Pixar whiz reanimates Disney

USA Today (FIRST) - March 09, 2006 - p D.1, LIFE
By Susan Wloszczyna
EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- John Lasseter is a hugger, not a handshaker. The whimsical whiz behind Pixar, the premier maker of computer-animated family films, greets his guest with outstretched arms and a grin that recalls Toy Story's intrepid space ranger Buzz Lightyear.

Lasseter blames his "formal" attire -- a muted Hawaiian shirt rather than his preferred loud variety, slacks and shoes in place of jeans and sneakers -- on the Oscar-nominee luncheon he had to attend in Los Angeles earlier in the day.


Now he is back on his home turf, a sprawling playground of a 16- acre, $90 million digital fun factory. Its 800 employees are encouraged to swat ping-pong balls and take dips in the pool in between bringing to life such adored 3-D characters as Dory the daffy fish from Finding Nemo and blue-hued fur ball Sulley from Monsters, Inc.

Here, Lasseter, 49 and the father of five boys ages 8 to 26, can relax and be his big-kid self again, not so hard to do when your office looks like an overstocked aisle at Toys R Us.

In such surroundings, it is easy to be distracted from the real purpose behind this visit: Lasseter's first major interview since cartoon fans emitted a collective sigh of relief. The source of their satisfaction was the announcement in late January that as part of Disney's $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar, Lasseter would be in charge of reviving the Magic Kingdom's sadly diminished animation department, whose staff has been slashed from 2,200 to 800.

At last month's Visual Effects Society awards where Lasseter was an honoree, John Ratzenberger of TV's Cheers, a voice actor in every Pixar movie, captured the historic moment perfectly. When the news broke, he told the crowd, "Walt Disney stopped spinning in his grave."

Says Disney chairman Dick Cook, whose studio was at risk of losing what has been a highly lucrative 15-year partnership until CEO Michael Eisner was replaced by a more diplomatic Bob Iger in October, "I was talking to a group of animators when the announcement came out, and they let out a big yell. The reaction has been genuinely huge. John is that rarest of talents. Everything he touches becomes better. He is selfless in his desire to make things great."

If Lasseter feels any pressure by being the chosen one, it doesn't show. For him, work is play, and play is his work.

"Animation is the only thing I ever wanted to do in my whole life," he says. "I have no desire for live-action or anything else."

Peter Docter, director of Monsters, Inc., says his boss wasn't about to say no to such an exciting opportunity. "He is just one of those guys who loves everything life throws at him."

Lasseter is the sort of fellow who thinks nothing of riding the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to the Academy Awards. Perusing his office toy collection, he cuddles a Casper the Friendly Ghost doll, whose fleecy white body has gone beige with age. Tenderly, he coaxes a gurgle from the pull-string treasure, the inspiration for Woody in Toy Story.

Lasseter is expected to apply similar care to the dulled Disney brand, whose last animated hit of any critical consequence was Lilo & Stitch in 2002. He can't blab too much about the future until all legalities are finalized. But he's clearly delighted to be entrusted with refurbishing the House of Mouse.

"I will basically have the same job as I have at Pixar," he says. "There is such amazing talent at Disney. My job is 100% creative, and I am very excited to creatively lead them. I will spend half the week in Burbank and half here." Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo, will fill in at Pixar as needed.

Disney animated films will have to meet the same sky-high standards as Pixar releases.

"We make the kind of movies we like to watch," Lasseter says. "I love to laugh. I love to be amazed by how beautiful it is.

"But I also love to be moved to tears. There's lots of heart in our films." If tears fell over Disney's last release, the undercooked Chicken Little, it probably was from a feather allergy.

The baby boomer who found his calling while under the influence of Disney's Arthurian tale The Sword in the Stone has been rehearsing for this role since he was a boy. The tenets of Pixar's teamwork philosophy, such as "plussing" -- to make something good even better -- are a direct link to Uncle Walt's era.

These principles became ingrained in Lasseter as a student at the Disney-supported California Institute of the Arts and as a pen-and- pencil animator working at the studio on such films as Mickey's Christmas Carol. Lasseter, who grew up a half-hour away from Disneyland in Whittier, even credits his job as a Jungle Cruise guide at the park for perfecting his comic timing. As Cook puts it, "John bleeds Disney."

Already, change is in the air. Lasseter decries the straight-to- DVD "cheapquels," such as Bambi II, based on revered classics. "Trust me," he says. "Bob Iger cares." Work on Toy Story 3, done without Pixar input, has been halted.

Plus, traditionally animated features could be revived at the studio that pioneered the genre with 1937's Snow White, Cook confirms. "Andrew Stanton always said that 2-D animation became the scapegoat for bad storytelling," Lasseter says. "But you can make just as bad of a movie in 3-D."

A hopeful sign: Enchanted, an animated/live-action mix due next year, is about a cartoon princess (Amy Adams of Junebug) who ends up in present-day New York. The live-action portion will be book-ended by two 15-minute hand-drawn segments.

Lasseter is in more than one driver's seat these days. Down the road is the June 9 release of Cars, his first directorial effort since 1999's Toy Story 2. A full-length trailer will premiere on ABC- owned TV outlets tonight before running with The Shaggy Dog this weekend.

Tuesday, Cars will preview at ShoWest, the yearly Las Vegas convention of theater owners, who are starved for an injection of Pixar fuel to jump-start box-office receipts after last year's attendance decline.

The Capra-esque automotive fantasy about a hot-rod racer who learns how to pull over and smell the exhaust fumes feeds into the filmmaker's interest in NASCAR and appreciation for older models. The son of a parts manager at a Chevy dealership nearly swoons when he mentions his "pride and joy" -- a 1952 Jaguar XK120. "Gorgeous, gorgeous," he says, while caressing his toy version.

The yarn also dips into the history of how the interstate highway system snuffed out small towns that once boomed with tourists who got their kicks on Route 66.

But, like all Pixar movies, Cars carries plenty of personal baggage, too. "John's DNA is in every scene," producer Darla K. Anderson says.

The main source of inspiration was a cross-country road trip he and wife Nancy took with their brood in 2000. He had been working 10 years straight with barely a break when she warned him, "'You'd better be careful because one day you will wake up, and all your boys will be going off to college, and you will have missed it.' I heard her loud and clear," he says.

When he got home, he knew what the story of Cars would be: "A character who relearns that the journey in life is its own reward."

Considering Pixar's 6-for-6 hit record, some predict that a box- office breakdown is inevitable. From the early teasers, "it didn't look as exciting as the character designs of Nemo," animation expert Jerry Beck says. Plus, he says, there was a feeling that Pixar would keep its better ideas up its sleeve in case the Disney divorce went through.

Not to worry, Lasseter says. "Every single Pixar film, at one time or another, has been the worst movie ever put on film. But we know. We trust our process. We don't get scared and say, 'Oh, no, this film isn't working.'"

Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, sometimes Lasseter seems too good to be true. Too smart. Too good with people. Too successful. Too in touch with his inner child. In the world of animation, Beck says, "He is god-like."

If there is one flaw, Docter says, "it's that he has such good instincts, he is almost always right. It can really (tick) you off."

Even as his professional life speeds up, Lasseter still is dedicated to slowing down regularly to spend time with his sons.

"We were driving around last night, and my boys asked me what kind of car would I be," he says. "I am not sure one exists, but I would probably be a minivan that had at least 600 horsepower. And handled like the finest sports car. One you could take your family in, but when you are driving by yourself, you can have power and speed."

Family-friendly yet fast. Sounds like the perfect Pixar hybrid.