David Bowers (director)

David Bowers

Bowers at the BAFTAs
Born 1970
Cheshire, England, UK
Occupation Animator, film director, screenwriter, voice actor
Years active 1988–present

David Bowers is an English animator and film director originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester in the UK.

Early life

Bowers studied animation at West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham, but left during the first year to work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit as an inbetweener under director Richard Williams.

Career

After Roger Rabbit, Bowers worked at Cosgrove Hall on the cult-favourite television shows Danger Mouse and Duckula before moving to London to work for Steven Spielberg's Amblimation studio. He worked as an animator on An American Tail: Fievel Goes West before going freelance to work on advertisements and features. Bowers later returned to Amblimation to work on early story development and as a Supervising Animator on Balto.

With the founding of DreamWorks SKG, Bowers moved to Los Angeles to work as a story artist on The Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado. It was during this period that he met Aardman's Nick Park and Peter Lord, who asked him to help storyboard Aardman’s first feature-length film, the critically acclaimed Chicken Run. He was ultimately credited as Storyboard Supervisor.

After Chicken Run, Bowers moved between Los Angeles and Bristol, United Kingdom, working on several DreamWorks and Aardman projects, including the hit CG animated comedy Shark Tale and the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit before directing his first feature Flushed Away with Sam Fell.

He directed a big-screen adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's classic Astro Boy for Imagi Animation Studios and Summit Entertainment that was released in 2009.[1]

Bowers directed Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, his first live-action film, which was released in cinemas on 25 March 2011.[2][3] He also directed the third film in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012).

On September 13, 2013, it was announced that Bowers is in talks with Universal Pictures to direct an animated/live-action film adaptation of "Clifford the Big Red Dog" by Norman Bridwell.[4]

Filmography

Year Film Role
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Inbetween artist
1989 Count Duckula Animator (one episode)
1991 An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Animator
1992 Danger Mouse Animator (four episodes)
FernGully: The Last Rainforest Animator
1993 We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
1995 Balto Storyboard artist, supervising animator: "Rosy"
1998 The Prince of Egypt Storyboard artist
2000 Chicken Run
The Road to El Dorado
2004 Shark Tale Story artist
2005 Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Senior storyboard artist
2006 Flushed Away Director, screenplay, additional voices
2009 Astro Boy Director, writer, voice of Mike The Fridge
2010 The RRF in New Recruit Director, voice of Mike The Fridge (short film)
Astro Boy vs. The Junkyard Pirates Director (short film)
2011 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Director
2012 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
2016 Clifford the Big Red Dog

References

  1. Frater, Patrick (October 10, 2009). "Imagi hitches rocket to 'Astro Boy'". The Hollywood Reporter (e5 Global Media). Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  2. Kit, Borys (June 23, 2010). "David Bowers to direct 'Wimpy' sequel". The Hollywood Reporter (e5 Global Media). Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  3. McClintock, Pamela (June 23, 2010). "Bowers in talks for 'Wimpy' sequel". Variety (Reed Business Information). Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  4. "David Bowers in Talks to Direct 'Clifford the Big Red Dog'; Illumination Drops Off (Exclusive)". TheWrap. 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2014-01-18.

External links