From off the streets of Sundance comes American Splendor!
American Splendor, the feature film written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, based on the autobiographical comic book by Harvey Pekar, took home the grand jury prize for best dramatic feature in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released theatrically in August 2003 to critical acclaim and the highest per-screen box office average on its opening weekend. The award-winning DVD, featuring animated menus created by Twinkle, was released in February 2004.
The movie stars Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar, Hope Davis as Joyce Brabner, Judah Friedlander as Pekar's co-worker and White Castle fan Toby Radloff, and James Urbaniak as R. Crumb.
The film is a unique puree of fiction, documentary, and animation. Twinkle was called in during the early stages of production to create the animated sequences, including a talking cartoon Harvey in the "Standing Behind Old Jewish Ladies in the Supermarket" scene, Harvey done in three different syles as Joyce imagines him during their first meeting at the train station, and a four minute single-take performance of the "Who is Harvey Pekar?" monologue. Twinkle also created the comic book-inspired title sequence, the "Ain't that Peculiar" montage showing the progression from real event to American Splendor panel, the cover montage that starts with the Mr. Boats drawing turning into the cover of Issue 2, and much more.
