The Inventor is a 2023 stop-motion animated biographical film about Leonardo da Vinci, written, directed by Jim Capobianco and co-directed by Pierre-Luc Granjon, produced by Robert Rippberger (p.g.a.) and Jim Capobianco. The voice cast includes Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard, Daisy Ridley, and Matt Berry. The Inventor is a co-production between the United States, France, and Ireland.
The film had its world premiere in official competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 12 June 2023. Blue Fox Entertainment released the film in the United States on 15 September 2023, while KMBO will release the film theatrically in France on 31 January 2024.
Plot
The film follows the life of inventor Leonardo da Vinci, who leaves Italy to join the French court, where he can experiment freely.
Voice cast
Stephen Fry as Leonardo da Vinci
Matt Berry as Pope Leo X
Daisy Ridley as Marguerite de Navarre
Marion Cotillard as Louise of Savoy
Natalie Palamides as Pierre Nepveu / Antonio de Beatis
Jim Capobianco as Luigi d'Aragona
Ben Stranahan as Page
Gauthier Battoue as Francis I of France
Max Baumgarten as Il Boccador / Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Jane Osborn as Gravedigger Jane
John Gilkey as Gravedigger John / Giuliano
Angelino Sandri as Francesco Melzi
Daniel Swan as Henry VIII
Production
Development
On 12 April 2018, Variety reported that the Academy Award-nominee screenwriter of Ratatouille (2007), Jim Capobianco, and producer Robert Rippberger were producing The Inventor, a stop-motion adventure film about the life of Leonardo da Vinci, which is a continuation of Capobianco's 2009 short film, Leonardo. On 2 May 2018, Capobianco said in an interview with Flickering Myth that The Inventor would focus on the end of Leonardo da Vinci's life where he moved to France.
On 19 June 2020, Deadline reported that comedian Stephen Fry would voice Leonardo da Vinci, and actress Daisy Ridley would voice French Princess Marguerite. The animation team also includes HeFang Wei as the film's 2D animation director, Tomm Moore as 2D animation consultant, Nicolas Flory as 2D supervisor, and Fabrice Faivre as the VFX supervisor. Alex Mandel composed the score. Shooting was scheduled to start in August 2021 with a release date set for Spring 2023. The film is a European and American coproduction from Foliascope (France), Curiosity Studio (Ireland), and Leo & King (United States). mk2 films is handling the film's international sales, while The Exchange handles sales in the United States.
On 11 September 2020, Variety reported that Marion Cotillard and Matt Berry had joined the cast and would voice Queen Louise of Savoy and Pope Leo X, respectively. On 23 April 2021, it was announced that triple Oscar nominee Tomm Moore had joined the film's creative team and would handle the 2D sequences along with his frequent collaborator Fabian Erlinghäuser. The screenplay was written by Jim Capobianco, who co-directed the film with Pierre-Luc Granjon. The film is an independent production with an estimated budget of $10 million.
In June 2022, a 25-minute footage of the film was screened at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France at the festival's work-in-progress section in a sold-out session.
Filming
Production began on 14 February 2022 at the Foliascope Studio in Saint-Péray in France. On 19 February 2022, composer Alex Mandel wrote on his Twitter account that Marion Cotillard sings one of his songs in The Inventor. On 17 July 2022, French newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré revealed behind the scenes images from the set. Shooting wrapped on 16 December 2022. The first scoring session with composer Alex Mandel and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra was conducted fully remotely on 16 January 2023. Post-production wrapped on 13 May 2023.
Release
In April 2022, Variety reported that the film had been pre-sold to several countries, such as France, Portugal, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Former Yugoslavia, the U.K., German-speaking Europe, Greece, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Indonesia. A work-in-progress screening of the film was shown at the Anima: Brussels International Animation Film Festival in February 2023.