David Bowers (director)

David Bowers (born 1970)[1] is a British film director and screenwriter, originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester, in the United Kingdom.

Not to be confused with David Bowie.
David Bowers
David Bowers at the 2006 BAFTAs
(February 2007)
Born1970 (age 50–51)
Cheshire, England
OccupationAnimator, film director, screenwriter, voice actor
Years active1988–present

Early life

Bowers studied fine art at Chester School of Art and animation at West Surrey College of Art and Design. His first job was on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as an inbetweener, under director Richard Williams.

Career

After Roger Rabbit, Bowers worked at Cosgrove Hall on the cult favourite television shows Danger Mouse and Duckula before moving to London to work for Steven Spielberg's Amblimation studio. He worked as an animator on An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, before going freelance to work on advertisements and features. Bowers later returned to Amblimation, to work on early story development, and as a supervising animator on Balto.

With the closing of Amblimation, and the founding of DreamWorks Animation, Bowers moved to Glendale, California in 1997, to work as a story artist on The Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado. It was during this period that he met Aardman's Nick Park and Peter Lord, who asked him to help storyboard Aardman's first feature length film, the critically acclaimed Chicken Run. He was ultimately credited as storyboard supervisor.

After Chicken Run, Bowers moved between Los Angeles and Bristol, United Kingdom, working on several DreamWorks and Aardman projects, including the hit CG animated comedy Shark Tale and the Oscar winning Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, before directing his first feature, Flushed Away, with Sam Fell.

He wrote/directed a big screen adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's classic Astro Boy for Imagi Animation Studios and Summit Entertainment, that was released in October 2009.[2] Bowers directed Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, his first live action film, which was released in cinemas on 25 March 2011.[3][4]

He also directed the third film in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012), as well as the fourth film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (2017). Bowers was developing a live action film adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon show, Rugrats for Paramount Pictures, under the production of Paramount Players in April 2019, for a January 2021 release, before being pulled from the schedule in November 2019.[5][6]

Filmography
Year Film Role
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Inbetween artist
1989 Count Duckula Animator (one episode)
1991 An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Animator
1992 Danger Mouse Animator (four episodes)
FernGully: The Last Rainforest Animator
1993 We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
1995 Balto Storyboard artist, supervising animator: "Rosy"
1998 The Prince of Egypt Additional storyboard artist
2000 Chicken Run Storyboard supervisor
The Road to El Dorado Storyboard artist
2004 Shark Tale
2005 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Senior storyboard artist
2006 Flushed Away Director, additional screenplay material with Sam Fell and additional voices
2009 Astro Boy Director, writer with Timothy Hyde Harris, original story and voice of Mike The Fridge
2010 The RRF in New Recruit Director, voice of Mike The Fridge (short film)
Astro Boy vs. The Junkyard Pirates Director (short film)
2011 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Director
2012 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
2017 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul[7] Director, screenwriter

References
  1. "Bowers, David 1970-". WorldCat. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  2. Frater, Patrick (October 10, 2009). "Imagi hitches rocket to 'Astro Boy'". The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  3. Kit, Borys (June 23, 2010). "David Bowers to direct 'Wimpy' sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  4. McClintock, Pamela (June 23, 2010). "Bowers in talks for 'Wimpy' sequel". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  5. Kit, Borys. "'Rugrats' Live-Action Movie Lands 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Director (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  6. Pedersen, Erik (November 12, 2019). "Paramount Grounds 'Rugrats' Movie, Moves WWE's 'Rumble' Back Six Months & Titles Next 'SpongeBob' Pic". Deadline.
  7. "'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Franchise Rebooting with New Cast".
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