Why Are Minions So Popular? We Asked ‘Despicable Me 4’ Director Chris Renaud

Cartoon Brew, in partnership with our exclusive online event partner INBTWN Animation, recently caught up with Chris Renaud director of Despicable Me 4, which Universal Pictures releases today in the United States.

Renaud has been with the franchise since its inception, and this marks the third time that he has directed a Despicable Me film. At this point, there’s little question about whether audiences will get behind Despicable Me 4; the characters and the franchise have become an iconic contemporary institution that are beloved around the globe.

A huge part of the franchise’s success are the yellow-pill-shaped side characters known as Minions, so it made sense to begin our conversation with Renaud on the topic of these characters and the cultural impact they’ve had. “The original conception of them was incompetent children who love Gru, as a way to give Gru appeal,” explained Renaud. “I think in our heads we were hopeful that they would be breakout comedic characters … but the amount to which people have embraced them is not something you could predict in 2010.”

The conversation then shifted to how Renaud and crew approached the fourth film differently than the earlier films in the series, the use of contrast to build comedy, and different avenues they explored for the story and why they chose to pursue certain plotlines.

Renaud also explained the filmmaking decision to reduce the role of the newly-introduced superhero Mega-Minions in the final story. “When we would use them for their superpowers, again it just felt kind of a half-baked version of a Marvel movie,” he said. Renaud further added that they wanted to give the heroics in the film to Gru and his new baby because “the story is about them coming together.”

For more insights into Despicable Me 4′s production, watch the entire video above.