Alex Mandel: Last News

Jon Burlingame editorWhen Oscar-winning animation director Mark Andrews (“Brave”) called his old Pixar pal Alex Mandel about his latest gig, “Super Giant Robert Brothers,” Mandel was 6,700 miles away in New Zealand managing projects for special effects house WETA.Mandel, whose other creative side happens to be classically trained composer, dove into Andrews’ new project and created more than three hours of music for the series now airing on Netflix.“Super Giant Robot Brothers” is a 3D animated action-comedy about massive metal robots destined to save the world from invading kaiju – giant monsters from space – while trying to overcome their own sibling rivalry. Andrews, a drummer who used to jam with guitarist Mandel at Pixar events, suggested the musical style: synthwave.

Charna Flam Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired the rights to Jim Capobianco’s directorial debut “The Inventor” and will release the film in theaters nationwide on Aug. 25. The stop-motion film includes the voices of Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard, Stephen Fry, Gauthier Battoue and Matt Berry. “Ratatouille” screenwriter, Capobianco wrote, produced and directed “The Inventor,” alongside co-director Pierre-Luc Granjon. “The Inventor” follows famed inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci after he leaves Italy for France. In his new country, da Vinci joins the French court where he experiments with flying contraptions, invents machines and studies the human body, all in an effort to answer the question: “What is the meaning of life?”

Karen Idelson Few people lived a life as bold and controversial as Leonardo da Vinci. It’s easy to forget sometimes he was also a human being with doubts who struggled with the same things that trouble just about all of us. In animated feature “The Inventor,” writer/director Jim Capobianco, who shared an original screenplay Oscar nomination with Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava for “Ratatouille,” was always interested in the more personal side of the famed painter and inventor. “The Inventor” combines traditional 2D and stop-motion animation as well as original music and lyrics by Alex Mandel.    “I’m telling the story of [da Vinci] at the end of his life and years in France,” says Capobianco. “I knew he was going to die [at the end of the story] and I was asking what that means to a man like Leonardo da Vinci. Having researched him, I learned that he believed that he procrastinated a lot and he thought he didn’t finish a lot of the things he set out to do. So, I thought about what it would mean to this person, this character. I realized it’s about what you leave behind for others and how you affect other people with what you do, how you change other people’s lives while you’re here. I realized with Leonardo da Vinci, he’s the perfect kind of foil for that because here I am making a film about him 500 years after he lived, and we still talk about him. He has such an impact on us and the idea of invention and the idea of curiosity and everything he accomplished.” 

Howie Mandel has been keeping quite busy over the past few weeks, flying around North America for his stand-up tour while juggling his TV duties.MORE: Howie Mandel reveals incurable health disorder that drove his family to therapyThe comedian recently embarked upon another leg of his comedy tour that even got him to spend some time with family.VIDEO: Sofia Vergara teases AGT in new TV promoHe shared a photo of himself with his rarely seen son Alex Mandel, who is also in the entertainment industry and flew out to see his dad perform.Howie wrote: "Love this kid," alongside the picture of the two smiling side by side. The Canadian star is a dad to three with his wife Terry, those being son Alex and daughters Jackie and Riley.MORE: Howie Mandel 'not proud' of health condition he passed on to his daughterThe group even managed to fly back to California with Howie in a private jet as he returned to Los Angeles for his big television return.After a tough series of audition rounds that were filmed much in advance, the latest season of America's Got Talent kicks off its first series of live shows on 9 August.