Ev’ry morning at the mine, you could see him arrive
He stood 6 foot 6, weighed 245
Kinda broad at the shoulders, narrow at the hip
And everybody knew you didn’t give no lip to Big John.Big John
Big John
Big Bad John
Big John
Okay. I know. Not everyone who reads JHM is going to get a reference to a Jimmy Dean song that was recorded ‘way back in 1961. But that said … “Big John” may turn about to be a very fitting new nickname for Mr. Lasseter. Given the huge impact that this guy has reportedly been having on Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering.
“What sort of impact?,” you ask. Well, let’s start with WDFA. Where it’s been reported that Lasseter (I.E. The new chief creative officer of the combined Pixar / Disney operation) and Ed Catmull (I.E. President of this new mega animation operation) met with middle managers in the Sorcerer Mickey building last Wednesday and basically told these folks: “If you don’t draw for a living, then you really don’t belong in this building.”
Photo by Jeff Lange
TRANSLATION: Lasseter and Catmull are now looking to eliminate an entire level of management at Disney Feature Animation here. A move that will (hopefully) greatly free up the lines of communications between Disney animators & technicians and studio executives.
John also reportedly announced that — from here on in — the directors of Disney’s animated features would report to Lasseter & Catmull. Not to any of WDFA’s allegedly creative executives, mind you. But only to John & Ed.
Okay. Admittedly that’s some pretty cool news. Signalling a fundamental change in the way WDFA does business. But that’s nothing compared to what supposedly happened once Lasseter got over WDI. According to company insiders, after he made the 10-minute trip from Burbank over to Glendale, John was asked: “What do you want to do now ?”
Photo by Jeff Lange
Lasseter’s reported reply: “I want to talk to Tony.”
That’s right. John didn’t want to talk with Imagineering president Don Goodman or executive vice president Tom Fitzgerald. Not even vice chairman Marty Sklar. But only with Tony Baxter, WDI’s senior VP of design.
The story that I’ve been hearing has John sitting down with Tony and saying: “Tell me about all the stuff that you’ve wanted to build for the parks for the past 20 years.” And then Baxter went through his list of dream projects.
Photo by Jeff Lange
And then Lasseter … He allegedly talked about his vision for the way WDI & WDFA could start working together. Where new attractions for the theme parks would be developed at the very same time as the movie that these rides & shows are supposed to be based on. So that — let’s take “Cars,” for example — you could see Pixar’s latest movie in a theater this summer, then drive on over to Anaheim. Where you’d then find a newly rethemed version of Disneyland’s Autopia waiting for you. Which would allow you to go ride inside of one of your favorite characters from “Cars.”
“But … But …,” you sputter.”In order for WDI to actually be able to do something like this, that would mean that this division of the Walt Disney Company would have to have a significantly bigger budget to play with.” Well, that’s the really great part of this story.
The way I hear it, as Bob Iger was making his pitch for Disney to buy Pixar, he kept talking up the idea of John being the creative lead at both WDFA and WDI. Eventually Lasseter allegedly interrupted Iger and said: “Look, that’s all well and good. But I actually have friends who work at Imagineering. And they’ve been telling me for years about how you guys have been systematically gutting that division, cutting the budgets for projects, etc.”
“So if you seriously want me to consider taking this job, Bob, to turn Walt Disney Imagineering around … I’m going to need your promise that I’ll get all the money I need as well as all the people I need.” And Bob actually agreed to John’s proposal.
Now for just a wee bit of bad news. Just a tiny concern. Which comes directly from Mr. Lasseter’s “handlers” at both Disney & Pixar … There is a concern in-house that John — just because he is such a Disney theme park geek — may focus most of his creative attention on Walt Disney Imagineering and accidentally neglect his real job. Which is keeping Pixar Animation on track as well as reviving Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Photo by Jeff Lange
So the key phrase now is focus. As in: “We need to keep John focused on animation. That it’s okay if he does all of this Imagineering stuff on the side. Just so long as animation remains his top priority.”
Speaking of animation … Everyone knows that — as his first executive order at Disney — Lasseter ordered that production of “Toy Story III” immediately be shut down. But what most folks haven’t yet realized is that — while John may have shut down production of this Disney-produced sequel — that doesn’t actually mean that Lasseter ordered Circle 7 (I.E. The CG studio that Disney execs set up last year to produce sequels to the Pixar pictures) to be closed.
From what I understand, John toured Circle 7 last Wednesday and actually liked a lot of what he saw. Particularly WDFA’s R & D department, which is housed in the Circle 7 Studio complex.
So as for the people who work at Circle 7, their jobs are safe … for now. Many of them who met with Lasseter last Wednesday describe John as being very personable. Asking these folks where they were from, what school they had gone to, etc. In short, not acting at all like some high muckety-muck executive. But — rather — just like a regular guy.
Said one unnamed Circle 7 employee: “It wasn’t like he didn’t like us. He just didn’t like the idea of Circle 7 — or anyone else, for that matter — making ‘Toy Story III.’ That film was his baby. He’s the one who wants control over what happens next with those characters.”
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Anyway … That’s all I’ve heard (to date) about what John Lasseter supposedly did when he toured Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering last Wednesday. That sounds like a pretty full first day of work for Big John, don’t you think?
Your thoughts?
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