Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Happy Birthday, Uncle John...


And on a lighter note...

John Alan Lasseter was born on this date in 1957. If you don't know who he is... you... really... are... on... the... wrong... blog. Really.

Lasseter, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, Head of development for Toon Disney Studios, advisor to Disney Consumer Products and wine maker, wasn't in town today. Believe it, or not. Can you imagine how busy this guy is with all these titles? It's a wonder he has time to tie his shoes. Well, let me just say, from everyone here at Blue Sky Disney, happy birthday Uncle John. Or Mr. Lasseter, which ever you want your highness. Hehe. Yes, say it if you want. I'm a lemming. But if you do, you'll realize that you don't have a sense of humor and you need one.

One of the great things about Lasseter is his passion and belief in a project. He also has the ability to inspire those around him to do better than what they expected or even believed they could do. And another sign of his authenticity came at the D23 Expo. When everyone came out, from Iger, Rasulo and even Cook, there was a giant teleprompter set up that had their exact script. All of their words were just calculated and prepared beforehand. Not John. If you would have looked at the monitor during his keynote you would have seen this:

Talk about Tinkerbell film.

Talk about new Winnie the Pooh film.

Talk about Princess and the Frog.

ect.


See? He just put bullet points up to remind him about stuff so that he wouldn't forget anything. His entire speech was ad-libbed and from his heart. What he said, he believed. That is something that is very hard to come by in life, and even harder in Hollywood. That's something of true value there folks.

Have fun blowing out those candles, sir...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Mr. Lasseter.

Thank you so much for all of your hard work and belief in quality.

Anonymous said...

"Talk about Tinkerbell film.

Talk about new Winnie the Pooh film.

Talk about Princess and the Frog.

ect."

...Hmmmm. Very interesting. I'm assuming that someone filled you in on that, since if I remember correctly, you were not able to attend Lasseter's Keynote address. ;) :)

Speaking of which, my sister and I attended last year's Expo and we had a blast.

I really wish that D23 would get to announcing the subject of another Expo!

Honor Hunter said...

No, I attended the Lasseter keynote...

I didn't attend Iger's keynote. Perhaps that is what you're thinking about.

I was there watching it with everyone else and I noticed that teleprompter up close and personal.

And as he spoke from the heart, I had a smile on my face...

Anonymous said...

Oh, Sorry!
Yeah, I remember that there was one you said you couldn't make it to.

I was at Lasseter's keynote as well. I almost didn't make it in! Very cool to see him and hear him talk about the upcoming projects.

Fun With Mr. Future said...

I love you John, but please bring the sense of innovation and bravery of the Pixar films to Disney Animation. No more looking backwards (more Pooh ? Why ?) , let's look forward at the marvelous vistas that hand drawn hasn't touched yet.

Thank you .

Anonymous said...

I think that part of the reason for making a new theatrical Pooh film is for the nostalgia.

At Lasseter's keynote address, he made it clear that the new Pooh film will be done in the same vein as the classic Pooh films and is NOT just for children.
If I remember correctly, they even went as far as looking to the original A.A. Milne stories for inspiration.

So, while this new Pooh movie may not turn out to be everyone's cup of tea, they are clearly putting effort into it.

Just like the Tinker Bell movies; they may not be everyone's cup of tea, but from what I have seen, the stories have been strong, and care went into the development of them.

Good thing too. Judging from the deleted story reels from the DVD of first Tinker Bell movie, the film was VERY close to becoming a disaster. Luckily, those horrible story ideas never made it into the finished film because they took the time to make a good story.

Newbie said...

"If you don't know who he is... you... really... are... on... the... wrong... blog. Really."

Okay, William Shatner.

Wow. What an unnecessary way to turn off newbies to your blog like me. I sure don't feel welcome to come back. I didn't know who John Lasseter was.

Elite Medium said...

As Honor said. You don't have a sense of humor and you need to get one.

Sigh.

Anonymous said...

As I've said here before a couple of times, I really love Lasseter, I have faith in all of the projects that he is associated with, and I'm also glad that is is able to have some input at WDI as well.

Cars Land can't open fast enough for me! :)