grr, I feel the exact same way. I was SO excited for this movie, especially with Brenda being involved in ALL my favorite movies. Now, I’m just kinda ehh. This might be the last straw with me for Pixar. I really though that Toy Story 3 wasn’t as good as the other two, they announce 2 new sequels, and have Brenda stinkin’ Chapman leaving the studio. I seriously cried when I heard this. CRIED. That’s how emotionally attached I was to a movie that didn’t even come out for another 2 years…I just hope that it still turns out to be a good film 
Me too… Hopefully Disney or Pixar or Brenda Chapman will give some kind of official statement soon…
As much as I’m disappointed and confused as to why Brenda Chapman will no longer be working on Brave, I think it’s completely incorrect to immediately assume that it’s all PIXAR’s fault. We don’t know the specifics of anything yet, so to jump to such conclusions as PIXAR is giving into pressure or that they screwed someone over is unfair to them, given the lack of evidence we have to support anything. Heck, for all we know, Chapman may have left on her own accord (at least that’s what it sounds like).
Anyway, as much as I want to say the stock phrase “I’m sure Pixar had it’s reasons for doing so,” that still doesn’t make me feel any less disappointed PIXAR’s first Female Driven film won’t be as Female Driven as it originally was. I mean, I always had my doubts about PIXAR doing a fairy tale to begin with, but it was at least going to be a revolutionary change for the studio. Now I’m hoping that there just isn’t any singing in it.
At any rate, I’ll be disappointed if she actually left for good and ends up going back to DreamWorks. It’d be an extreme loss for the studio, I’m sure.
As it turns out she’s not actually gone from the studio, just the project. I’m still a little bummed.
Who confirmed that where, Leirin?
Yeah, I’m hoping the reason is, well, reasonable. Brenda may have had personal reasons to stop working on it, or may have lost interest for all we know. We don’t have enough information to say it was anyone’s “fault”- for all we know it was a perfectly mutual decision, which would explain why she’s still at the company. I think that a lot of people think it’s Pixar because of other recent events there and at Disney, and because they’ve been known to change directors before. But in the end there’s not evidence at the moment to suggest that, as you said.
I hope we see another film fully directed by Chapman in the near future. I’m surprised she didn’t do anymore directing after The Prince of Egypt up until Brave.
After absorbing all this yesterday, I have to say that the directing change on Disney’s upcoming film Tangled didn’t bother me at all in the slightest because Glen Keane is more of an animator than a director, and even though he was kicked off the director’s chair, at least he still stayed in the project and continued serving as the directing animator on the film. But in this case, Brenda just basically stopped being involved with Brave completely, and that just really saddens me. D:
The same person also said “it was an educated guess.” None of us, even the professional animators who commented on that post, know the details of what actually happened. For all you know, she could have also had her own reasons for stepping down. She IS married and has a daughter and a family of her own. Maybe she was also dealing with some personal family problems and whatnot. You never know.
This is a really good post, lizardgirl and I totally agree with you here. As much as it really is a shame, I don’t actually blame Pixar for having this kind of mentality now. It makes sense if you think about it, because they’ve had so many hits with their movies that now they must feel that everything they do must be perfect to meet their audiences expectations. That’s a whole lot of pressure on them indeed.
I have to say as much as I’m extremely disappointed that she’s not directing anymore, reading that did make me feel a little better about this situation. Now I’m just extremely relieved that she didn’t LEAVE Pixar on bad terms with them. That would have been too heartbreaking for me to bare.
I’m really glad, happy and relieved that she’s still working at the studio. If she ever decides to work on another feature film again, then I think Pixar should definitely see it through and let her have control over it next time.
It’s on the Upcoming Pixar front page.
Still don’t care. If this works out like Ratatouille, I’ll be happy. If not, then oh well. We can’t change that.
Maybe Brenda Chapmen left Brave to work on newt, which might be conveniently in production at the Disney Animation Studios. I’m just saying is all.
I’ve kinda come to senses with this, at first I was extremely disappointed that Brenda wasn’t going to be director anymore, but at least she’s still working there and the movie is still happening- unlike newt. I might just be looking at the glass half full- but I still hope that this film will be amazing, and like Danachii said, I truly hope she’ll be headlining a new Pixar project sometime soon. 
I’m really excited for this movie. Less thn Cars 2, but still…this looks very interesting.
I think with all of the speculation that may arise around Pixar nowadays, it is important to remember that a lot of it will surface from the internet. Which, from what I can tell seems to be the one place which turns on something that becomes successful at the drop of the hat. I would imagine there were problems with the stories in the past, just like there have been with this one which is why a director has been removed or replaced. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it was done with any malicious intent.
We probably shouldn’t forget that Filmmaking of any kind is a collaborative process too. Brenda Chapman will still probably get awarded writing credits on the movie, which is just as good in my opinion. To me, the notion of sexism doesn’t even really exist in this case anyway. It appears to be the media who have made this in to a debate other whether the studio are sexist or not. It’s happened to a fair few male directors, and the second it happens to a female, just because it’s the first female director means that something must be wrong.
But as others have said in here, there’s a lot of pressure on Pixar to perform every single time with each movie they release. Only time will tell whether or not taking off the director was a good or bad choice. But we can’t really judge until we’ve seen the film, to speculate and scrutinize further seems a little silly.
It truly saddens me to see this happen. Ironically, according to the article, Brenda was the first female director at Pixar’s greatest rival studio (The Studio-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, oooh, oooh).
We’ll never know for sure if it was a simple creative conflict like Jan Pinkava, Glen Kleane or Lou Romano, or if it was something more insidious along the lines of workplace gender discrimination (which I think is highly unlikely with such a progressive studio, though not impossible).
It’s just that I’m beginning to see The Brain Trust in a different light now. Sort of an oligarchy style of government where the creative decisions lie with a small and trusted group (mainly the ‘Four Kings’), who have the ultimate say. While they may be more experienced artists, and their system definitely better than the corporate-based ones in other studios, it sort of leaves me to wonder whether newbies have full directorial control without the interference of The Brain Trust.
You took the words out of my mouth, woody. I’m deeply disappointed with the state of affairs lately. Could this be the end of Pixar’s golden age?
How about a rat hiding under Mr Bird’s cap? 
That Ratatouille joke was great.
I’m feeling a lot of negativity on this thread, and it’s very depressing. I agree with Nathan; you guys are jumping to conclusions.
But, woody, I too was disappointed by TS3, and the announcement of :gasp: more sequels. 
Exactly! I don’t really like this thread anymore, due to the depressing feeling I’m getting.
We really don’t know anything until we see the film.
^Yes. I’m done with this thread until further notice as this is just a Pixar blood bath(because a Pixar forum is a good place for that 
). I’m sick of this.
Wow, Pixar did something that wasn’t perfect!! Let’s all act like it’s the end of the world!!
I find that sick. Does no one remember the poor remarks ABL and Cars got? And guess what? Pixar is fine now. See my point? Cool.
^ You are awesome, Virginia. I agree with everything you just said 100%!
I’m sorry, but I don’t see how this thread is negative in any way. Yes, there are criticisms, but they’re mostly constructive and fairly balanced with optimistic hopes.
Nobody’s only saying bad things, and I believe that showing more concern and asking questions makes one a deeper fan than merely going along with the official press release and not acknowledging a studio’s faults or mistakes when they occur. To deny pointing out someone’s flaws is to not recognise them as a fallible person, and the same goes for studios.
And while we may never know whether this will affect the eventual film, it’s fun to speculate, as long as it doesn’t get too mean-spirited or one-sided. That’s the whole point of this forum, to debate. 
Nothing I read in this thread was upsetting, everyone seems to be giving some stable opinions and I’m enjoying reading what everyone has to say…
She’s staying, thus I’m happy. And as long as the film does well which is a long time off until we can even see progress towards such an end to the means, I’ll stay happy.