WhileJohn Lasseter’s name is not as familiar as Stephen Spielberg or QuentinTarantino, everyone knows Pixar, the studio whose direction he helped to guide.In John Lasseter (University of Illinois Press), Richard Neupert gives a clear,concise overview of this signal filmmaker. Without Lasseter, computer animationmight have remained a tool for tech geeks or the plaything of theavant-garde—at least until another savvy filmmaker recognized its potential.For Lasseter, sympathetic characters and compelling stories are every bit asimportant as technology.
Lasseter’sbackground situated him well for the role he would play. While at CalArts, heattended Star Wars upon release and was enchanted by the storytelling as wellas the special effects. He worked for Disney at a time when the studio was runby hacks that seemed determined to trivialized Uncle Walt’s legacy. Although hewas always a generous collaborator, “incredibly cooperative and even selflesswhen working with others,” his ambitious new ideas made him a loose canon atDisney.
Afterhe was fired, he went on to George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic. Alas,the Star Wars director saw computer animation as just another Philips in histool kit rather than an end in itself, yet he generously funded Lasseter’searly research. In 1986 Lasseter became a founding employee of the newly spunoff Pixar Studio. After a few years of short subjects, he directed Toy Story(1995) and changed the face of animation.
Afilm studies professor at the University of Georgia, Neupert chronicles hissubject with a sympathetic understanding of animation history and the processthat allowed Pixar to rise. Unlike most contemporary producers of featurefilms, relying on a plethora of freelancers and talent for hire, Pixar workslike an old-fashioned Hollywood studio in the best sense. Lasseter is part of aconsistent team of artists and artisans whose members benefit from familiaritywith each other’s strengths.
