Oct 26, 2023

Leica Hires Gorillaz Director and Annie Award-Winning Spanish Duo for Feature Film Development at Studio

Portland, Oregon-based Studio Laika has made three key hires to bolster its creative roster in the animation department.

Annie Award winners Victor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres, working together under the name Headless, and commercial director Pete Candeland have been hired to develop animated film projects at the studio.

The Spanish duo of Maldonado and Torres recently directed three episodes of Netflix's Love, Death + Robots and worked together on Guillermo del Toro's Trollhunters: the latter episode won an Annie Award. Maldonado was co-director and production designer on the Spanish film "Nocturna," which won the 2008 Spanish Academy Goya Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Most recently, he worked with Skydance Animation, which has a studio in Madrid and strong ties to Spain.

Pete Candeland is best known for co-directing the Gorillaz music video with Jamie Hewlett. He has also worked on the Rock Band video game and a recognizable commercial piece for the BBC. Candeland also directed The Grinch for Illumination, but dropped out before completion.

All three appointments are effective immediately; details about the films the three directors will work on have not yet been disclosed.

It is good to hear that Leica is investing heavily in its animation pipeline. Since its last film, The Missing Link, hit theaters in 2019, the company has released two animated films, but no significant updates have yet been made. Currently, Laika is working on "Wildwood," based on the book series by Colin Meloy and illustrator Carson Ellis, and "The Night Gardener," developed from an original idea by "Ozark" creator Bill Dubuque. Leica boss Travis Knight will direct both films. The studio has also expanded into live-action film production and is developing a thriller based on the novel Seventeen: The Last Man Standing, by John Brownlow.