Casting key as Pixar looks to stay golden
John Lasseter, Pixar’s first animator and the creative spark behind the Emeryville animation studio’s early rise, knew the company would need a sequel.
“In cinema history, there are times when a collection of artists come together and make some films. It’s just a magical time, and great stuff is done. And rarely, if ever, that golden age lasts beyond that original group,” Lasseter told The Chronicle in 2010. “Either they split up, like a band ... or the founders die and they just don’t carry on. We don’t want that to happen at Pixar.”
Now, Pixar is facing just such a moment of turmoil. Lasseter’s career at Disney is effectively over, after he stepped down as chief creative officer of both Pixar and Disney’s animation studios following the admission of “missteps” involving unwelcome hugs and other contact with employees.
Among the slogans bandied around Pixar’s Emeryville headquarters — “story is king,” “don’t be afraid to fail” — is a running theme about the studio’s mortality. Even more than they prepare for the next “Incredibles” film or animated short, the leadership seems hyperfocused on a sort of corporate fountain of youth.
Friday’s announcement that Lasseter will leave Disney on Dec. 31, after finishing the year in a “consultant role,” offered limited details about the future of the studios he oversaw. Disney representatives would not answer questions about Pixar’s creative leadership. But it’s clear based on the studio’s history where Pixar’s priorities lie. The
mystery is how it accomplishes that after losing a creative leader — arguably the most successful American animator since Walt Disney.
Here are four questions Pixar must answer in the post-Lasseter era:
Who’s in charge? The answer to this question is the same as it was before Lasseter took his leave. While Lasseter has always been a highprofile face of Pixar, studio President Ed Catmull, 73, is Pixar’s even keel. A leader with a computer science background and a lifetime love of animation, he still greets new hires and oversees the creative and technical sides of the studio. Catmull was one of the first employees hired by George Lucas in 1979 when he created the computer graphics company that became Pixar. As Lasseter did, he now has a dual role at both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
The next question is what person — or combination of people — will take over Lasseter’s duties, which included creative oversight of Pixar and Walt Disney Studios? Pixar has detailed no succession plans, long-term or short-term, since its November announcement of Lasseter’s sixmonth sabbatical in the wake of employee complaints of feeling “disrespected or uncomfortable.”
There have been reports that Pete Docter, director of “Monsters Inc.,” “Up” and “Inside Out,” may take on increased duties. This makes sense, at least in the short term. Docter is one of the longest-tenured Pixar creative employees and very different from Lasseter, a gregarious personality with toys filling his office and a collection of Hawaiian shirts. Docter is a creative dynamo, but more quiet and private when dealing with the media, as his cerebral films might suggest.
What about the Braintrust? The future of the Pixar Braintrust, made up of the company’s creative leadership, is arguably more important than any single person at Pixar. It operates as a peer review process and has been important in problem-solving, guiding filmmakers in creative directions and shepherding some of the most enduring animated films in history.
Will the Braintrust continue, and how will Lasseter’s leave of absence and the internal soul-searching that followed change its shape? An immediate revamp of the Braintrust — with more female members and younger voices — could be a sign of a commitment to change.
Is Pixar ready for a youth movement? Pixar’s short films — from “Tin Toy” and “Geri’s Game” to the more recent “Sanjay’s Super Team” and “Lou”— are designed to be a farm system for young talent, but there have been limited examples of young filmmakers rising through the ranks to direct feature films. (“Brave” director Mark Andrews and “The Good Dinosaur” director Peter Sohn both directed shorts.) Fifteen of Pixar’s 20 feature films have been directed by the same five filmmakers: Lasseter, Docter, Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird and Lee Unkrich.
Will someone like Domee Shi, who is receiving early acclaim for her short “Bao” that runs with “Incredibles 2,” have a stronger chance of getting an original project off the ground? Will Pixar fasttrack the work of new talent?
Pixar and Disney are overdue to announce the studio’s next slate of films; only “Toy Story 4,” due out next summer, has a set release date. Docter, Stanton, Bird and Unkrich have all made excellent films and deserve to make more, but it will be interesting to see if a female director is in the immediate mix. To date, Brenda Chapman, who directed “Brave” with Andrews coming in during production, is the only woman credited as a feature film director at Pixar.
What happens to all the bars? “‘Corporate’ is the worst word you can use here,” a Pixar facilities manager once told The Chronicle during a tour that showcased nearly a dozen bars on the campus, a speakeasy behind a bookcase and several bandstands. Pixar’s freespirited culture is not likely to change.
The cereal bars, people riding scooters indoors and madcap field trips (Pixar officials once brought sheep to be sheared in front of the campus for the animated short “Boundin’ ”) are likely to continue. But with a high-profile leader being included in #MeToo roundups with reports of bad behavior while drinking, it’s hard to imagine Pixar won’t make some wellthought-out changes. Maybe the tiki bar starts observing regular hours. Maybe there’s no drinking during work hours at all.
“‘Corporate’ is the worst word you can use here,” a Pixar facilities manager once said during a tour.
Pixar has dealt with crises before, including the death of chairman Steve Jobs, numerous production problems on individual movies, and battles over distribution with Disney before the company bought Pixar in 2006. Failure and rebuilding in the aftermath are embedded in the company culture, far deeper than the Hawaiian shirts.
“After a fair amount of time at Pixar, I realized that the most interesting problem was, ‘How is what we’re doing working?’ Not from a process point of view, but sort of a deep level,” Catmull said during a 2009 Chronicle interview. “How are things working, and how do things go off the rails?”
Whoever takes the reins at Pixar now gets a chance to answer that question.