The Book of Life
Also known as: Day Of The Dead
- Studio
- Reel FX, 20th Century Fox Animation
- Distributor
- 20th Century Fox
Synopsis
Manolo and Joaquin vie for the heart and the hand of Maria. The Gods of the underworld turn out, and two place a bet on which man Maria will favor. When one of the Gods sees the bet slipping away, he introduces a poisonous snake to turn the odds more in his favor. The snake bites and kills Manolo, and he spends the rest of the film in the Land of the Dead, trying to reach back to the living and his dear Maria.
Characters
Manolo, Maria, Joaquin, The Candle Maker, La Muerte, Xibalba, Carlos Sanchez, Skeleton Luis, Manolo's Great-Grandfather, Mary Beth, Skeleton Carmen, Chato, Grandma, Carlos Sanchez, Adelita, La Muerte, General Posada, Old Woman, Father Domingo, Skeleton Jorge, Skeleton Carmelo, Sister Ana, Ignacio, Sanjay, Goth Kid, Young Maria, Scardelita, Pablo Rodriguez
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Jorge R. Gutierrez
Producing
- Producer
- Aaron Berger, Brad Booker, Carina Schulze, Guillermo del Toro, Aron Warner
- Executive Producer
- Chuck Peil
- Co-Producer
- Geoffrey Stott
- Associate Producers
- Chris Digiovanni, Greg Lyons
Writing
- Writer
- Jorge R. Gutierrez
- Co-Writer
- Doug Langdale
Voices
- Voice
- Diego Luna (Manolo), Zoë Saldana (Maria), Channing Tatum (Joaquin), Ice Cube (Candle Maker), Kate del Castillo (La Muerte), Ron Perlman (Xibalba), Héctor Elizondo (Carlos Sanchez), Danny Trejo (Skeleton Luis), Plácido Domingo (Manolo's Great-Grandfather), Christina Applegate (Mary Beth), Cheech Marin, Ana de la Reguera (Skeleton Carmen), Eugenio Derbez (Chato), Gabriel Iglesias, Grey DeLisle (Grandma), Hector Elizondo (Carlos Sanchez), Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (Adelita), Kate del Castillo (La Muerte), Carlos Alazraqui (General Posada), Tonita Castro (Old Woman La Muerte), Eric Bauza (Father Domingo), Plácido Domingo (Skeleton Jorge), Jorge R. Gutierrez (Skeleton Carmelo), Angélica María (Sister Ana), Gunnar Sizemore (Ignacio), Ishan Sharma (Sanjay), Trey Bumpass (Goth Kid), Genesis Ochoa (Young Maria), Sandra Equihua (Scardelita), Ricardo El Mandril Sanchez (Pablo Rodriguez), Emil-Bastien Bouffard (Young Manolo), Elias Garza (Young Joaquin)
Music
- Music
- Gustavo Santaolalla
Animation
- Supervising Animator
- Wesley Mandell
- Directing Animator
- Louis Jones
- Animators
- Manuel Almela, Ray Chase, Steve Cunningham, Derek Esparza, Robert Fox, Shaun Freeman, Emilie Goulet, Luis Martinez, Travis Simon, Dorian Soto, Chris Street
- Layout Lead
- Michael A. Wallace
- Layout Artists
- Dallas Alan Dietrich, Shane L. Wapskineh
- Lead Animators
- Eric Drobile, Jess Morris, Vitor Vilela
- Senior Animator
- Johnny Turco
- Senior Character Animator
- Paul Wood
- Character Animators
- Sean Ermey, Keith Glass, Andy Hass, Tim Hatcher, Alexiss Dawn Memmott, David Rodriguez, Vibeke Cleaverley Rodriguez, Leslie Watters
- Animation Coordinator
- Allison Harbin
- Animation Production Assistant
- Lea Kocurek
- Animation Technical Director
- Casey Johnson
- CG Modeler
- Soongu Kwon
- Lighting Leads
- Tony Garza, Jessica Hogan
- Lighting & Compositing Artists
- Daniel Eaton, Robyn Ducharme, Matthew Kiefer, Michael Cacciamani, Kelsey Randle
- Rigging Lead
- Douglas Bell
- Character Rigger
- Ryan Porter
- Rigging Artists
- Matthew R. Tucker, Joshua Carey, James Direen, Daniel McCrummen, Junze Zhou
- Senior Surfacing Artist And Look Dev
- Sara Simon
- Technical Director
- Joe Kiser
Art Department
- Production Designer
- Simon Valdimir Varela
- Art Director
- Paul Sullivan
- Head Of Story
- Ricardo Curtis
- Storyboards
- Myke Bakich, Colin Jack, Ran Jing
- Character Designers
- Andy Bialk, Tom Caulfield, Sandra Equihua, Jorge R. Gutierrez
- Visual Development Artists
- Frederick J. Gardner III, Jordan Lamarre-Wan, Sarah Marino, Shane Richardson
- Concept Art
- Tod Polson
- Art Department Coordinator
- David Mouser
- Lead Visual Development Artist
- Travis Koller
- Storyboard Coordinator
- Tiffany Leigh Kieran
- Story Artists
- Ken Mitchroney, Rodrigo Perez-Castro
- Matte Painting Supervisor
- Ronn Brown
- Matte Painters
- Karen de Jong, Denise Blakely Fuller, Marissa Krupen
- Matte Painter, Reel FX
- Eric Urquhart
- Matte Painting Technical Director
- Kilian Aulenbacher
Visual Effects
- FX Artist (Reel Fx)
- Ryan Bowden
- Lead Compositor/Lighter
- Doug Hogan
- Visual Effects Artists
- Connon Carey, Shu Liu, Chas Naylor, Ehsan Parizi, Chris Rasch, Jake Rusch
Editing
- Editor
- Ahren Shaw
- Addtional Editors
- John Carnochan, Sim Evan-Jones
Sound
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Scott Martin Gershin
- Original Dialogue Recordist
- Kyle D. Krajewski
- Original Dialogue Mixers
- Michael Miller, Carlos Sotolongo
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer
- Andy Koyama
Music Department
- Score Arranger
- Tim Davies
- Singer: Soloist
- Ayana Haviv
- Vocal Contractor
- Jasper Randall
Production Management
- Production Manager
- Jasmine Johnson
- Production Supervisor
- Kathy Cavaiola
- Associate Production Manager
- Steven Weigle
- Assistant To Production Executive
- Shirley Doitch Horn
- Production Executive
- Paul Ohrt
Crew
- Associate Project Manager
- Ari Patrick
- CG Supervisor
- Glo Minaya
- Lead Surfacing Artist
- Aaron Thedford
- Technical Lighters
- Garrett Broussard, Julie Terrell
- Senior Surfacing Artist
- Negin Bairami
- Surfacing Artists
- Meghann Robison, Daniel Zinck
- Pipeline Developers
- Stephen Huynh Lu, Tymon Pitts, Christopher Penny
- Artist Manager
- Robin A. Linn
Production notes
The film is an action-packed, fully CG-animated picture, with a Romeo and Juliet-style love story set against a Mexican "Day of the Dead" backdrop. It represents the first time in almost 20 years — since 1993's "Cronos" — that del Toro has collaborated on a feature project set in Mexico.
Music is also integral to the story; the film will feature an international roster of A-list recording artists performing new songs, as well as reimagined iconic songs. Reel FX's Brad Booker brought "Day of the Dead" to the studio, and is the development executive on the project.
The name was changed from Day of the Dead to Book Of Life to avoid conflict with a Pixar film with a similar title.
Music is also integral to the story; the film will feature an international roster of A-list recording artists performing new songs, as well as reimagined iconic songs. Reel FX's Brad Booker brought "Day of the Dead" to the studio, and is the development executive on the project.
The name was changed from Day of the Dead to Book Of Life to avoid conflict with a Pixar film with a similar title.
Awards
Winner, Annie Award, Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Feature Production- Paul Sullivan, Sandra Equihua, Jorge R. Gutierrez, 2015
