. He studied broadcast journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. After graduating in 1983, he spent four years working on experimental films, which helped him get accepted into the Experimental Animation program study at the California Institute of the Arts.
He directed the music video for the 1989 R.E.M. song "Get Up".
When Darnell graduated, he joined Pacific Data Images, where he worked as a character animator on the 1991 Hanna-Barbera Halloween special The Last Holloween. He also directed the short film Gas Planet. In 1998, he made his directorial debut for the movie Antz for PDI/DreamWorks. He worked on research and development for PDI in The Prince of Egypt. He then worked as the writer for the song "Welcome to Duloc" on the 2001 film Shrek, for which he also worked as story artist.
He and Tom McGrath directed Madagascar in 2005 and its sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa in 2008. He was co-writer for the Christmas TV Special A Merry Madagascar.
He is currently directing Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, which will premiere in the summer of 2012.
[edit] Filmography
- Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)
- Merry Madagascar (2009)
- The Penguins of Madagascar (2009)
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
- Madagascar (2005)
- Antz (1998)
- Big Smoke (1993, PDI)
- Gas Planet (1992, PDI)
- "Get Up" music video
- Filter Gallery (1991, CalArts)
