February 21st, 2023 
Jackson Murphy 
Remember when Gru and the Minions started working at Dunder Mifflin? Last summer, Universal and Peacock debuted a 30-second spot for Minions: The Rise of Gru featuring Illumination’s beloved characters in a version of the intro to The Office. It was a massive hit on TV and online. Now, this commercial is nominated for the 2023 Annie Award for Best Sponsored Production. You can watch the 50th Annual Annie Awards live this Saturday night Feb. 25 at 10pmET / 7pmPT at AnnieAwards.org. Here’s my Exclusive New Animation Scoop Q&A with the director of the commercial (and co-director of The Rise of Gru), Brad Ableson. (This interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: How does it feel to be Annie nominated for this great, popular advertisement?
Brad Ableson: A lot of love went into making this promo. We’re all huge fans of “The Office” and we obviously love our Minions so it’s great to see that fans of both shows appreciate the mashup. Being nominated for an Annie feels amazing!
JM: What was the process of closely studying the iconic “Office” intro — from the various shots to the music?
BA: Audiences are so familiar with “The Office” intro, we wanted to do more than just add Minions. We looked for every opportunity to highlight the similarities and add Easter eggs. It’s uncanny how many parallels there are between the two shows. Steve Carell is the boss on “The Office” and he’s the boss of the Minions. Dunder Mifflin is a paper factory, Gru’s lab is a weapon factory. “The Office” intro features a water cooler and Xerox machine. Minions famously laugh at water cooler bubbles and Xerox their butts! Interesting story: In order to add the Minions, our original plan was to recreate every live-action shot in CG. That would mean modeling every stack of paper, every cluttered desk, every poster, which sounded insane. Then our producer at Illumination Studios Paris asked “What if we could digitally paint out the humans?” That sounded even more tedious to us, but we said, “Go for it.” Much to our surprise, they pulled it off! So, what you’re seeing are the original live-action backgrounds with CG Minions composited on top.
JM: Did you ask Steve Carell for permission and/or guidance in making the ad?
BA: Steve Carell wasn’t involved in making the ad but we heard he loved it!
JM: How did you choose which Minions would play which “Office” characters?
BA: The choices were based entirely on the Minions personalities. It was uncanny how they lined up. Stuart is a laid back flirt so, naturally, he plays Jim. Little Bob is sweet and cute so he plays Pam. Kevin is uptight and nerdy so he plays Dwight. And our clumsy, rotund new Minion Otto was born to play Kevin spilling his chili!
JM: What is the secret to the success of Minions being able to play dress-up so well, making millions laugh all the time?
BA: We think of the Minions like a bunch of toddlers all jacked up on sugar. They speak gibberish, they sing and dance, they dress up, they smack the snot out of each other, they laugh, they hug, they fart… We can all relate to that joy and anarchy!
JM: You hid Easter Eggs all over the place. What are some of your favorites?
BA: We changed “Dunder Mifflin” to “Dunder Minion” and snuck in a Kevin bobble head, a reference to Dwight’s famous bobble head. But my favorites are the DEEP cuts, like “Prison Gru” and “That’s What She Said” on the graph, and “80085” on the calculator, which a Minion would definitely write!
JM: One of the reasons why “Minions: The Rise of Gru” did so well at the box office last summer is because teens and twentysomethings who grew-up with the first “Despicable Me” films went to see this. Why do you think both the “Minions” franchise and “The Office” appeal to this generation’s teens and twentysomethings?
BA: This generation of teens and twentysomethings has grown up in a divisive and chaotic world. Maybe the Minions remind them of their childhood when life was simpler. Maybe watching the “The Office” feels safe and consistent. The characters in both are sweet and subversive. Watching these feels like a big warm hug.
JM: How excited are you to attend the Annie Awards? What would it mean to you to win?
BA: We’re VERY excited to attend the Annie Awards! Our custom animation team at Illumination puts their hearts and souls into every promo, music video, and short film created to support our movies, so it feels great to be recognized at the same level as the feature filmmakers. If we were to win, it would be BANANAS!
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