Seldom has the term “moving picture” seemed more apt than in describing the film “Loving Vincent.” Based on the life and death of Vincent Van Gogh, “Loving Vincent” is an all-painted animated feature that resembles scores of Van Gogh paintings, set in motion to tell a story of the time before and after the painter’s death in 1890.
Written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, “Loving Vincent” drew on the work of dozens of artists who made oil-on-canvas paintings for all 52,400 frames of the film. From their home in Poland, the husband-and-wife filmmakers discussed “Loving Vincent’s” inspiration and challenges.
Why did you choose to make an all-painted film, and why pick Van Gogh as its subject?
Dorota Kobiela: I painted all through my teenage years and early twenties, and then I worked in the film and animation industry. I got to 29 and had a real yearning to paint again. I decided to combine my passions and paint a film.
Vincent’s letters and paintings were a constant presence in my life since I first read the letters at 15 and then, a year later, visited the Van Gogh Museum. It is almost impossible to separate Vincent’s life story from his paintings, they are so intertwined. It made sense to bring his paintings to life to tell his story.
What was the most surprising thing about Van Gogh you learned in researching the film?
Hugh Welchman: What always blows my mind is that he only started painting when he was 29 after failing at four different careers, and within the space of eight years he changed art forever.
The script’s structure switches between flashbacks to the artist’s final days and one of Van Gogh’s friends retracing his steps a year after his death. How did the mystery storyline come about?
HW: There were so many questions around his suicide. Why would he do it at the point in his life when he was finally finding success? Then we came across this theory that he was shot. We spent so much time trying to piece together his state of mind from the conflicting views that the script naturally developed into a mystery story.
With about 100 painters working on the film over many months, how did you coordinate their work to be consistent with each other?
HW: The painters didn't just have to paint like Van Gogh, they also had to paint like the other painters painting their scenes. We had six painting animation supervisors working under Dorota to aid this process.
What was the greatest challenge in attempting such an enormous project?
DK: Keeping track of the brushstrokes in Vincent's style. Once the painters had painted the first frame, they had to move each brushstroke frame by frame, so that it would feel like the paintings are moving in front of your eyes.
The film stars such actors as Chris O’Dowd, Saoirse Ronan and Jerome Flynn playing people painted by Van Gogh. Did the actors receive any special instructions, given that the audience would ultimately see just their painted images?
HW: No. Some of them asked us this question — did they need to do anything different? — and we said absolutely not. Vincent worked from real people when he did his portraits, and he aimed to use his color technique and impasto to bring out the "soul of the sitter." In the same way we wanted our painters to work from truthful performances.
The “present-day” scenes closely resemble Van Gogh’s paintings. Are the black and white flashbacks meant to look like photographs from the time?
DK: Exactly right. That was our source of inspiration: photographs from The Netherlands and France from the late 19th century.
What will happen to the thousands of paintings created for the film?
HW: We have an exhibition opening in Noordbrabants Museum in The Netherlands on October 14th. In this 5,000-square-foot exhibition, we have 120 of our favorite paintings on display, along with exhibits explaining how we made the film, and setting the story in its historical context. It will run until January 28th, and after that we hope to find a home for the exhibition in the United States.
‘Loving Vincent’
Opens Friday, Oct. 6 at Regal Tara. Rated PG-13.
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