Glenn McCoy makes short-film debut, thanks to minions

Give a minion a lawn mower and Glenn McCoy will make sure chaos ensues. There are dogs to chase, garden gnomes to confront and poop to step in.

It’s the mundane events in life that Glenn, 51, of Belleville, can turn into giggles as he takes us on a giddy ride with his vertically challenged yellow crew in “Mower Minions,” the first animated short film he has written and directed for Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures.

The world will get to see the “short” Friday when the studio releases “The Secret Life of Pets” nationwide. “Mower Minions” will precede the animated pet tale.

It took two years to make the three- to four-minute minion movie.

“Yeah, I started in 2014 on it,” said Glenn, sitting in his home studio, surrounded by cartoon and monster posters, his sketch books and pages of gags he’s working on for future projects. He had incorporated minions, introduced in 2010’s film “Despicable Me” into his comic strip, “The Duplex.” The studio liked what he did.

“I was at a swim meet with Jack (his son) and Chris Meledandri called.” Meledandri is the founder of Illumination, the Universal’s animation company.

“It was so loud at the meet. I know I talked to Chris for 30 minutes and caught about 70 percent of what he said. I called Laura (Glenn’s wife) and told her, ‘I think I was asked to write and direct a short for the studio.’”

He and Laura went to New York for the June 25 a preview of both movies. Glenn also wrote gags for “Pets,” which is set in New York.

Instead of seeing his name among a list of who helped make a movie, Glenn’s stood alone as writer on the “Mower Minions” credit roll at the end of the movie. He co-directed the movie with Bruno Chauffard, who works as an animator for the studio in Paris.

This is by far not the first rodeo for Glenn, who has worked as a storyboard artist and idea man/gag writer for hugely popular “Despicable Me,” “Despicable Me 2,” “Minions,” “Lorax,” “The Grinch” (Christmas 2017), “Despicable Me 3” (June 2017) and a Christmas 2016 full-length release called “Sing.”

“It’s kind of like ‘Pets,’ only they’re in a talent singing contest,” he said.

Glenn is the News-Democrat editorial cartoonist. He also is the creator of the syndicated daily comic strip “The Duplex” and, with his brother, Gary, the one-panel cartoon “The Flying McCoys.” Previously, he’s done a TV pilot for Disney and writtten and illustrated children’s books.

While not the first minion short to be made — there are about 10 of them — “Mower Minions” is already a standout short film for Illumination.

Like the many others, “It originally was supposed to be a DVD add-on to ‘Minions,’ but it tested so well that they called and told me it would be the first theatrical release of a short” for the studio, Glenn said.

“I feel like the opening act for a comedian.”

Movie-goers on Tuesday night saw a preview of both movies at a theater in Chesterfield, Mo.

Marg Furgess, of St. Louis, had two grandchildren in tow.

“We love the minions!” shouted Bess Cryton, 7, as she exited the movie. “It was funny when the minion got blown up. I have a minion doll. It’s Bob.”

Marg said she had a hard time containing Bess and brother Adam, 5, during “Mower Minions.”

“They were laughing so hard and squirming in their seats, but so were a lot of other kids. It all went by so fast that it was just one silly moment after another. There was no problem keeping them entertained!”

Bill Norris, 32, of Chesterfield, said he’s been a fan of animated films since his mom showed him “Dumbo” when he was little.

“I use my son (Will, 8) as an excuse to come tonight,” he said, grinning. “The guy who did (‘Mower Minions’) is from Belleville? That’s awesome. What a cool job. Gotta love those little guys; it’s like being back in junior high.”

Glenn worked for two years on “Mower Minions,” commuting between the studio in Santa Monica and Belleville. Illumination’s other studio is in Paris, where Chauffard, his co-director, worked. Skyping was a daily event.

“The first thing you get down is the story, then you do the storyboard,” Glenn said of the process of sketching out scenes panel by panel. “Then we add and take out jokes. Every day we looked at things: What worked and what didn’t. ... You labor over every nuance. Will this get a laugh?”

The premise involves the minions watching a TV infomercial and seeing something they want to buy. The communal piggy bank is empty.

Glenn, like most boys growing up in Belleville, mowing lawns to make money was a given for him.

So how does that become a running gag that becomes an animated film?

“They steal some lawn equipment and push it to an old folks home,” he said, grinning. They are innocent troublemakers, who don’t know how to work the equipment and easily become fascinated by the workings of everyday things, like a barbecue grill. Think dials, levers and explosion.

“It’s about manual labor. Picture a minion in the mix.”

In one scene, a minion steps in dog poop, which is picked up and bagged — a bag which is later accidentally used by another minion who is hyperventilating.

“I’m always going for the funny; keep people laughing,” he said. “With the dog poop, I was pushing the envelope with that. You take it as far as you can!”

Characters come alive for Glenn, who talks about them as though they are sitting on his front lawn, looking in the window.

“The lawn gnome is pivotal,” he noted with another grin. “He tries to take over the story.”

Glenn flew to Santa Monica to work on sound effects and direct the actors who were the voices of the non-minion characters. Nobody famous, he noted.

“I’d done it before (for a TV pilot), so you just kind of let them do their thing and take it from there.”

For the uninformed, minions speak their own language, which since their introduction to the world, have been voiced by directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.

Glenn says the studio seems pretty happy with his work and he’s happy there.

“They’re still like a family; not Disney big. You know everybody by name.”

He has lots to do, from working on minion video games and ad campaigns to another short in the works that will be released in front of “The Grinch.”

He spends so much time in California that he’s even considering something he never thought he would do.

“We’re thinking of moving out there,” said Glenn. “The kids are at an age (Molly is 15, Jack is 11). ... It’s always an issue.”

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 10:21 AM with the headline "Glenn McCoy makes short-film debut, thanks to minions."