“Pierre would probably tell you that the language is all gibberish, but I have my own theory,' he said in the production notes. Illumination Entertainment CEO and founder Chris Meledandri believes Coffin is, consciously or not, creating an actual language. I just pick one that doesn’t express something by the meaning, but rather the melody of the words.” So I have all these sources of inspiration for their words. I also know a little bit of Spanish, Italian, Indonesian and Japanese. “Every time I got stuck in a sequence or in a shot where I need to express something, I have my Indian or Chinese menu handy. They’re this legacy of silent films, except that we stuck ridiculous words on them.”īecause the inspiration for those ridiculous words that Coffin creates are rooted in real languages, he could turn to a set of guides we all have access to, usually stuffed in a drawer in our kitchen. Everything was so timed and well-executed without any language. There are no words in it, obviously, but they were just hooked on the visuals. 'I showed my kids The Gold Rush, and they loved it. Those guys were the best storytellers ever, and it goes across generations,' Coffin said. “When you look at the history of films, they start out as being totally mute with actors like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. First, in order to help him visualize how these characters would physicalize their language, he looked to his heroes in the silent film era for guidance.

“You don’t understand their words, you don’t understand their grammar, but you do understand when they’re in a position of conflict, if they’re sad or if they’re happy,” Coffin said in the production notes. The fact that they inadvertently topple every master they serve, up until Gru, explains why their language is so rich and varied-they are always on the move again after putting an end to the regime of whatever tyrannical master they had chosen. With this history spelled out, Coffin could then plunge into developing the unique vocalizations and intonations that differentiate Kevin, Stuart and Bob, as well as flesh out Minionese. The etymology of Minionese includes the basics of ancient Egyptian (they worked for the Pharaoh), a dash of high-society French (they backed Napoleon), some proper Transylvanian (from their time serving Count Dracula), all the way back to the grunts and grrrs of early Homo sapiens. The Minions have been around for a long, long time, and, as a nomadic tribe in search of their next master, have absorbed bits of many languages as they've traversed the globe. Language Stew - Why Minionese is Made up of Several Languages First, however, he needed to ground Minionese in it's own personal history, and that was achieved by realizing the Minions have been around a lot longer than we have.

While the creation of Minionese makes narrative sense now that the Minions have a rich backstory (more on that in a bit), Coffin's goal was for the audience to understand Minionese without actually knowing the exact verbiage through the Minions huge range of vocal melodies and inflections, as well as their physical actions. So what, exactly, is Minionese? It's the lexical version of a hearty stew, made up of words from multiple languages, expressed not only vocally, but through the Minions' physical comedy. They communicate through their Buster Keaton-level physical comedy and a language called Minionese. They're all voiced by the same man, director Pierre Coffin, creator of their language.

They're on a mission to find a new master (this is a prequel to Despicable Meand Despicable Me 2, so they haven't met Gru yet), a mission they've been on, it turns out, for centuries. In Universal Pictures' Minions, the three lead Minions are Kevin, the “big brother,” protector and leader, Stuart, the rebellious “middle brother,” and Bob, the innocent, eager “little brother” who loves everyone and everything.

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