The brains of Disneys toon empire on when to delay a movie, female directors, Good Dinosaur, Frozen 2, Toy Story 4 and why Steve Jobs would be ‘appalled by Steve Jobs
EVEN WITH FRAMED cartoons on his walls, Ed Catmulls office on the Pixar Animation Studios campus in Emeryville, Calif., is bland compared to the museum of toy trains and memorabilia that is John Lasseters space down the hall. Catmull, a Utah-born pioneer in computer graphics who began his career at Lucasfilm before launching Pixar with Steve Jobs and Lasseter in 1986, often is described as the brains of the operation, while Lasseter is the heart. But Catmull disagrees: "First of all, John is extremely smart. And I think creativity happens when you combine the technical with the artistic." That might be Pixars motto; the studio that popularized digital animation has released 15 films without a flop (its 16th, The Good Dinosaur, opens Noy, 25), grossing $9,3 billion in total box office. And since the 1,200-employee company was sold to Disney in 2006 for $7,4 billion, Catmull has pulled double duty at Disney Animation Studios, spending two days a week every month in Burbank reinvigorating the house Walt built with hits like Frozen. This year, Catmull, 70, also became an author, writing (with Amy Wallace) the well-received Creativity, Inc., about the management skills he has honed over three decades. As Pixar pursues his strategy of making two-thirds original films and one-third sequels, the married father of six invited THR to the Steve Jobs Building for a candid chat.
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