As a lifelong fan of the Peanuts comic strip and television specials, Steve Martino says that getting chosen to direct a computer-animated Peanuts movie struck him as “a huge responsibility.” When he accepted the offer, he knew the importance of staying true to the original work that cartoonist Charles Schulz created, starting in 1950.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Charles Schulz as an artist,” Martino told TFK. “He was like a teacher to me. When I was very young, I would read the comic strip with my dad. I used to just lie on the floor and stare at the drawings. I think the Peanuts characters were some of the first characters I tried to draw or copy.”