LIONEL RICHIE

There are projects that open the door to a new client, and then there are projects that begin a relationship. Fancy Dancer was the start of mine with Lionel Richie.

​

I grew up listening to Lionel, but it was The Commodores that I really fell in love with. Easy, Brick House, Three Times a Lady. Those songs were always around. The idea that, years later, I’d be creating visuals for them never even crossed my mind.

It was my first collaboration with Lionel, and it also marked the beginning of working with a new team of animators who would become an important part of many future projects.

​

One of the first people I called was Hamid Bahrami. We’d worked together on the U2 project, and I knew his style was exactly what this piece needed. Hamid has this incredible ability to draw characters that feel playful without ever becoming childish. His drawings are bold, strange, elegant and full of personality. They gave the film exactly the tone I was looking for.

​

The idea was to take the audience on a surreal journey through Lionel’s career. Rather than telling his story literally, we built a world that drifted between memories, music and imagination, celebrating the songs that have become part of so many people’s lives.

​

There was one sequence I was particularly sad to lose. I’d wanted to include We Are the World, but recreating all those iconic faces would have meant navigating an impossible maze of likeness rights. In the end, we had to cut it from the film.

​

Then came one of those moments I’ll never forget.​ One morning in London, at 6 a.m., my phone rang. It was a video call from Lionel.​ Still half asleep, I answered.

​

“Hello!”

​

He was in the middle of rehearsals and had simply called to tell me how much he was enjoying the work in progress. I honestly don’t remember much of what I said back. I was still waking up. But I do remember hanging up with the biggest smile on my face.​ It was such a simple gesture, but it told me everything I needed to know about the kind of person he is.

 

That phone call marked the beginning of my collaboration with Lionel and my second project with Brian Burke, one of the kindest and most supportive show directors I’ve ever worked with. I’m incredibly grateful to Brian for trusting me with the opportunity, to Hamid for bringing so much life to the visuals, and to the entire team who helped make the project what it became.Every now and then I stop and think about how surreal my job is. I get to create visuals for songs that have become timeless, songs I’ve loved for most of my life. That’s a privilege I’ll never take for granted.