DVDizzy Forum

blackcauldron85 wrote:http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... about.html

Another artist related that she understood The Bear and the Bow was getting retooled from the ground up after Brenda Chapman's departure. We fell into a discussion about directors getting replaced on animated films, how it happens with regularity, and she said:

"I don't know why management says "Directors run the show" when directors obviously don't. When John wants it one way and a director wants it another way, John's way wins. Some employees around here believed what was said instead of what actually happens, and got demoralized.

"I guess they [top management] just want to polish their legacy and build themselves a storyline about how the studio is. But I think it would be
better if they just were honest about the reality." ...

Ugh, this is extremely disappointing. First she's replaced as director and now we won't even be seeing her version of Brave on the big screen. I was looking forward to at least seeing her version. I'm not excited for this as I was before, but we'll see. It'll probably still be a great film.

I do agree to some degree of the quote Black Cauldron85 posted. What is the point of a director if he/she can't have any or little say in how the movie is done?

One think if find sad in business world, especially one like animation(disney), is the lack of faith in the person abilities in doing something. And usually it's for sake of money.

I don't know if that's what Lasseter did it for(probably not) but I don't get why he would fire her and then have the story completely change instead.

I have no doubts that Brave will be a good high quality film regardless of who is at the helm. And it's likely to be critically acclaimed with John Lasseter as producer.

But I just dont expect anything original or fresh to come out of Brave now that Brenda Chapman's out.

toonaspie wrote:I have no doubts that Brave will be a good high quality film regardless of who is at the helm. And it's likely to be critically acclaimed with John Lasseter as producer.

But I just dont expect anything original or fresh to come out of Brave now that Brenda Chapman's out.

Exactly. While that post full of quotes very much says that movie was probably great, the Hollywood Entertainment Industry is not a place to make a overly unique movie at a studio that has never before had anything close to a failure. You can't blame Pixar for running their studio smart.

People aren't infallible and Lasseter and co. have been drunk on success for 15 years now surely it is possible some if got to their head.

I'm sorry but I cannot feel excited anymore to see Brenda's version out the window and a new male oriented or whatever bull being replaced instead.

Yes, films were critically acclaimed, but what's the degree? Who is going to argue Bolt is anything but a ripoff? That's what happens to projects that are completely scrapped and retooled. They have to hit the checkboxes they missed the first time.

Hoping Dreamworks up the ante. Maybe Pixar's Golden Age has ended. I'll see if I recognize any film in their library past Toy Story 3. No one might care, and then again, some people do.

As one of those fellows said, I have no problem if they were not being hypocritical. We are a director-driven studio? My ass. Apparently it's been changed to filmmaker-driven studio now with directors just being a piece of the puzzle. Yeah, damage control much?

Ratatouille also had its original director replaced, who I believe came up with the story as well. Whether it was necessary is another story.

Dear BK,

OMG! Are you saying that Brenda's rendition of "Brave" is gonna be replaced with a "Be bold, but come down, Missy, and cower at the end while a tough guy saves you!" storyline? I hope that that's not the case, with regards to the storyline of "Brave".

I'm SOOO excited about this movie. I already like Princess Merida, and I haven't even met her yet!

In some ways, I wish that "Brave" (Why, oh, why change the title to "Brave" anyway? ARG!) was going to be a big-budget, all out total animated Disney musical! Sorry, but I grew up with animated Disney musicals (I turned 9 during 1988), and I LOVED them!

I'd love to experience some masterful marriages between traditional and computer animation, some Broadway-worthy songs, some cool instrumental numbers, and some truly compelling, complex characters.

If only the complex psychology of Rapunzel and Mother Gothel could be paired with the musical magic of "Beauty and the Beast" from 2011 onward, with regards to the makeup of every future Disney movie!

I'm going to log onto www.imdb.com right away, 'cause I really WANT for there to be some new news about "Brave"!

Thank you in advance for your replies.
'

BK wrote: I'm sorry but I cannot feel excited anymore to see Brenda's version out the window and a new male oriented or whatever bull being replaced instead.

According to The Wrap, Disney has moved the release date of Brave from June 15 to July 22, 2012.

Also, according to some comments on the TAG blog, there is another director on Brave which was assigned on the film prior to Brenda Chapman's departure.

So, Brave will be directed by Mark Andrews (Brenda's replacement) and by another co-director whose name has yet to be announced.

BRAVE - FIRST LOOK ART

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/28/b ... irst-look/

It's also been reported that Kelly McDonald will be replacing Reese Witherspoon in the lead role. I'm sure Witherspoon can do the accent fine, but I like that they've gone with an actual Scot.

And Brenda Chapman will get the Jan Pinkava treatment and get credited as co-director. I assume she'll likely get a story credit, too.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=30534

Awesome artwork! So Merida's going to be a redhead?

estefan wrote:It's also been reported that Kelly McDonald will be replacing Reese Witherspoon in the lead role. I'm sure Witherspoon can do the accent fine, but I like that they've gone with an actual Scot.

And Brenda Chapman will get the Jan Pinkava treatment and get credited as co-director. I assume she'll likely get a story credit, too.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=30534

Wow, going with a great and albeit not so well-known actress instead of one that's a huge name? Color me surprised. It's sad to see Brenda Chapman go, but maybe this won't be such a bad thing after all.

WOAH!!! Those are absolutely beautiful!

RodryCroft wrote:BRAVE - FIRST LOOK ART

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/28/b ... irst-look/

Thankyou so much for posting. Now I'm looking forward to this movie.

estefan wrote:It's also been reported that Kelly McDonald will be replacing Reese Witherspoon in the lead role. I'm sure Witherspoon can do the accent fine, but I like that they've gone with an actual Scot.

I'm not really familiar with this Kelly MacDonald, but anyone's better than Witherspoon.

UmbrellaFish wrote: I'm not really familiar with this Kelly MacDonald, but anyone's better than Witherspoon.

Why?

I always thought she was a fairly decent actress. Of course, I'm not sure how well her voice would've worked, but I was looking forward to her.

I hope this doesn't mean that Julie Walters might have been replaced. Otherwise this'll be like the Mandy Moore incident for me.

Disney's Divinity wrote:

UmbrellaFish wrote: I'm not really familiar with this Kelly MacDonald, but anyone's better than Witherspoon.

Why?

I always thought she was a fairly decent actress. Of course, I'm not sure how well her voice would've worked, but I was looking forward to her.

I hope this doesn't mean that Julie Walters might have been replaced. Otherwise this'll be like the Mandy Moore incident for me.

I have no problem with Witherspoon as an actress at all (I like a fair amount of her movies and I think she's talented, plus there's the added plus that she's from my home state), but I don't care for her voice-over work and I think she would have made the movie less enjoyable for me.

UmbrellaFish wrote:

estefan wrote:It's also been reported that Kelly McDonald will be replacing Reese Witherspoon in the lead role. I'm sure Witherspoon can do the accent fine, but I like that they've gone with an actual Scot.

I'm not really familiar with this Kelly MacDonald, but anyone's better than Witherspoon.

I'm so glad they choose Kelly MacDonald over Reese Witherspoon(not that i dont like Reese), but Kelly is more Fairytale-like. She did a wonderfull job in Nanny McPhee hope the character will be modelled after her

RodryCroft wrote:BRAVE - FIRST LOOK ART

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/28/b ... irst-look/

Looks awesome!

Reese Witherspoon did great as Ginormica from Monsters vs. Aliens. Yet she can't seem to find a place in Disney or Pixar's movies; she was also passed over as the voice of Rapunzel.

It sounds like the directorial change was mutual, which bodes well for the final product. This sounds like it's going to be a very exciting film.