The American Jim Capobianco, one of the most prestigious animation screenwriters and creators, is looking for co-producers at the Cartoon Forum in Toulouse for an animated series about Leonardo Da Vinci, which will serve as a prequel to the film “The Inventor”.
“The exciting thing about Leonardo Da Vinci is his talent for art, invention, curiosity in general with which we want to inspire children to be their own Da Vinci,” Capobianco tells EFE.
The creator, nominated for an Oscar in 2008 for the screenplay for “Ratatouille”, and co-writer of Disney hits such as “The Lion King” or “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, now has a new project in hand, “Leo’s Workshop” .
With it, he intends to narrate in several episodes the period of greatest creation of Da Vinci, his stay in Milan when the artist worked for Ludovica Sforza.
The film “The Inventor” which opens in the United States in 2023, meanwhile, will focus on the last years of the Italian genius of the Renaissance in France, where he worked for King Francis I.
Bringing the figure of Leonardo Da Vinci closer to children will show them, according to Capobianco, “that they can be so ingenious and artistic”.
“We want to encourage that innate curiosity in children so that it accompanies them throughout their lives,” insists the American screenwriter.
The French production company Foliascope based in Valence (southeast), has been in charge of making these animations based on puppets, an arduous job that requires a whole day of work for four seconds of animation, and that will be repeated for the series if it arrives. to good port.
The president and producer of Foliascope, Ilan Urroz, explains that his team has 20% Hispanics on its staff, such as the Spanish Isabel de la Torre or the Argentine César Díaz, among others, who he praises for their creative talent.
It already has the bases for some episodes as well as the characters. Now they hope to find financing to continue developing this work, so they are looking for new international partners at the Cartoon Forum, the main European co-production contest, which comes to an end this Thursday.
“Our hope is to adapt what we have learned by doing ‘The Inventor’ and (…) ‘Leo’s Workshop’, and further explore Da Vinci’s characters and inventions”, confides Capobianco, who confesses that the project, presented to the thousand participants of this industry meeting, has generated a lot of interest. EFE
