The director, screenwriter and animator Mark Gustafson (1959-2024) is dead. The Oscar winner died on January 1st at the age of 64, as the daily newspaper “The Oregonian” reports. The exceptional Mexican director Guillermo del Toro (59), who has worked with Gustafson in the past, confirmed the news on the online platform X.
“I admired Mark Gustafson even before I met him,” del Toro writes. The deceased was “a pillar of stop-motion animation – a true artist” and a “compassionate, sensitive and bitingly witty man.” Guillermo del Toro, who directed “Hellboy,” “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Shape of Water,” among others, describes Gustafson as a legend and friend “who inspired everyone around him and gave them hope. He passed away yesterday. Today we honor him and miss him.”
“Never meet your heroes…” is often said, but del Toro has a different opinion: “You can’t be disappointed when someone is human… We all are.” He is just as happy to have met Mark the person as he is honored to have met the artist. “I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to share time and space with him, both through the highs and the lows. Forever and ever,” the director writes.
Mark Gustafson, who leaves behind his wife Jennifer, began working in animation in the 1980s. He and del Toro co-directed the 2022 animated reimagining Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. This won, among other things, an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best animated film.
