Is Brenda Chapman out of the director’s chair for Brave?
The popular animation blog, Cartoon Brew, points to an unnamed "reliable source" for today’s big reveal. In fact, the site reports that she has left the studio for good.
Brenda Chapman would have been Pixar’s first female director, but I would assume the change had nothing to do with her gender. Regardless, I’m willing to bet that a controversy is in our midst.
Brew also reports that One Man Band director and story vet, Mark Andrews, is actively replacing Chapman in the role of helmer. No further details were mentioned as to why a change was implemented.
As you may know, directorial swaps aren’t anything new at Pixar. I’d point to Toy Story 2, but the best example is Jan Pinkava’s flailing Ratatouille which was subsequently turned into an Oscar-winning masterpiece by Brad Bird.
Hopefully, everything was done for the best— you can trust Pixar on that end. We wish Brenda Chapman the best of luck in her future endeavors, assuming the news isn’t simply hogwash.
Update: I’m glad to report that Brenda Chapman has NOT left Pixar Animation Studios. However, The New York Times confirms confirms today that she has stepped down as director on Brave. A Disney rep commented, "the decision to remove her was made for “creative reasons.”
Your thoughts?
Last modified: October 18, 2010
So crazy! What a shakeup. I’m sure Pixar knows what they’re doing, but I feel bad for Brenda. I hope all is going well for her.
Wow, I didn’t see this coming, quite shocking to be true. After a few days of no Pixar news. I really do wonder if Pixar is trying to repeat another ratatouille. Hopefully the change has more benefits to the film.
wow it would really be interesting to find out what it was exactly that created such a shakeup
Wow. This makes about 8 or 9 times pixar’s changed directors. Is Disney making them do this?
@ The Most Recent Anonymous
Disney wouldn’t be making them do this, in fact, if Disney didn’t trust Pixar they likely wouldn’t even consider it. Replacing directors is a big deal, and it’s expensive for the studio. Pixar is doing this because they’re not afraid to make any change necessary for the betterment of the film.
I’m kind of sad about this, but I guess I’m just going to have to trust Pixar’s intuition again.
“Disney wouldn’t be making them do this”
Don’t be so naive. Disney owns Pixar and can do what they want with it. Period. So says the Stock Prospectus. Pixar answers to the same boss: the stockholders. It’s no doubt difficult and expensive to make these kinds of changes, but it seems to be happening quite a bit.
Yeah, but what would be the reason for this no matter if it was Disney or Pixar? If it was Disney, the only reason I could see was so that they could use the whole “From the director of” thing to excite people
I’m really disappointed about this. I really don’t care about Brenda Chapman being Pixar’s first female director, I just think she’s an amazing filmmaker. I was really looking forward to this but now, I don’t know. Ratatouille was a good movie, but honestly I feel that its one of Pixar;s weakest. Hopefully this decision was made for the best.