''Dear Mr. Watterson'' is a 2013 American documentary film directed by Joel Allen Schroeder, produced by Christopher Browne and Matt McUsic, with Andrew P. Waruszewski as the cinematographer. The film follows the career of

Bill Watterson William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist who authored the comic strip ''Calvin and Hobbes''. The strip was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson concluded ''Calvin and Hobbes'' with a short statement to newspa ...

, the author of the comic strip ''

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was Print syndication, syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly described as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin a ...

'', and the influence of both the author and the comic strip on the world. Watterson ended the strip on December 31, 1995, and since then has avoided the public eye.

History

The origin of ''Dear Mr. Watterson'' came from Schroeder wanting to understand the cultural impact of Bill Watterson's decade-long comic strip, so he began with a series of fan interviews in December 2007. ''Dear Mr. Watterson'' launched its first

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign on December 15, 2009, ending March 15, 2010. The Kickstarter raised more than 200% of the goal of $12,000. After the first fundraising campaign, the filmmakers interviewed

Berkeley Breathed Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, Film director, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', ''Outland (comic strip), Outland'', and ''Opus (comic s ...

, Lee Salem,

Stephan Pastis Stephan Thomas Pastis ( ; born January 16, 1968) is an American cartoonist and former lawyer who is the creator of the comic strip '' Pearls Before Swine''. He also writes children's books, commencing with the release of ''Timmy Failure: Mistake ...

Jef Mallett Jef Mallett (born 1962) is an American cartoonist best known as the creator and artist of the nationally syndicated comic strip '' Frazz''. Early and personal life Mallett attended nursing school as well as EMT training before leaving to pursue ...

Dave Kellett Dave Kellett is the cartoonist of ''drive: the scifi comic, Drive'' and ''Sheldon (webcomic), Sheldon'', and co-director of the documentary ''Stripped (film), Stripped''. He is a co-host of the podcast ''ComicLab'' and the ''The Wrong Way…'' sh ...

, Charles Solomon,

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor. His film debut was '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supporting roles in comedy films in the 1980s, including '' Radio Days'' ( ...

, Keith Knight, Jenny Robb, Tony Cochran, Andrew Farago (

Cartoon Art Museum The Cartoon Art Museum (CAM) is a California art museum that specializes in the art of comics and cartoons. It is the only museum in the Western United States dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of all forms of cartoon art. The permane ...

), Joe Wos (Toonseum), Jean Schulz, Jan Eliot,

Bill Amend William J. C. Amend III (; born September 20, 1962) is an American cartoonist. He is known for his comic strip ''FoxTrot''. Early life Amend was born in Massachusetts and raised in Northern California. He attended high school in Burlingame, Ca ...

, and more. In addition, a second Kickstarter campaign was launched in order to fund the finishing of the project. The campaign was successfully funded July 14, 2012. On November 21, 2012, Schroeder reported to the Kickstarter backers that they had completed the Martini Shot. In late December 2012, the crew shipped nearly 200 posters to backers of their Kickstarter all over the world. The filmmakers submitted their documentary to festivals around the world, and on March 1, 2013, they announced that ''Dear Mr. Watterson'' had been accepted into the 37th Annual

Cleveland International Film Festival The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. CIFF is the largest film festival in Ohio and among the longest-running in the United States. The festival is held at Playhouse Square, the lar ...

Release

''Dear Mr. Watterson'' had its premiere at the

on April 9, 2013.6.
Dear Mr. Watterson FAQ
". Retrieved 2013-31-07. The film had a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

release on November 15, 2013.

Influences and impact

The director Joel Schroeder recalls: The film began with Schroeder interviewing fans of the strip to better understand the cultural impact it had. The filmmaker did not seek to interview Watterson knowing his reclusiveness (the artist was invited to the premiere, but watched the DVD instead). In an interview with

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio ( NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...

'', Schroeder explained that Watterson's final cartoon exemplified the strip's enduring appeal. Said Schroeder, describing the panel: "It's a fresh layer of snow and Calvin and Hobbes are out with the toboggan, and Calvin looks to Hobbes and says, 'It's a magical world, old buddy ... let's go exploring.' And those last words are just, I think, a challenge to all of us to make sure that we have that curiosity. And words, I think words to live by." The film was later parodied in an episode of ''

Documentary Now! ''Documentary Now!'' is an American mockumentary television series created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Rhys Thomas (director), Rhys Thomas, and premiered on August 20, 2015, on IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC. Armisen and Hader star ...

'' as "Searching for Mr. Larson", where

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, he co-created and co-starred in the IFC sketch comedy series '' Portlandia''. He also co-created ...

portrays a narcissistic filmmaker attempting to find ''

The Far Side ''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrea ...

'' creator

Gary Larson Gary Larson (born August 14, 1950) is an American cartoonist who created ''The Far Side'', a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years. The series ended on January 1, 1995, ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{Calvin and Hobbes 2013 films 2013 documentary films Calvin and Hobbes Kickstarter-funded documentaries Films shot in Ohio Documentary films about fandom 2010s English-language films English-language documentary films