Mark Gustafson, a stalwart feature of the animation landscape, and an Oscar winner for last year's Pinocchio, which he co-directed with Guillermo del Toro, has died. He was 64.
Born in 1959 in Portland, Oregan, Gustafson began his animation career in the 1980s and dabbled in several kinds of animation. His claymation work can be seen in the 1987 TV special Claymation Christmas Celebration, The PJs series starring Eddie Murphy and the TV special Meet The Raisins, starring the iconic California Raisins and a host of TV adverts.
He was also the animation director for Wes Anderson’s 2009 Oscar-nominated film Fantastic Mr. Fox and worked on the claymation segment of A Very Harold And Kumar Christmas.
But his crowning achievement was surely Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, on which he worked for years alongside the director. Now del Toro has taken to twitter to craft a touching tribute to his friend and fellow filmmaker.
"I admired Mark Gustafson, even before I met him," del Toro wrote. "A pillar of stop motion animation — a true artist. A compassionate, sensitive and mordantly witty man. A Legend - and a friend that inspired and gave hope to all around him. He passed away yesterday. Today we honor and miss him. He leaves behind a Titanic legacy of animation that goes back to the very origins of Claymation and that shaped the career and craft of countless animators. He leaves friends and colleagues and a historic filmography. Prayers and thoughts go to his beloved wife, Jennifer."
Del Toro continues, "They say, 'Never meet your heroes…' I disagree. You cannot be disappointed by someone being human… We all are. Burning the midnight oil during postproduction, or doing daily animation turnovers via Zoom during COVID or being trapped in an elevator in a Cinema in London… I am as glad to have met Mark, the human as I was honored to have met the artist. As I said, I admired him before I met him. I loved having had the chance to share time and space with him during the highs and the lows. Always and forever."