New Leonardo da Vinci film to inspire next generation of inventors

He was the ultimate Renaissance man, an artistic genius, scientist and engineer, who conceived ideas for a helicopter and a parachute, among other incredible contraptions, hundreds of years before they were actually invented.

Now some of Leonardo da Vinci's extraordinary creations are to be brought to life in a major animation feature intended to inspire the next generation of inventors.

Oscar-nominated writer Jim Capobianco is writing and directing “a humorous and inventive story for the whole family”. Titled The Inventor, and featuring a cast of stop-motion puppets as well as drawn animation inspired by Leonardo’s lines, its lead character will be voiced by comedian Stephen Fry with Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley as a French princess.

The film-makers have partnered with Irish producers who will launch an international competition next month “to inspire girls and boys to become the Leonardos of the 21st century”, finding innovative new uses for cardboard and other discarded objects around their home.

The winner of the inaugural Inventor Award will receive the ultimate prize of starring in the film. Their invention could be seen in Leonardo’s workshop or they could even find themselves as an animated 3D puppet interacting with the master himself.

Leonardo was described by his 16th-century biographer, Giorgio Vasari, as “more divine than human”.

The new film will show his struggles as an artist, a genius ahead of his time, recreating with artistic licence his war machines, his experiments with optics and his studies of the human anatomy.

Mr Capobianco said that the film is aimed at a family audience, much like Pixar movies on which he has worked. He received an Oscar nomination as the writer of Ratatouille, the Pixar hit about a cooking-obsessed sewer rat named Remy - a film so charming that it would “make you love the rat”, as one critic put it.

The Inventor is inspired by a short Leonardo film without dialogue that Mr Capobianco made with hand-drawn animation about ten years ago, and which is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It has also been screened in other museums and at film festivals where audiences have repeatedly applauded him for a film that is both entertaining and educational, providing “a way in” for children to get excited about Leonardo and art, invention and the Renaissance.

He said: “I realised I was on to something in that I tried to depict Leonardo as an artist who has the vision, pursues it with all his gusto and then it fails but it leads him to a new idea….We’re trying to have a lot of elements for kids to enjoy, but there’s a level of sophistication that parents will also find really enjoyable.”

Its story focuses on Leonardo as he leaves Italy to join the French court. Ms Ridley portrays the king’s enterprising sister, Princess Marguerite.

Mr Capobianco said: “Leonardo was then working with optics and war machines. He was also exploring his ‘ideal city’, which is very appropriate for today, the idea of a modern city that would be self-sustaining and healthy. They were dealing with a lot of plagues back then.

"He envisioned a city that would be cleaner and healthier and prevent plague. That’s something he did when he went to France. He pitched to the king to create what he called the ideal city and the king was excited. It never got finished. So that’s a big part of the film."

The Inventor is a European and American co-production. It is produced by Robert Rippberger and Mr Capobianco and is executive produced by Don Hahn, who has made some of the most successful animated films in recent history including The Lion King.

Their partners include Foliascope, a French studio, and Curiosity Studio in Ireland, which organises the Festival of Curiosity, Dublin’s annual international festival of science, arts, design and technology, taking place next month.

The Inventor Award will be launched there on July 16, as the first of a planned annual event. Young inventors across the globe will be asked to build their invention from cardboard and recycled materials and submit a short video clip or photograph on www.theinventorfilm.com/award to enter. The overall winner will be announced in November, although there are other prizes, with toys and gadgets to inspire a 21st-century Leonardo.

Vincent McCarthy, the festival’s co-founder, said: “The power of the film is the spirit of invention. Bearing in mind the current situation, with sustainability and the environment, we’re setting people a challenge to take a cardboard-box and sustainable materials and create an invention out of it. It could be anything. We’re trying to create an army of inventors.”

Of the winning entry, he added: “We want to feature them and their inventiveness in the film.”

The judges will be international experts in science and the arts. They will include Mr Capobianco, who has written the script and is currently storyboarding the film ahead of next year’s shoot.

His research has involved Leonardo experts, sharing his creative ideas with them, and visiting Amboise, close to the royal castle in the Loire Valley, where Leonardo died in 1519: “My training at Pixar has been to do research, research, research. I’ve done a lot [on Leonardo].”

Mr Fry’s films include Gosford Park and Wilde. Commenting on his casting as Leonardo, Mr Capobianco said: “He’s perfect.”