How Pixar makes dreams come true
(Photo source: Disney-PIxar)
If there is a guiding philosophy for Pixar Animation Studios, it is this: invest in a person rather than an idea, says its president Jim Morris.
In an interview with Yahoo Singapore when he was in town recently, Morris explains that the philosophy originated from Pixar founder Ed Catmull and its chief creative officer John Lasseter. “(They) believe that a person who will tell a story passionately is a better source to making a movie, than people deciding on an idea and then finding somebody to tell that story.”
The approach has helped bring to a global stage the talents of several individuals of Asian heritage, such as “Inside Out” co-director Ronnie del Carmen (Philippines) and director of the upcoming The Good Dinosaur, Peter Sohn (American-born Korean).
Screenings of The Good Dinosaur will also be preceded by animated short Sanjay’s Superteam, the brainchild of Pixar animator Sanjay Patel (American-born Indian). Inspired by Patel’s chilldhood experiences in America, it is the story of a young Indian boy who imagines the Hindu gods of his father’s faith as superheroes.
(Photo source: Disney-PIxar)
Pixar has even invested in training students from China and other countries. He says, “(We have been) inviting students over from China and other places, and explaining how we do stuff and training them and how we do story and so forth, so that they can go back and make their own films, and actually make something that is a China-centric film from a China filmmaker, or wherever the person’s from.“
Morris was in Singapore in September to give a presentation on the studio’s slate of upcoming movies, which included test and incomplete animation sequences. Pixar has four movies coming out from now till 2017: The Good Dinosaur (opening in Singapore on 26 November), two long-awaited sequels in Toy Story 4 and Finding Dory, and an original story called Coco, about a young Mexican boy named Miguel.
Investing in individuals is a high-risk prospect — for example, The Good Dinosaur, six years in the making, has seen its director and most of its voice cast replaced in that time. But Morris tells Yahoo Singapore that the pressure naturally comes with the job. “It’s a pressurized job, leading all these creative folks. But at Pixar, one of the things we have are a lot of people to help, and the other directors always support each other,” says Morris.
But it is also Pixar telling yet another “simple story” — a device that has helped the studio avoid the very Hollywood pitfall of over-emphasising special effects at the expense of the story. Morris explains, “We don’t want to get bowled over by spectacle. I think sometimes that happens in films. I know people enjoy that at times, but I think it gets in the way of character and story.
(Photo source: Disney-PIxar)
Asia influence
As president of Pixar, Morris does also have to make business decisions, including how to tap the Asian market, which is certainly gaining in prominence. Last month, Morris told the South China Morning post that PIxar hopes to open The Good Dinosaur in China ahead of its US opening on 25 November. This is to avoid the December blackout period in China, when the release of foreign films is frozen in favour of domestic titles. By contrast, Pixar’s latest feature Inside Out has only just opened in the Middle Kingdom, making it the last market to screen it.
When asked if Asian audiences could expect more Pixar movies to open in the region first, Morris was coy. "The thing that governs when the films open, if we do have them opening earlier, tends to be if there’s a holiday or some other reason that makes sense for us to do it,” he says.
(Photo source: Disney-PIxar)
But has there been pressure to set a Pixar feature in an Asian landscape, or perhaps to cast an Asian actor? After all, Transformers: Age of Extinction had an extended sequence set in Hong Kong, while both The Avengers: Age of Ultron and X-Men: Days of Future Past had Asian actors in supporting roles. Morris is firmer on this, saying that such a move would be “disingenuous”.
“We make films that directors want to make, (but) we’re not going to put a landscape into something like that just to make it more appealing. That’s not how we make our films. We think that as Americans, we’re not really people that can tell a Chinese story,” says Morris.
But the Asian influence looms large — the folks at Pixar are huge fans of anime, and legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, in particular. Morris calls his films “intriguing and beautiful”. He adds, “Spirited Away is one of my favourite films, even though I don’t understand all of it. He is a huge influence on us.
