Peter Lord Biography
Date of Birth: 1953
It all began with a piece of modeling clay.
Peter Lord was born in Bristol, England and has quickly made a name for himself as a leading visionary in stop-motion animation. As a young man, Lord always had a fascination with plasticine. Through playing with it and molding his own creations, sculpting quickly became one of his favorite hobbies. In secondary school, Lord shot his first film working with clay models, a stop-motion animation that featured a plate of food meshing to form a glob of brown mush. Lord shot it with his friend, David Sproxton, and the endeavor made them believe they were onto something and could use the material to create inspiring animations.
In 1972, Lord and Sproxton formed Aardman Animations, a low-budget animation studio. There, they used their connections with the BBC to produce animations for various programs. With the help of their third business partner, Nick Park, Aardman began to take on more ambitious projects. In 1986, the studio did animation work for Peter Gabriel's groundbreaking 1986 music video, "Sledgehammer." The video went on to win nine MTV Video Music Awards and remains one of the most played music videos in MTV history.
In 2000, Lord added director to his list of credits, overseeing his company's first feature-length film, Chicken Run. The movie took four years to complete and was a major critical and box office success. Lord then helped produce both Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), based on the popular series of short films, and Flushed Away (2006), the studio's first computer animated movie.
Six years later, Lord is stepping into the director's chair once more for The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012), his first 3D stop-motion film about a pirate captain determined to be named the best pirate in the world. Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek and Jeremy Piven provide voice work for the film.
Filmography (Director):
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
Chicken Run (2000)