A TALK
WITH JOHN LASSETER
WHAT THE MAN IN DISNEY'S CHAIR HAS TO SAY
by
Steve Fritz
In the last
column I hinted that I was flying out to California and coming back
with some major surprises. Well, I'm back. A tad jet lagged, thanking
the creator for Airborne and packing enough tape to wrap an ox or
two in.
What was I
doing? Visiting Disney, Pixar and ILM. Over the next few columns
you're going to see the fruits of this labor. There's probably no
better way to start this whole shebang off is with John Lasseter.
To call Lasseter
now one of the most powerful men in animation is being redundant.
In his 20+ year career he's gone from an extremely talented and
innovative Cal Arts student to the man now occupying the seat that
once held legends like Michael Eisner (who say what you want, did
have a hand in the animation renaissance) and no less than Walt
Disney himself. What's amazing to realize when you do meet the man
is even though he did a lot to pioneer the whole computer generated
animation field, at his heart he's also a strong traditionalist.
He doesn't care what the animation technique employed is, as long
as it tells a good story and has memorable characters. As you read
this transcript, he does talk a bit like a Hollywood exec,
but each and every animator I also talked to on this trip, you'll
soon realize I talked to a lot of them, all profess their love for
the man and truly appreciate his guidance.
I admit my
interview with him was much shorter than I would have wanted, but
he did have about 50 other people he had to talk to on this junket.
To have the time I did have was something, and the handlers got
back to me to say that there is a possibility of there being a lot
more in the future. So, OK, I didn't get to ask him about the latest
work of Hayao Miyazaki, but who knows what the future will bring.
In the meantime,
here is what Lasseter had to say about the upcoming Pixar Short
Films collection and Ratatouille, both coming out on
DVD. Enjoy. I sure did…and I hope you do too.
Newsarama:
You're releasing this DVD of Pixar animated shorts. What is it all
about?
John Lasseter:
I'm really excited about this collection finally coming out. These
have been so much a part of the history of Pixar. It includes the
early shorts we did before Toy Story. They really show the
evolution of Pixar. It shows the development of the technology and
me as a filmmaker. It also shows our continued commitment to short
films after Toy Story.
It's all been
about trying out new talent. It showed how we do research. Also,
quite frankly, it shows that there are ideas that are better done
with the short film that one can't necessarily do for a feature
film. It shows they are still worth doing.
NRAMA:
So you're saying it's a whole format in itself.
JL:
Yes. And to have them all in one collection is really exciting.
NRAMA:
Now most people haven't seen most of these shorts. What do you think
will surprise the public the most when they do?
 JL:
Well, first I hope they see how funny they are. Also, I hope they
soon realize that all but one has virtually no dialogue. Like Chuck
Jones said; with great animation you should be able to turn the
sound off and still understand what is happening. I think these
are wonderful little gems.
They also should
tell how all our filmmakers can, in a very short time, establish
really memorable characters. I think that's something that's really
great.
NRAMA:
I've interviewed guys like Bill Plympton in the past, and he told
me that there's a whole new market for animated shorts. It's again
becoming a profitable field thanks to the internet and other new
methods of delivery. Do you think so too?
JL:
It is. I find that also pretty exciting. There is a totally
new market for short films. There hasn't been one since the mid-50s.
Thanks in great part to the internet, I can now sell shorts to the
iPod, the iPhones and YouTube and many other places. There are all
sorts of new distribution routes that were inconceivable before.
You know what's
really nice about the iPhone and iPod? It's really great for the
short film. There are now a lot people running around with them
saying 'look what I found' and it's another little nugget. I also
think YouTube is equally nice this way.
But what is
really nice is there is now all these tools available on the market
place, like digital video cameras, editing systems, laptops and
all other kinds of things that make it possible to post shorts on
the internet. In other words, the public now has the tools to create,
edit and distribute themselves. It's releasing all this creativity.
What it all
boils down to is entertainment. It's all about which one makes you
laugh. I think it's great.
NRAMA:
So what does this mean to a big studio like yourself when people
can now produce their own work on a laptop?
JL:
First and foremost it's entertainment. We focus on what we hope
are really memorable stories. I think we do make them for the big
screen, for people to go into a movie theater and have a shared
experience. Also, we've known what it is to get our films into a
home environment through DVD or now Blu-Ray. We've realized that's
when we become part of the family. It's cool watching it again.
In fact, my
wife once told me 'make sure you make the movie good enough to be
seen over 100 times. That's how many times a parent will have to
suffer through it if the kids like it.' That's definitely the truth.
I have five boys and that's exactly how it is like. So that really
makes me want to make my films really, really good for the long
run. I must realize that our films now will be watched from every
sized screen and at every resolution, from cell phones to IMAX.
Of course,
as a filmmaker I also want to make sure that my movies are seen
in the best way. That is why I'm very pleased to announce we are
putting out our films on Blu-Ray disk. What many don't realize is
with Blu-Ray, finally, people at home will see our films exactly
the way we see them in Pixar, which is the highest resolution ever
made. I mean they are just what we see when we watch them on our
monitors. They're stunning. They're absolutely stunning. Everything
we will put out from now on will be in Blu-Ray. It packs far more
data than any other format.
NRAMA:
You are now sitting in one of the most powerful seats possible in
animation. You sit on the chair that Walt Disney himself once sat
in. When you were just a student at Cal Arts, did you ever think
you would get this far?
JL:
No I didn't. You know, I never really thought of that. My focus
has always been to just tell stories. Make films, tell stories and
really entertain audiences; and life has led me down this path.
I also have to say that I love what I do now. I always loved Walt
Disney. The films of Walt Disney is why I do what I do. I'm really
excited to be bringing back the heritage that he created, and to
help all the creators and artists who work so hard to make their
films great.
The other thing
is Disney really is the company that can take your characters and
keep them alive after the film has been released through the products
and all that stuff. It's something I really enjoy doing.
NRAMA:
So what is happening with the next film, Wall-E?
 JL:
Well, it's the next Pixar film. I'm executive producing it, which
means all I'm doing is overseeing it. It is Andrew Stanton's (Finding
Nemo, A Bug's Life) film as Ratatouille was Brad Bird's
film.
In these situations
we have what we call our creative brain trust, which is all the
other directors and story people. We take a look at the film as
it develops every three months or so and give comments. We're very
honest with each other; when it's working and when it's not working.
So this way we make the movie the best it can be.
Now I think
Wall-E is going to be really good. It's our first real foray
into science fiction. It's also a love story and has a lot of heart.
I think it's really enjoyable. It has less dialogue than a lot of
our past films, but it's still really fantastic. After all, the
art of animation is about what the character does, not what it says.
It all depends on how you tell the story, whether it has a lot of
dialogue or not.
NRAMA:
What's also on the way?
JL:
After Wall-E, we've got a movie called UP, directed
by Pete Docter, who directed Monsters Inc.. It's an action-adventure
film starring an 80 year-old man. It has a lot of heart and soul.
After that is Toy Story 3, which will be directed by Lee
Unkrich. Lee co-directed Toy Story 2 with me. In fact, Lee
was part of the original creative team on Toy Story. So I
know the film is in the hands of someone who knows how to do it.
NRAMA:
Do you think the (possible) upcoming writers strike will impact
what you do?
JL:
Animation is not Writer's Guild. So we're not worried.
 NRAMA:
Let me say I really enjoyed the short Your Friend The Rat
[an extra included on the Ratatouille DVD - The short
features Remy & Emile as they guide viewers through the history
of the rat and attempt to correct some common misperceptions of
this fury and misunderstood friend] and how it hearkened back
to Ward Kimball and the old UPA shorts.
JL:
You really enjoyed it?
NRAMA:
Yes I did. Now with this traditional short coming out, how does
this bode for The Princess & The Frog or whatever you are
calling it these days?
 JL:
The progress on the film is just fantastic. For those who don't
know, we're returning to traditional, hand-drawn animation with
The Princess & The Frog with John Musker and Ron Clements
of Little Mermaid and Aladdin directing. It's going
to be great.
Now Your
Friend The Rat was really fun because it ran into a bit of a
problem. One thing we always try to do is something special for
every DVD we put out. What happened was we were working so hard
on Ratatouille that we wound up short-handed, we literally
didn't have the manpower, to do Your Friend The Rat.
What happened
though is we have an awful lot of people at Pixar whose background
is all hand-drawn and they still love the artform. Next thing we
knew, a lot of those people volunteered to do overtime to get the
film done. That is how strong their love for traditional animation
was.
NEXT COLUMN:
Will it be Brad Bird? Patton Oswalt? The people at ILM? I have lots
and lots of interviews to run. You'll find out soon enough.
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