{"id":6773,"date":"2019-01-18T20:15:45","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T01:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/?p=6773"},"modified":"2019-01-18T20:15:45","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T01:15:45","slug":"lee-unkrich-says-goodbye-after-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/lee-unkrich-says-goodbye-after-25-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee Unkrich says goodbye after 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pixar is undergoing a lot of changes &#8211; many of them positive, others a bit more bittersweet. Lee Unkrich&#8217;s departure from the studio after 25 years of brilliant and inspiring storytelling falls into the second category.<br \/>\n<div style=\"width: 971px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/mXXuPqKu0MnzmMY8L_bEk1mQs_HqEzWBrj6FFWphaaGmLpiGhLO3wu_hwhw0lzUq4lPUJLlBEvGT1p2f-1WisY_3nGlT_q82u1st76BhO_3LGU9v5uBxnrNZlAAq5yf7L3kjLItIb7fyn5uTxD1PJpcQsFfwHl67kkGJU2wVnr-nwM5nvakfMkKNHMXmQJ4vdJ0ArsSJIsSj8gJDoO3IV_Q1_o-IUh5ff4jP_jOmWNVccK10qmzYEHJ6K6kcGezftD2yaiBGdxrkQTioOScRq9qMJNTt7am_bAoNrLY6AEYV8h-wSVnPPY0cIbrL53RPP4p1EieHCz_qKPvShUAAIj0Y-J1rk3HehJoiEZJehLbEmObJYlPFcQodKsgaMlSDEHOhUC8dtTV9VFIGtqqDwbSJKiAOevUzab5QY9hThbkgwBsCdzK86JiEzKMDWz5tcYy5O_T_K7KSst6RcL5SaidVTPsmu7i-6aHh0hvmPFyXqFcDOdyxdFm2YTL_A0V4UpD8v16pGqKIJ5IspVZ6wKjqz83HQBH2phs4V8yeKFIY4U3kIDF9FsyUl1CYO5vUDJu365Mras0sfKxrGF-0ladm1-42Zn-2qtQUFk_4P9R1Zi9IJUuGqPK6XK4CTfoF9E33WhNg5IrINQ8pzsANOgdX=w962-h641-no\" alt=\"\" width=\"961\" height=\"641\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deborah Coleman, Pixar<\/p><\/div><br \/>\nHe first announced the news on twitter, linking to an article in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/heat-vision\/coco-director-lee-unkrich-leaving-pixar-25-years-1177411\">The Hollywood Reporter,<\/a> and following up with another tweet where he said &#8220;the time has come for new adventures.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">After twenty-five incredible years, I\u2019ve decided to leave Pixar.<\/p>\n<p>The time has come for new adventures. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0KZyHXhs8L\">pic.twitter.com\/0KZyHXhs8L<\/a><br \/>\n\u2014 Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/leeunkrich\/status\/1086387028684468225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 18, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nOf course, this news comes as a shock. Unkrich did not specify if he&#8217;s retiring from filmmaking, but he did inform the Reporter that he&#8217;s going to pursue some neglected interests and spend more time with his family.<br \/>\n&#8220;I&#8217;m not leaving to make films at another studio; instead, I look forward to spending much-needed time with my family and pursuing interests that have long been back-burnered.&#8221;<br \/>\nUnkrich&#8217;s last directorial effort was the monumentally successful <em>Coco<\/em>. It was just his second after helming 2010&#8217;s equally impressive <em>Toy Story 3.\u00a0<\/em>He&#8217;s been at the studio since the very beginning, with Pete Docter praising him for his undeniable prowess.<br \/>\n&#8220;Lee arrived at Pixar as we were crafting\u00a0<em>Toy Story,<\/em>\u00a0and he\u2019s had a profound effect on all Pixar films since. He literally taught us\u00a0rookie filmmakers about staging, composition, and cutting. His artistry and expert craftsmanship as an editor and co-director became a major reason for\u00a0the high quality of our filmmaking, and as Lee went on to direct, his ability to find the deep humor and emotion enabled him to create some\u00a0of the strongest films we\u2019ve made.&#8221;<br \/>\nBefore codirecting <em>Toy Story 2<\/em>, <em>Monsters, Inc.<\/em>, and\u00a0<em>Finding Nemo,\u00a0<\/em>he was an editor on the films. Pixar president Jim Morris also credited Unkrich&#8217;s ability to make the films even better. \u201cIf you look at the sweep of contemporary cinema, it would be difficult to find someone more brilliant in the filmmaking arts than Lee Unkrich. He has been a key player in elevating virtually every one of Pixar\u2019s films.\u201d<br \/>\nAlan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, echoed Morris and Docter:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cLee has left an indelible mark on the world of film, and we are so grateful for the passion and talent he has brought to each\u00a0movie\u00a0he has worked on. He\u2019ll always be part of the Disney-Pixar family, and we will miss him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While we are a bit sad over this news, we&#8217;re also happy that Lee is prioritizing his family. We truly believe he&#8217;s leaving the studio in more than capable hands, and that this new generation of storytellers will still be impacted by his years of dedication and keen storytelling gifts.<br \/>\n<strong>Update 1\/19<\/strong>: Read Lee Unkrich&#8217;s parting letter below.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Letter sent to my Pixar family. \u2764\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UUonemVbLe\">pic.twitter.com\/UUonemVbLe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/leeunkrich\/status\/1086675568894996480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tmnf_excerpt\"><p>Pixar is undergoing a lot of changes &#8211; many of them positive, others a bit more bittersweet. Lee Unkrich&#8217;s departure from the studio after 25 years of brilliant and inspiring storytelling falls into the second category. He first announced the news on twitter, linking to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, and following up with &hellip;<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,2,6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lee Unkrich says goodbye after 25 years - Upcoming Pixar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pixarplanet.com\/blog\/lee-unkrich-says-goodbye-after-25-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lee Unkrich says goodbye after 25 years - Upcoming Pixar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pixar is undergoing a lot of changes &#8211; many of them positive, others a bit more bittersweet. 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