Mark Dindal

Mark L. Dindal (born 1960) is an American effects animator, film director, and screenwriter who directed Cats Don't Dance (1997), The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Chicken Little (2005), and Luna &amp; Zak (2015). He worked in many Disney projects as an effects animator, and also led the special effects for several classic films, such as The Little Mermaid (1989) and The Rescuers Down Under (1990).

Early Years/Effects Animator at Disney
Dindal was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1960.

Growing up, Dindal was influenced by Disney films and Warner Bros. Saturday cartoons. One of his earliest influence was Disney's The Sword in the Stone, which he saw with his grandmother at the age of three. It also helped him to go to a career in animation with help from his dad who took art as a hobby and taught Dindal to draw while growing up in Syracuse, New York.

As a high schooler, Dindal went to Jamesville-DeWitt High School, in which he attended most of the art classes that the school had offer. Dindal learned animation at CalArts. He began working at Disney in 1980. His work included The Fox & the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985), Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), and The Great Mouse Detective (1986), each following a very similar animation style in all the films. This style consisted of similar backgrounds with delicate animation and complex character effects, and was well received.

Leaving and Returning to Disney
After these projects, Dindal left Disney around 1986 to briefly work on outside projects with Filmation and worked on projects like BraveStarr and The Brave Little Toaster. He returned to the studio in 1987 and got his first head role as a visual effects supervisor for The Little Mermaid (1989). He later worked as head animator for the film The Rescuers Down Under (1990). He directed the animated segment for the live-action film The Rocketeer (1991), and worked as an effects animator on the animated film Aladdin (1992).

Dindal as the Director
Dindal's directorial debut was Cats Don't Dance, which was released in 1997, three years before The Emperor's New Groove was released in 2000. In Cats Don't Dance Dindal voiced Max. The film won the Annie Award for Best Animated Film and Dindal was nominated for directing. The Emperor's New Groove was initially expected to be a classic Disney musical feature called Kingdom of the Sun. However, the idea didn't work out, and Dindal, along with Chris Williams and David Reynolds, changed the script to a comedy. During the six-year production, he started to work on Cats Don't Dance, a Turner Broadcasting (since merged into Warner Bros.) animated musical production.

Chicken Little
Dindal worked on Chicken Little (2005), another Disney production, which needed a large animation team. Dindal voiced Morkubine Porcupine and Coach in the film. The film was nominated to several Annies, though Dindal was not nominated as a director. During the film's production, DisneyToon Studios produced Kronk's New Groove as a direct-to-video feature. As Dindal was working on Chicken Little at the time, he did not have a position on the staff. Later, Dindal created the TV series The Emperor's New School (2006-2008).

Post-Disney time/Luna & Zak
In March 2006, a day after the DVD release of Chicken Little, Dindal and producer Randy Fullmer left the company because they were reportedly tired of dealing with then-WDFA head David Stainton. In the next few years, Dindal was attached as a director to several live-action films, including Sherlock's Secretary, Kringle, and Housebroken. By December 2010, Dindal was directing at DreamWorks Animation an animated feature film titled Me and My Shadow, which would combine both computer and traditional animation. By January 2012, he was no longer directing the film, which went in 2013 back into development, and instead moved to Universal Animation Studios to direct Luna &amp; Zak, which was released into theaters in December 2015. Dindal voiced Tommy in the film. In 2014, he was credited as the illustrator for a documentary called Restrung, which is focused on Fullmer, a collaborator that worked with him at Disney and Filmation, with his career at Wyn Guitars from 2006.

In October 2017, Universal announced that a sequel to Luna & Zak is in production, with Dindal returning as director. Titled Luna & Zak: Level Two, the film is scheduled to be released on February 21, 2020.

On November 12, 2018, it was announced that Dindal will direct an animated Garfield feature for Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures, with pre-production beginning the following month in Los Angeles. In January 2019, Dindal left the Luna & Zak sequel and was replaced by Ash Brannon. In March 2019, Dindal received story artist credit on the Nickelodeon film, Wonder Park.

Nominations

 * Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a Feature Production for Cats Don't Dance (Annie) (1997)
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production for The Emperor's New Groove (Annie) (2001)
 * Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production for The Emperor's New Groove (Annie) (2001)
 * Best Animated Feature for The Emperor's New Groove (Annie) (2001)
 * Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature for The Emperor's New Groove & Chicken Little (Satellite Award) (2000; 2005)
 * Best Animated Feature for Chicken Little (Critics' Choice Movie Awards) (2005)
 * Best Animated Feature for Luna & Zak (Annie) (2015)

Won

 * Best Animated Feature for Cats Don't Dance (Annie) (1997)