Peter Lord
About
Biography
Biography
Co-founder of Aardman Animations, a company which would join with animator Nick Park to bring the field of stop-motion animation to unbelievable highs, director, producer and animator Peter Lord started his animation career as a young man in 1970 and went on to work on such groundbreaking projects as the music video for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (1986), the split-screen Oscar-nominated animated short "Wat's Pig" (1996) and the widely acclaimed feature-length comedy "Chicken Run" (2000). Lord partnered up with collaborator David Sproxton, making their first animated film in 1970 and officially launching Aardman in 1972. In 1978, after returning to his Bristol birthplace, Lord worked on two short films commissioned by BBC Bristol. The beloved children's series "The Amazing Adventures of Morph" followed, beginning in 1981, and next up for the animator and Aardman was a series of animated shorts based around real life audio clips. Titled "Conversation Pieces," the renowned shorts were commissioned by and aired on Channel Four.
In 1995, animator Nick Park joined Aardman Animations, a move that would later greatly benefit both Park and the company. In the meantime, Lord worked with director Stephen Johnson and The Brothers Quay on the legendary music video for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer." Not unlike "Conversation Pieces," the project required that visuals be created to accompany an existing piece of audio. This experimental and evocative video made remarkable use of Lord's animation resources that arguably contributed greatly to the song's chart-topping success. The video won many awards and secured a place in music video history, surviving and maintaining its status even when outrageous budgets and "can you top this?" gimmicks became the norm. Lord subsequently worked on a 1987 animated short to accompany Nina Simone's classic take on the standard "My Baby Just Cares For Me," a project in a similar vein. As animation director for the quirky CBS Saturday morning series "Pee-Wee's Playhouse," Lord reteamed with director Stephen Johnson, and helped to make his work all the more familiar to a mainstream American audience.
Back in the UK, Lord was winning accolades and BAFTA nominations for his films, including the 1989 short "War Story." In 1990, Nick Park's promise just began to be uncovered with "A Grand Day Out," a comedic short starring lovable man/dog team Wallace and Gromit. Executive produced by Lord, the film won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar. 1992 saw Lord return to directing with "Adam," a BAFTA- and Academy Award-nominated short. He next executive produced Boris Kossmehl's "Not Without My Handbag" in 1993, the same year he served similar duty on Park's "The Wrong Trousers," a short which reintroduced Wallace and Gromit and snagged both a BAFTA and an Oscar in the process. Two years later, the Wallace and Gromit short "A Close Shave," also executive produced by Lord, won the same honors. Lord's own film "Wat's Pig," an animated take on the old "Prince and the Pauper" storyline which made interesting and effective use of labor-intensive split screen technique was nominated for an Oscar in the very same Best Animated Short category that Aardman works had graced so many times before.
As Aardman allied with DreamWorks, Lord and Park undertook quite an ambitious project: a feature-length animated film. Titled "Chicken Run" and sold as "The Great Escape" with hens, the movie featured the voices of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson and Jane Horrocks, among others, and was co-directed by both Lord and Park, who collaborated on the story as well. Displaying both the clever charm and spirit of Aardman's smaller-scaled projects, "Chicken Run" won over a large and varied audience, and appeared on many a year-end top ten list. Though it didn't score the BAFTA it was nominated for and failed to register on the Oscar radar, the film raised Aardman's profile, and would serve as a benchmark for the stop-motion animation industry.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Visual Effects (Feature Film)
Animation (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Producer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1970
Made first animated film with co-director David Sproxton
1972
Co-founded Aardman Studios with Sproxton
1976
Returned to Bristol
1978
Aardman comissioned by BBC Bristol to make two short films
1981
The children's series "The Amazing Adventures of Morph" debuted on BBC
1985
Nick Park joins Aardman Animations
1986
With Stephen Johnson and The Brothers Quay, created the legendary music video launching Peter Gabriel's hit "Sledgehammer"
1986
Was animation director for the groundbreaking CBS Saturday morning series "Pee-wee's Playhouse", another collaboration with the show's director Stephen Johnson
1987
Directed the animated short "My Baby Just Cares For Me", a music video for Nina Simone's classic take on the romantic standard
1989
His animated film "War Story" nominated for a Best Animated Film BAFTA
1990
Executive produced Nick Park's Oscar-nominated, BAFTA Award-winning short "A Grand Day Out", starring the beloved Wallace and Gromit
1992
His short, "Adam", nominated for both a BAFTA and Academy Award
1993
Executive produced the animated short "Not Without My Handbag", directed and animated by Boris Kossmehl
1993
Was executive producer of "The Wrong Trousers", Nick Park's BAFTA- and Oscar-winning animated short, continuing the adventures of Wallace and Gromit
1995
"A Close Shave", directed and animated by Nick Park and executive produced by Lord, awarded Best Animated Film BAFTA and Best Animated Short Oscar
1996
His animated short "Wat's Pig" nominated for an Oscar
2000
Co-directed (with Park) the full-length animated feature "Chicken Run"
2005
Produced the Oscar winning Wallace and Grommit feature "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"; Co-written and directed by Nick Park and Steve Box
