Pixar’s creative head misses Steve Jobs

LASSETER. “Steve set the bar really high.” RUBEN V. NEPALES

LOS ANGELES—“I miss Steve (Jobs) a lot,” John Lasseter replied when we asked him in a recent interview for his thoughts on the first death anniversary of the great visionary who was Pixar’s CEO.

“He was like my brother,” said John, the chief creative officer of the acclaimed animation studio. “I just miss talking to him all the time and bouncing off ideas. He was always a fresh set of eyes.”

According to John, that meant Steve was also judicious in allotting the  time he spent at Apple, Pixar, his other endeavors, and his family.

“Steve saw that as Pixar was growing, it was going to need something, so that was one of his visions,” pointed out John, who’s also the chief creative officer at Walt Disney Animation Studio. “Like, when Bob Iger stepped in (as chairman and CEO) at The Walt Disney Company, Steve got to know Bob. Steve said, ‘I believe in him, and I believe that he would be a good partner for us.’ ”

Analogy

John came up with an interesting analogy for how the late cofounder of Pixar guided him and the staff. “The way I like to describe Steve is that he was like our dad, and we were learning to ride a bike,” John began. “Steve had a grip of that bike, and he started running alongside us, then he started letting go. He let go of the handlebars, and we were steering.

“Then, pretty soon, he was standing on the curb, and we were jumping off curves and riding around by ourselves. So, it felt okay. That was where Apple really needed his day-to-day focus. Pixar was under the leadership of Ed Catmull (he is the president). Steve was so smart in looking down the line, and that had nothing to do with him getting sick.”

John added, “Then, when Steve got sick, he knew the right thing to do for this company. They’re going to be alright with Bob Iger’s leadership and working with us.”

“Steve set up the environment; he protected us,” John praised the man who was one of the creative geniuses of our time. “He gave us this creative bubble. But, he set the bar really high. The only thing he ever asked of me is to ‘make it (the film) great, make it great.’”

First time

“The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind,” with Pete Docter and Filipino-American and UST alumnus, Ronnie del Carmen, as director and co-director, respectively, remains untitled, John confirmed. “We haven’t cleared the title yet,” John said of the film, due in 2015, which marks the first time that a Fil-Am is codirecting a Pixar feature. “It’s going along great.”

John was touting director Rich Moore’s Disney film, “Wreck-It Ralph,” which Screen International critic, Brent Simon, hailed as “a nostalgic affectation for vintage gaming and an openhearted, family-friendly story of self-acceptance and friendship.”

The film benefits from its talented voice actors, especially John C. Reilly, who has the title role, an arcade game villain who wants to be loved. “Once Rich pitched the idea of having the bad guy as the main character, which was fantastic, we wanted someone who also has a heart of gold,” said the man who heads the two venerated animation studios. “We wanted someone we would fall in love with despite being the bad-guy character—so, immediately, the writer of the movie, Phil Johnston and I thought that John C. Reilly would be perfect for this character.

John also spoke highly of the rest of the cast—Jane Lynch, Jack McBrayer, Sarah Silverman, et al.: “By the end of making any of our films at Pixar or Disney, those voice actors become friends of ours. But, I’ve never experienced quite to this level of actors being so deeply invested in, and in love with, their characters in the movie. John was fantastic! He kept adding. And Sarah was remarkable—a force of nature!”

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