Staying True to the Heart of the Franchise: Brian Lynch Discusses ‘Minions & Monsters’
Brian Lynch discusses his collaboration with co-writer and director Pierre Coffin, paying homage to early Hollywood, the challenges of writing for children, and his writing process.
The minion critters have been delighting us since 2010. There have been four Despicable Me movies and two prequels, Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru. Minions & Monsters is another prequel that is a whacky take on how the minions conquered Hollywood, set during the time film transitioned from silent to sound. This new entry in the Despicable Me universe hits theaters on July 1. While the franchise has a “four quadrant’ appeal, young children make up a large portion of the audience. “We may push the boundaries with what’s OK to say, but it’s about finding the balance of being funny and not warping the kids' minds,” [laughs] says writer Brian Lynch (Minions, The Secret Life of Pets).
Directed and co-written by Pierre Coffin (Despicable Me 1-3, Minions), Minions & Monsters pays homage to early Hollywood, giving nods to the Lumière brothers, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton, amongst others. The film's physical comedy is a hat tip to Tex Avery’s Golden Age animation that emphasized elasticity in some cases. Brian recently took the time to talk with Script about minions and more.
Banana!
Sonya: How did you get involved with the first Minions movie back in 2015?
Brian: I was working on Hop with Chris Meledandri and Illumination. When Chris was on set one day, he asked me if I liked theme park rides. I told him I did and he asked me if I wanted to write the Minion Theme Park Ride. I thought it would be a quick thing. Theme park rides are four minutes. It ended up being a sixty page script. I think through that Chris realized I could do the world and voices of the minions. He asked if I had any ideas that might excite Pierre. I thought about it and came up with the villain idea. That’s the spark that got us talking and what led to the movie.
Sonya: How did you create the Minionese language?
Brian: That’s Pierre! In the scripts, I write it out completely in English, then Pierre would turn it into his version of what they’re saying. He thanked me for that because he said it really worked as a template for what the minions are going through. I haven't stopped doing it that way since.
Sonya: How do you like collaborating with Pierre?
Brian: He’s the greatest. I worked with him first on the ride of course. Every time I learn more and more from him. He’s also just so supportive. If something isn’t working, we’ll sit down and figure it out. He never gets frustrated. He’s fun to come up with jokes and ideas with. This movie, Minions & Monsters, is the first one where we were co-writers. Where he literally wrote with me. Because he was in a different country and time zone, he’d write something and send it to me and I’d make it funny or vice versa. We really just tried to make each other laugh.
Sonya: Do you have a favorite minion?
Brian: The minion Henry in the new movie is named after my son. Pierre did that as a nice surprise. Until then, I always liked Stuart because while everyone else was excited, he was the one hanging back saying, “I don’t know about this.” Too cool for the room is really fun to write. But now that this movie’s out, the fact that James likes filmmaking so much and is so passionate about it, I see a lot of myself in that character. I have to go with James. He stands out from all the other minions.
Illumination
Sonya: How did you come up with the idea for the monsters?
Brian: It was so fun. We were talking about doing Lovecraftian monsters from the beginning. We talked about what would be the funniest version of that. We talked about having the audience expect one thing and then going the other way. When we talked about Lovecraft, we talked about Cthulhu, the giant sea monster. We thought the audience would expect that, so we decided to go with the little guy with the Napoleon complex who doesn’t like being small but uses his cuteness to his advantage. From there we went with other ones that would defy expectations. It was the big sea creature that starts with a roar and then becomes an everyman. We went with something similar to a muppet, voiced by the great Phil LaMarr.
Sonya: What are some of your favorite movie monsters?
Brian: I’ve always loved Gremlins. When I was a kid, I was scared to death of the movie. I’d watch it over and over again because I wanted to be scared. And also, it was so funny. Joe Dante got into my brain at an early age. I love anything Ghostbusters related. Bride of Frankenstein is so iconic. She’s only in the movie for ten minutes and she’s just the coolest character. That’s my favorite of the Universal monster movies. It’s so weird and takes such weird chances from the original Frankenstein. It takes these bold leaps and I always loved watching it because of that. And the visual of the Creature from the Black Lagoon can’t be topped.
Sonya: What are the challenges of writing for children?
Brian: I have a child and I didn't when I started. He was born during the production of Minions. I always think about what Henry will think is funny. At the same time, it’s about doing jokes that kids will understand, but we don’t talk down to them. I grew up on the Muppets and Looney Tunes. It’s about not writing the simple joke because kids are smart and getting smarter every day. We want them to be entertained, just like adults are.
Sonya: What’s the difference in writing for a franchise as opposed to a single feature?
Brian: You want to keep the heart of the franchise. I came onto the Despicable Me franchise when the first one was out and they were working on the second one. You don’t want people to feel alienated who loved the first ones you didn’t work on. I also worked on Puss in Boots and there were three Shreks before it. You want to have the world they know, but you don’t want to have it the exact same way they’ve seen it. It’s all about finding that balance of what people love about it but also bringing yourself to it.
Sonya: What are the benefits of working with a director you’ve worked with before even if you’re not writing together?
Brian: I’ve worked with Pierre twice and Chris Renaud twice on the Pets movies. While I'm writing, I can kind of anticipate what they’ll bump up against and change accordingly. Or get ready to defend what I think works. This is my fifth or sixth movie with Chris Meledandri and he’ll go, “What do you think? Why do you think that?” It's a shorthand and a trust that’s established. I love working with these guys. At this point, it’s like a family. I’m working on new projects with people I’ve never worked with before and that’s exciting too.
Sonya: How many drafts of this did you have to do of Minions & Monsters?
Brian: Hundreds..! The movie didn't change in terms of the broad outline. The James story was very solid from the beginning. But the specifics changed for three years. The first Minions movie definitely had more rewrites. That was about five hundred drafts. This was like a hundred drafts.
Sonya: When you write solo, what’s your writing process?
Brian: First, I outline. It’s about fifteen pages. It’s the hardest part of the process. After that, it’s about going to draft and then rewriting. I love the whole process so much.
Sonya: What live action film would you like to adapt into an animated film?
Brian: [laughs] I literally have one. At one point, Chris Meledandri asked me, “Hey, are there any Universal live action movies that would be fun to do?” There’s a Steve Martin movie called The Jerk that I wanted to tell in a Zootopia type world with all animals. I’d love to do that. Anything Steve Martin by the way. The guy’s amazing. I had the idea of doing Jurassic Park but from the point of view of the one goat that was going to get eaten and how he gets out of Jurassic Park.
Sonya: What was the last movie you saw?
Brian: Disclosure Day, which I loved. I’m going to see any Spielberg film opening weekend. Before that it was Masters of the Universe which I had to see because I grew up with it. And today I’m going to see Toy Story. I want to see everything!
Voice actors for Minions & Monsters include Pierre Coffin, Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, and Phil LaMarr.
The Despicable Me/Minions movies always have notable music, including a toe tapper by Pharrell Williams (“Despicable Me”). Two-time Oscar nominee John Powell provides the Old Hollywood themed score for the latest minions adventure. This is a Universal Pictures/Illumination release.
Minions & Monsters hits Theaters on July 1, 2026.
Sonya Alexander started off her career training to be a talent agent. She eventually realized she was meant to be on the creative end and has been writing ever since. As a freelance writer she’s written screenplays, covered film, television, music and video games and done academic writing. She’s also been a script reader for over twenty years. She's a member of the African American Film Critics Association and currently resides in Los Angeles.
