Right before the Oscars, the two Directors of the movie, “Loving Vincent”, Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, visited the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, for an interview and Q&A session hosted by Curator of Film at the Speed Museum, Dean Otto.
I perched in the second row, snapping the worst photos ever. Over 300 art lovers packed into the cozy auditorium.
I swear I was in the second row!
Loving Vincent is the animated film hand-painted in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. Part of the creative process for the movie involved painting a scene, then modifying the painting slightly for the next frame. The final paintings left over at the end were the final shots of the scene. The Directors brought one of the final paintings to Louisville, pictured below. Hugh said they have a plan in the works to tour the collection of final paintings around the world.
Of course the audience at the Speed cheered for Louisville as one of the destinations in North America.
Why were Dorota and Hugh in Louisville?
The Speed had sold out showings of the movie for over 3 months. Louisville hosted the third largest audience for the movie behind NYC and Toronto, an amazing and bizarre statistic. The Directors read about all the sellouts and wanted to visit Louisville to find out what was going on.
Art over Basketball and Horse Racing in Kentucky? Believe it.
Dorota came up with the idea of an animated feature film in the style of an artist. She said she picked Van Gogh because he was prolific and he painted what he saw. A Renaissance artist wouldn’t do, as they usually painted religious scenes. Sorry, Titian, maybe next time!
Dorota personally approved each painting that appeared in the movie. Did I mention the film consisted of around 65,000 frames? I’m not sure I could count that high in 7 years, the length of time it took to make the movie. The painters were only paid for approved paintings. Imagine working 18-hours painting a Starry Night knock-off only to learn it didn’t make the cut and no paycheck for the day.
Original Painting from the Movie, “Loving Vincent”.
Hugh mentioned that the movie was fictionalized but as true to historical facts as possible. The Director of the Van Gogh Museum helped provide historical background. The Directors presented a relatively new spin on Van Gogh’s tragic death: That Dr. Gachet gave Vincent news of his brother Theo’s poor health and it triggered Vincent.
The Directors settled on Armand Roulin as the central character to help drive the plot. Armand was the son of Joseph Roulin, the second most famous Postman in the history of the world behind Cliff Clavin. Hugh said they chose Armand because history knows almost nothing about Armand so he was fair game to fictionalize. After the Q&A, at least 100 people lined up to meet the Directors and get signed copies of the movie DVD.
I’m not sure whether the Directors learned the answer to their question about why Louisville is so into the movie, Van Gogh, and art. I’ve lived in the city most of my life and I still don’t get it. All I know is the Speed packs them in almost every Sunday.
Some behaviors defy explanation. They just are.