4. In With The New
The Incredibles marked a big change in the structure of Pixar. Director Brad Bird may have been at CalArts with the rest of the Pixar alumni, but he soon moved away to direct The Iron Giant and become a consultant on The Simpsons. But upon showing old friend John Lasetter his plan for The Incredibles, he quickly joined the animation studio. For most of its life, Pixar have had the same key brain tank who oversee all their productions and for the most part act as the main directors. Sometimes, a lower down member will come to direct, like Lee Unkrich with Toy Story 3, but up until now, no one outside the Old Guard have made their way to the very top. Brenda Chapman, originally set to direct Brave, had joined the team at Ratatouille, but due to creative differences was ousted and replaced with Brad Birds right hand man and clearly experienced Mark Andrews. Monsters University marks the first time someone not from CalArts is helming a Pixar feature. Dan Scanlon has been with Pixar since the first Monsters, but his elevation to director shows a lot about the companys future. With both Bird and Andrew Stanton exploring live action endeavours (to varying degrees of success) and Lasetter now at Disney, it looks like Pixar is thinking in the long term, moving away from the initial generation; Monsters University could quite easily define where they will go from here.