The Good Dinosaur had a strong showing at this year’s D23 Expo, but there was one noticeable absence: Bob Peterson, the director of the film, didn’t speak about the film at all. It could be that he simply wasn’t available, but Blue Sky Disney (via /Film) is reporting otherwise; the director (as well as producer John Walker) may have been kicked off of the project following story problems.
Directorial changes have become an increasingly common trend for the studio; Cars 2 and Brave both had highly publicized shifts, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the same is happening to The Good Dinosaur. Whether this will affect the film’s release date has yet to be seen.
Whatever happens, it’ll be disappointing if Peterson is replaced; he’s been a longtime member of the Pixar team, proving himself as a versatile story artist, writer/director, and voice actor. A major directorial shift this close to release will drastically impact the movie, for better or for worse. If the rumors are true, expect an official statement in the near future.
Stay tuned…
Last modified: August 26, 2013
Oh boy, let’s hope this just stays a rumor…
Yuck, I really hope this isn’t true. I hate all this kicking-directors-off-of-their-own-projects crap, especially when it’s someone who’s so respected like Bob Peterson. Plus, director’s being removed = story having problems = we could get a film that’s not so great. Really, really, REALLY hope this isn’t true…
It’s most definitely true. Every single director at Pixar has been replaced since Cars 2, even on unreleased projects. Brad Lewis/Cars2, Brenda Chapman/Brave, Doug Sweetland/MU, Gary Rydstrom/Newt, and now Bob Peterson/Good Dino. Fits the pattern.
I would tend to trust Blue Sky, they have a lot of exclusive scopes. They revealed Disney’s entire lineup for the next five years over a month ago.
Plus, if you love Pixar then you really must check out their post about why there are no People in the world of Cars. I think it was a post called “The Mechanics Of Cars. Good perspective.
Very disappointing to hear this. I get the sense now that this has become less about improving the story and more about finding someone who will follow John Lasseter’s orders.
I see following John Lasseter’s orders as a good thing. I don’t agree with the people who say Cars 2 is bad and Cars is okay. I think they are just as great as the other Pixar films. Toy Story 3 is the closest I’ve come to a disappointment, and even that was good for me. A majority of Pixar’s success is due to John Lasseter’s pioneering. I strongly disagree with those who say Lasseter is inferior to the other Pixar directors. If not, why aren’t any of the other directors leading Disney, Pixar, and Disney Toon instead?
Anyway, I doubt Bob Peterson would be resentful toward this decision. I doubt that Pixar would fire him or encourage him to quit, he’s done way too much for them to do that to him. Hopefully he stays at Pixar and moves to other positions in the studio. Also, I don’t happen to recall Doug Sweetland directing Monsters University at any point, maybe he did and I didn’t know about it.
It wasn’t widely publicized, but Doug Sweetland was directing MU before Scanlon
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1453405/trivia
Interesting. Maybe that’s why he left Pixar? So are they choosing to quit or are they encouraged to quit or else they are fired if they can’t direct a movie at Pixar?
I hope they will be graceful to Bob Peterson. No reason they shouldn’t be. I can’t see him being resentful or holding a grudge afterward, and I don’t see him moving to DreamWorks or some other studio. I just hope everything will be good between them. Pixar and Bob both deserve the benefit of the doubt here, and so does The Good Dinosaur to me.
I wasn’t suggesting that John Lasseter is inferior to the other directors at all, Toy Story 2 is my favourite Pixar movie. I just feel that it’s hypocritical for him to remove so many directors from their films while proudly saying that Pixar is a filmmaker driven studio. He’s now guilty of doing what the Disney management did to him when he was directing Brave Little Toaster at Disney.
I respect him a lot, and without him we wouldn’t have so many wonderful films. But I feel perhaps the pressure of maintaining a high quality in Disney’s feature animation is making him less trusting of other directors.
Oh sorry, I wasn’t accusing you of calling John inferior. Don’t worry, that just meant I’ve heard it other places, I ought to clear that up.
It’s probably also just harder for him to do his job at three companies. Maybe some are just taking it too harshly like Brenda Chapman, but I guess what you’re saying could be right. I wish somebody like Pete Docter would be promoted to help him out and co-lead Pixar or something. Pete would be my first pick anyway, and then probably Andrew Stanton. Or maybe they both could.
Well, some good news is we will probably not have this problem with the next 2-3 films as they are already proven directors. Not certain, but almost completely.
Although Bob Peterson and Peter Sone are no longer working on the film, replacing or shuffling directors has happend on many films at Pixar, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Cars 2, Brave, monsters University, Newt, and now Good Dinosaur. As long as the movie’s good I don’t care.
I agree! Although I think Peter Sohn is the new director, and Denise Ream is the new producer. I have hopes for Pete, who directed the cute little “Partly Cloudy”. Still pray that Bob Peterson either doesn’t leave or have hard feelings with Pixar. I’m sure The Good Dinosaur will be great.
[…] Various Pixar Directors Helming Film Via Pixar Planet: Earlier this week, we reported on a very worrying rumor that longtime Pixarian Bob Peterson has been removed as director […]