Sleazy the Wonder Squirrel is going to Europe.
The walking, talking, chain-smoking cartoon rodent who stars in a comic strip in The Dartmouth is taking an all-expense-paid trip to Germany for the week-long Stutgart International Animation Festival, where he and his creator, Chris Miller '97, will compete with students from around the world for up to $3,000 in prizes.
Sleazy is the star of a five-minute, full-color animated film Miller created for a Film studies independent study project. Miller sent the film to the festival organizers, who selected it and a few others for exhibition in the collegiate division.
In addition to the cash prize, Miller will have a chance at stardom, since the festival goers will include "lots of agents from TV. networks and film companies and studios," he said.
In Miller's film, Sleazy is killed smoking an enormous cigarette after a hallucinogenic nicotine fit.
He goes to heaven, only to be expelled for illegally entering the children's playground at "McHeaven."
While in hell, Sleazy uses reverse psychology to trick the devil into pampering him. "Could you make it even hotter in here?" Sleazy asks.
Sleazy's stint in the afterlife is terminated prematurely when God, a guest on the talk show Sleazy hosts in his comic strip, resuscitates him.
English Department Chair Bill Cook provides the voices of God and the devil, and Miller lends his voice to Sleazy and his sidekick, Herschel the Hasidic Hamster.
"Lynne Campbell '97 is basically all the female voices," he said.
Despite his success, Miller manages to remain humble discussing the film.
"It sucks," he said.
He did concede, however, that the film "isn't bad for a student."
Miller said the project took him an entire term to put together since he had to prepare more than 2,000 drawings to be shown at eight frames per second.
When his deadline loomed near, Miller said he had to stay awake four consecutive nights, replacing meals with Mountain Dew soft drinks.
The film became a collaborative venture when Miller invited friends over for pizza -- and to help him color the drawings.
Craig Whitmer '97, who helped color God, said about 30 people came out to help Miller finish on time.
Whitmer, Miller's roommate, said the cartoonist's quirky personality is easily transformed into the cartoon.
"A lot of him is in the cartoon," he said. "There are a lot of inside jokes I see in the cartoon."
Miller is already working on a sequel to Sleazy the Wonder Squirrel.
"It is tentatively called 'Sleazy Goes to France,'" he said. "The French are easy targets."
Miller said the film will be based on a series of cartoons published in The Dartmouth last year. He said he hopes to work on the film as part of a senior fellowship or during a two-term independent study course.
Even though his first film went well, there are certain things Miller will change in "Sleazy Goes to France."
For instance, he said he wants to change the surface the drawings are made on.
"I did all mine on tracing vellum. Bugs Bunny and The Lion King are done on clear sheets that are painted," he said.
Miller intends to draw his next cartoon on the clear sheets.
Miller said this will allow him to make more complex backgrounds, since he will no longer have to start each drawing from scratch.
Miller, a government and studio art double major, said he is considering pursuing cartooning as a career.
He said he does not draw squirrels or hamsters in his studio art classes.
Miller spent the Winter term working under a New York City cartoonist Bill Plymptom, best known for his "Plymptoons," which are shown on Music Television.
Plymptom has been nominated for an academy award.
"I was painting animation cells and doing sound effects," Miller said.
"I want to keep animation an open door since I've spent a lot of time on it," he said.
Miller said his favorite animator and greatest influence is clay-animator Nick Park, who produces the Wallace and Gromit show.
Even when he is not drawing Sleazy, Miller finds plenty of other ways to stay busy.
Last year he helped co-found Dartmouth United, a student organization that tries to provide more alcohol-free social options on campus.
Miller is also a member of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity and the Editor-in-Chief of the Jack-O-Lantern, Dartmouth's humor magazine.
