Walt's Family & Friends Interview With: John Lasseter John Lasseter was executive producer of the recent Pixar hit, "Finding Nemo," as well as "Monsters, Inc" and directed "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2." John is, perhaps more than any living man or woman, often compared to Walt Disney in terms of his quest for excellence and his ability to create films with warmth, humor, wit, style, and power. John was only the second student to attend the then-new animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. Summers, he worked at the Disney Studios, where he began full-time work after graduation. He spent five years there, leaving in 1984. When a new company called Pixar was formed, he had the license to move down the road toward an astonishing stream of successful productions. When John spoke with us, in connection with the creation of "The Man Behind the Myth," he enthusiastically told us at length about the ways in which he was influenced by Walt. Excerpts of that interview follow: Q. Do you have particularly strong memories of seeing Disney films, yourself, as a kid? Q. Do you have the sense of Walt Disney as an individual? Q. Tell us a little about how you've tapped into Walt's ideas in your own work. Q. Are there any other obvious influences? Q. What do your own kids think of Walt's films? Q. Do you have particularly strong memories of seeing Disney films, yourself, as a kid? John:    Oh, yes. My mother was a high school art teacher for about 38 years, and art was all around our house, but my thing was cartoons. And I used to watch cartoons on TV all the time, but my favorite thing was to go to the movies when the Disney film came out. And we would go see all the Disney animated films and I kind of lived for those because they were different than what you saw on TV. And this was, of course, before videotape, before the 24-hour cable channels. So every 7 years one of the Disney films would be re-released in that wonderful cycle and I would see it numerous times. And I remember when I was in high school I found a book in the high school library on "The Art of Animation" by Bob Thomas that told how they made films at the Disney Studio. And it dawned on me at that moment that it was like: "Wait a minute. You can do this for a living? People make cartoons and make money?" I said, "Okay, that's what I want to do." And my mother, bless her heart, she said, "You know, art is an noble profession. I think that's great." And so I started writing to the Disney Studios and they were great and started writing back to me and telling me what kind of education I should get. The Disney animated films were always special for me because the characters and the stories were so engaging. You stop thinking about them as animated films or cartoons. They were stories that moved you. That's what I remember, that's what has always inspired me about those films. Q. Do you have the sense of Walt Disney as an individual? John:    Well, I think that in growing up as I did, every Sunday night, there was Walt on television. He was such a memorable figure and he embodied what all the films were about. So when you saw a Disney animated film, in the back of my head there was always Walt because we grew up with him. And as I went to the California Institute of the Arts and was taught by some great old Disney animators and artists, and started hearing the stories of Walt and realized that he was really, really involved in the making of all these films. I mean it wasn't just his name above the title, it was him in these films. And it always inspired me because of his drive for the story and for the characters. That was the most important thing. And I remembered that as a kid, of just being so inspired by those characters in the stories. And the fact that they were really, really funny but also they had a lot of heart. And one of my teachers said that Walt always told them that for every laugh, there should be a tear. And that is something that I use every day in my own work. Q. Tell us a little about how you've tapped into Walt's ideas in your own work. John:    As we all know, he was really a proponent of developing new technology to apply to the films, to keep pushing the art form. But it's always in service of the story. Never did he allow a movie to have a new technology or some look without it being in the service of the story. The story was everything, and those great characters. As an audience member when you walk into a theater with your popcorn, and your coke and the lights dim and you go on, within a few minutes you should be into the story. You forgot about when your homework was due or your checkbook balanced or all of that. You're being entertained. You want to be swept away in this world of fantasy. And that's what Walt always did so well. And you didn't realize you were looking at incredible technology, incredible artistry. When I was working at the Disney Studio as an animator, I got very excited when I saw my first computer animation. I got really thrilled by the new technology and what it could do for character animation. And what I got excited about was the dimensionality. One of the things that Walt Disney always strived to do is to make his animated films more three-dimensional. The development of the multi-plane camera is exactly that. And so when I saw that computer animation I thought, "This is it. This is the future. You can move a camera in and around objects." And so I got really caught up in this new technology but from the very beginning I knew that this technology was not going to entertain audiences alone. This technology should be in the service of a story and great characters. And so that has constantly driven me and my work in pioneering and working with amazing technicians and scientists and inventors and brilliant people. I always brainwash them to know that it's not the technology that entertains audiences, its story and the characters. Q. Are there any other obvious influences? John:    One of the things too that people often ask me, "So what age range do you make your films for?" And I always think back to Walt. Walt never thought of any age group in the making of his films. These are for everybody. And that's what I firmly believe in. You can make a film that is great for teenagers and for young adults who don't have kids. It just makes them laugh and it challenges their intelligence and it engages them. But it's also great for kids. And it's great for their parents. And it's great for grandparents. This is what Walt did. Walter never thought about specific age groups. And one of the things that I also love about the films that Walt made: he respected his audience. He never talked down to the audience. You know, kids are really smart. Kids get it. And so often I see films made for kids and they make the kids seem dumb. But Walt's films always had such intelligence in them, and challenged kids, and challenged people to think beyond that. That's why when you see a parent and a child sitting, watching these films, they're both engaged. Q. What do your own kids think of Walt's films? John:    I have five sons and they love the Disney films. And we are constantly showing them new ones that they haven't seen before. It is so fun to watch them laugh. I mean really great, little boy belly laughs at the old black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons. You never get to see those anymore and they are really funny. My kids just howl with laughter, "Daddy, Daddy, show it again." "Peter Pan," "Bambi," "Dumbo." "Dumbo" is my favorite so they have to suffer through that one quite a bit because that is my favorite. I think that's the best movie ever made: "Dumbo." Because I think it is surprising in how it's just over an hour long and it truly moves you. It's got some really funny stuff. It's the most cartoony of all the films. And the scene in which Dumbo goes to see his mother: she's chained up and she can't even see her son and they only touch by touching their trunks and that wonderful song right there. I mean, show that to any parent and you're going to have tears rolling down their faces. It's immensely moving -- and it's a cartoon. It's a cartoon. That's what is so cool. That's why I do what I do. I make animated films. I can't tell you how many people say, "So, are you going to do a live-action film now?" I say, "No. Why would I? Tell me another film that my kids watch from 1938 other than 'Snow White.' Tell me another film made in the year of 'Dumbo' that they watch as much as they do." These films last forever and that's what I love. And when we make our films, even though we're using new technology, I'm looking way beyond that in trying to make these stories be solid and strong, and great characters that have great messages. And that's one of the things that I've been so inspired by the films of Walt Disney is the messages that he puts across. You come away learning something and you come away, because that's what gives these films so much heart and feeling, and you think about them long after the credits stopped rolling.