Guillermo goes, 'Jorge, that was a terrible pitch.' And I go, 'I know, I know, I'm so sorry I wasted your time.' I get up to shake his hand, and he goes, 'No, no, sit down. Gutiérrez and his wife, Sandra, who was by then his artistic partner, went on to create Mexican-themed cartoons for Sony and Nickelodeon, including El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.

too weird, and honestly a little dark!' ' 'They said, you know, 'You're just a kid out of school, and this subject matter is too. 'Here was this Mexican kid saying, 'Hey, it's a movie about death - for children!' And so I kind of scared everybody, and everybody turned me down,' Gutiérrez recalls. Gutiérrez tried pitching it as a feature to all six major studios. His 3-D film Carmelo won a student Emmy Award in 2001 and was shown at the Cannes film festival. Later, as a student at the California Institute of the Arts, Gutiérrez wrote his own Day of the Dead story, with ideas and characters based on himself and his family. He even proposed to and then married his wife, Sandra Equihua, on the holiday. So Día de los Muertos - celebrating the lives of those who came before - has always had a special meaning for Gutiérrez. Here was this Mexican kid saying, 'Hey, it's a movie about death for children!' And so I kind of scared everybody, and everybody turned me down. Ruled by a sensuous 'La Muerte' (voiced by Kate del Castillo), this land has 'epic fiestas, and all you-can-eat churros.' 'If you do something memorable, and you live a life that others admire and others look up to you, and you pass away, you get to go to the land of the remembered, this beautiful land that is all about memories,' says Gutiérrez, who was born in Mexico City. At first, it looks like a lively Mexican fiesta, filled with music and bright, colorful papel picado - cut-out paper decorations. Set in the 1920s in Mexico, the animated movie centers on the fiery and brave Maria Posada (voiced by Zoe Saldana), and her two suitors: the handsome town hero Joaquin (Channing Tatum) and the soft-spoken Manolo (Diego Luna), who comes from a long line of bullfighters.Īnd, as one might expect in a film about Día de los Muertos, some of the characters are transported to the afterlife. It is director and animator Jorge Gutiérrez's first feature film, and he says it's his own take on what happens after death. Manolo (voiced by Diego Luna, left) meets Carmen Sanchez (voiced by Ana de la Reguera) in the Land of the Remembered.ĭía de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) - a holiday that celebrates those who have passed - will come alive this Thursday in the movie The Book of Life.

The book of life movie