Chris Buck

Last updated

Chris Buck
Frozenfeverdirectors (cropped).JPG
Buck in 2015
Born
Christopher James Buck

(1958-02-24) February 24, 1958 (age 66)
Alma mater California Institute of the Arts
Employer(s) Walt Disney Animation Studios (1978-2004; 2008–present)
Sony Pictures Animation (2004-2008)
Known for Film direction, screenwriting
Notable work Tarzan
Surf's Up
Frozen
Frozen Fever
Frozen II
Spouse
Shelley Rae Hinton
(m. 1989)
Children3
Awards Academy Award
Annie Award
BAFTA Award

Christopher James Buck (born February 24, 1958) is an American film director, animator, and screenwriter known for co-directing Tarzan (1999), Surf's Up (2007) (which was nominated for the 2007 Oscar for Best Animated Feature), Frozen (2013), which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2014, and Frozen II (2019). He also worked as a supervising animator and story artist on Pocahontas (1995) and Home on the Range (2004).

Contents

He has won for one Academy Award, Annie Award and BAFTA Award, and has been nominated for two Academy, two BAFTA and five Annie Awards. [1]

Life and career

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Buck was inspired to explore animation by the first film he ever saw in a movie theatre as a child: Pinocchio (1940). [2] His family eventually moved to Placentia, California, where he graduated from El Dorado High School. [3]

Buck studied character animation for two years at CalArts, where he also taught from 1988 to 1993. At CalArts, Buck became friends with both John Lasseter [2] and Michael Giaimo. He began his career as an animator with Disney in 1978.[ citation needed ]

Besides his work as a co-director on Tarzan , Buck's other credits at Disney also include the 1995 animated feature Pocahontas , where he oversaw the animation of three central characters: Percy, Grandmother Willow, and Wiggins. Buck also helped design characters for the 1989 animated feature The Little Mermaid , performed experimental animation for The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and was an animator on The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985). [4]

Buck helped develop several films at Hyperion Pictures and served as a directing animator on the feature Bébé's Kids . He storyboarded Tim Burton's live-action featurette Frankenweenie (1984) and worked with Burton again as directing animator on the Brad Bird-directed Family Dog episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories and as director of the subsequent primetime animated series.

Buck's credits include a number of animated commercials (including some with the Keebler Elves) for such Los Angeles–based production entities as FilmFair, Kurtz & Friends, and Duck Soup.

Buck went on to co-direct Surf's Up at Sony Pictures Animation, which was released in June 2007. [5]

Buck with Frozen co-director Jennifer Lee and producer Peter Del Vecho 41st Annie Awards, Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho-crop.jpg
Buck with Frozen co-director Jennifer Lee and producer Peter Del Vecho

In 2008, Buck's old friend Lasseter, by then Disney Animation's chief creative officer, persuaded him to come back to Disney from Sony. [6] :6,11 Around September 2008, Buck pitched three ideas to Lasseter, one of which was a fairytale musical version of The Snow Queen ; Lasseter liked the idea and authorized Buck to proceed with development. [6] :6,11 After it was put on hold during 2010, [7] the film was officially announced in December 2011 under the title Frozen , with a release date of November 27, 2013. [8] In turn, Buck persuaded Giaimo to come back to Disney to serve as the film's art director, [6] :33 for which Giaimo would go on to win the Annie Award for Best Production Design in an Animated Feature Production.

In September 2014, it was announced that Buck and Lee would co-direct a short film based on the Frozen characters called Frozen Fever . It was released in March 2015, alongside Cinderella . [9]

On March 12, 2015, Disney announced that Buck and Lee would co-direct Frozen II , the sequel to Frozen. [10] It was released in November 2019.

Buck directed Wish , which was released in November 2023. [11]

Personal life

Buck is married to Shelley [12] Rae Hinton Buck, an Emmy and Oscar Award winner in sound editing. They had three sons, Ryder, Woody, and Reed. [13]

Their oldest son, Ryder, died at age 23 on October 27, 2013, in a car collision, when he was hit by two cars after his car broke down on the Glendale Freeway just one month before Frozen was released. [12] Ryder was a singer and songwriter performing in his band Ryder Buck and the Breakers, and was recovering from a year-long battle with a Stage 4 testicular cancer. [12] On March 2, 2014, upon accepting the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for co-directing Frozen at the 86th Academy Awards, Buck dedicated the award to his son Ryder. [12] The tragedy was an inspiration for the song "The Next Right Thing" in Frozen II, as well as a character named "Ryder." [14]

Reed lent his voice to Arnold, a little penguin from Surf's Up , directed by his father. [15]

Filmography

Feature films

YearFilmCredited as
Director Writer Animator Character
Designer
Visual
Development
OtherNotes
1981 The Fox and the Hound NoNoCharacterNoNoNo
1985 The Black Cauldron NoNoYesNoNoNo(uncredited)
1987 The Brave Little Toaster NoNoNoYesNoNo
1988 Oliver & Company NoNoYesNoNoNo
1989 The Little Mermaid NoNoNoYesNoNo
1990 The Rescuers Down Under NoNoNoYesYesNo
1992 Bébé's Kids NoNoNoNoNoYesAnimation Director
1995 Pocahontas NoNoSupervisingYesYesNoStoryboard Artist / Supervising Animator: Percy/Grandmother Willow/Wiggins
1999 Tarzan YesNoNoNoNoNo
2004 Home on the Range NoNoSupervisingNoNoNoSupervising Animator: Maggie
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas NoNoNoNoNoYesAnimation Consultant; Direct-to-video
2006 Open Season NoNoNoNoNoYesSpecial Thanks
2007 Surf's Up YesScreenplayNoNoNoYesVoice of Filmmaker #2
2013 Frozen YesStoryNoNoNoNo
2014 Big Hero 6 NoNoNoNoNoYesCreative Leadership
2016 Zootopia NoNoNoNoNoYes
Moana NoNoNoNoNoYes
2018 Ralph Breaks the Internet NoNoNoNoNoYes
2019 Frozen II YesStoryNoNoNoYes
2021 Raya and the Last Dragon NoNoNoNoNoYes
Encanto NoNoNoNoNoYes
2022 Strange World NoNoNoNoNoYes
2023 Wish [16] YesStoryNoNoNoYes

Short films

YearFilmCredited as
Director Writer Animator OtherNotes
1979Doctor of DoomNoNoNoYesVoice of Pepe
1982 Fun with Mr. Future NoNoYesNo
1984 Frankenweenie NoNoNoYesSpecial Thanks
1987 Sport Goofy in Soccermania NoNoSupervisingNo
1988Winter [17] NoNoNoYesSpecial Thanks
The Thing What Lurked in the TubNoNoNoYes
1989Palm Springs [17] NoNoNoYes
1990Next Door [17] NoNoNoYes
1991 Box-Office Bunny NoNoKeyNo
2010Not Your TimeNoNoYesYesHimself
2015 Frozen Fever YesStoryNoNo
2017 Olaf's Frozen Adventure NoNoNoYesSpecial Thanks
2018A Bug in the RoomNoNoNoYes
2020 Once Upon a Snowman NoNoNoYesCreative Consultant

Television

YearTitleCredited as
Director Animation
department
Character
Designer
Notes
1987 Amazing Stories NoSupervisingNoAnimation Supervisor - 1 Episode
1990 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures NoNoYesCharacter Designer - 13 Episodes
1993 Family Dog YesNoNoSeries Director
1996 Quack Pack NoNoYesCharacter Designer - 1 Episode

Documentaries

YearTitleRole
2014 The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic Himself
2020 Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II Himself; Special Thanks

Accolades

YearAwardcategoryWorkResultReference
1995 Annie Awards Best Individual Achievement for Animation Pocahontas Nominated [1]
1999Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production Tarzan Nominated
2000Sierra AwardBest Animated FilmNominated
2008 Academy Awards Best Animated Feature Surf's Up Nominated
Annie Awards Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production Nominated
Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production Nominated
2013 EDA Award Best Animated Feature Film Frozen Nominated
AFCA AwardBest Animated FilmWon
Dubai International Film Festival People's Choice AwardWon
SLFCA AwardBest Animated FilmWon
2014Academy AwardsBest Animated Feature Film of the YearWon
BAFTA Film Award Best Animated Featured Film Won
BAFTA Children's Award BAFTA Kids Vote - Feature FilmWon
Best Feature FilmNominated
Annie AwardsOutstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature ProductionWon
Gold Derby AwardAnimated FeatureWon
Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form Nominated
International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA)Best Animated FeatureWon
Italian Online Movie Awards (IOMA)Best Animated Feature Film (Miglior film d'animazione)Nominated
Seattle Film Critics AwardBest Animated FeatureWon
VES Award Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion PictureWon
2015 Tokyo Anime Award Grand Prize, Feature FilmWon
2019Seattle Film Critics AwardBest Animated Feature Frozen II Nominated
2020BAFTA Film AwardBest Animated Featured FilmNominated
Annie AwardsOutstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature ProductionNominated
Golden Globe award Best Animated Feature FilmNominated
LEJA AwardBest Animated FeatureNominated
OFTA Film AwardBest Animated PictureNominated

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References

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  3. Howmann, Anders (October 10, 2014). "'Frozen' treat for 50". Orange County Register. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  4. "Introducing Chris Buck". cataroo.com. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  5. Orange, B. Alan (June 6, 2007). "Chris Jenkins, Ash Brannon, and Chris Buck Are Creating Waves in Their New Film 'Surf's Up'". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
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  9. Gettell, O. (September 3, 2014). "Disney short 'Frozen Fever' coming in spring 2015, with new song". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  10. Graser, M. (March 12, 2015). "Disney Announces 'Frozen 2'". Variety . Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  11. Hall, Maragret (September 10, 2022). "Ariana DeBose to Star in New Disney Film Wish". Playbill. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Walker, Chris (February 6, 2014). "The Tragic Death of Local Musician Ryder Buck, and His Uplifting Story". LA Weekly. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  13. Wexler, David (January 22, 2014). "Ryder Buck: 'Live and Love. We're Only Here Once'". Janglin Souls. Retrieved March 7, 2014. The band performed alongside Ryder's band, and brothers Woody and Reed.
  14. Cohn, Gabe (November 29, 2019). "How to Follow Up 'Frozen'? With Melancholy and a Power Ballad". The New York Times . Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  15. Armstrong, Josh (June 11, 2007). "Directors Buck and Brannon on Surf's Up". Animated Views. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  16. "Ariana DeBose to Star in Disney Movie 'Wish' From 'Frozen' Team". The Hollywood Reporter. September 9, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  17. 1 2 3 Simon, Ben (December 27, 2012). "Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 2". Animated Views. Retrieved February 26, 2017.