Brenda Chapman leaves Pixar for LucasFilms PLUS EW interview

[Dan]

IndieWire is reporting that Brenda Chapman is leaving Pixar to take a consulting job at LucasFilms Animation.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ ... t-20120808

[Dan]

Entertainment Weekly managed to get a few words from Brenda Chapman, who opened up a little bit about her frustration with being pulled from "Brave".

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/08/15/b ... stressing/

[James]

Yep, I've already got that in my queue for the morning!

[GeorgeC]

Much ado about nothing...

Most films NEVER get past the conception stage... One thing or another pops up and it all falls to pieces. Studios are in the habit of funding sure things, not wild goose chases.

BIGGER people than Chapman have been removed from films or re-assigned for whatever reasons... Usually it's loss of control on-set, going over-budget, or not proceeding at a reasonable pace to get a film done on time for its release date. It could have also been story issues that she wasn't able to overcome for whatever personal reasons. It sounds like she may have been a bit too close to this project... (This is not sexist commentary -- anticipating female readers who will read something more into this that simply isn't there -- this is a problem many male producers and directors have, too. If you can't get past over-attachment to something, you just have to leave and let somebody else take a crack at it.) Not that it matters much at this point in time -- it's not like Brave is going to be remembered as one of Pixar's better films along with the Cars series.

The production gestation consideration is why Henry Selick's most recent project with Disney was shuttered.

I think the whole "they're mean to me because I'm a girl" excuse is just that.
There have been rumblings about Chapman in the past from other sectors of animation. Many people felt she got promoted too fast over more senior, talented artists... Her familiarity with executives has also produced a lot of green eyes amongst fellow artists, too.

This latest episode will NOT help her with those guys, either...

[EricJ]

I think the whole "they're mean to me because I'm a girl" excuse is just that.
There have been rumblings about Chapman in the past from other sectors of animation. Many people felt she got promoted too fast over more senior, talented artists... Her familiarity with executives has also produced a lot of green eyes amongst fellow artists, too.
This latest episode will NOT help her with those guys, either...

(Darn, I knew there'd be a separate thread about this, should've saved it for that:
If anyone can merge the appropriate post over from the Brave thread on the Movies forum, both threads would be better off.)

Every time I hear that "great female directors" are "held back" in the industry, I ask the same question that must have occurred to everyone:
WHAT "great female directors"?: Amy Heckerling from "National Lampoon's European Vacation"? Penny Marshall? Barbara Streisand, perhaps? I cut Martha Coolidge some slack for "Real Genius", but that was almost thirty years ago...
(Even in animation, Linda Woolverton is getting a heck of a lot more work as a female screenwriter in the industry than she by rights deserves to, and I've never heard anyone say it was because somebody was being nice and letting a girl play on the team. If they were really honest, they'd make her stop.)

Brenda wasn't being interviewed about Brave, she was being interviewed in an article for the girls, and tried to play the Girly Card to unite the readers. But that don't work in film. She was kicked off the movie because she wanted to make it a "personal" mother-daughter girl's-role-model project, and Pixar doesn't play that game.
In fact, ever notice how, when Disney tries to find some character to market for "boys", as equal time for all the princess marketing, they always end up turning to Pixar characters?--Buzz Lightyear, Lightning McQueen, Nemo, the Incredibles, etc.? It's not because Pixar sets out to be the XY Studio of animation, it's because they create characters, period, that anyone can sympathize with: On the rare occasion the main character of a Pixar story actually is human, their situation is universal enough that we're emotionally involved, even if we don't happen to be a robot, retiree, or had a favorite toy we abandoned for college.
So, yes, Brenda, in a way, you WERE kicked out of Pixar for "being a girl". Nobody asked you to, it was your own danged fault you did, and you saw what happened when anyone tries to. Maybe you'll know better next time.