10:21 pm - 02/28/2013
'Brave' director Brenda Chapman breaks silence: Getting taken off film 'heartbreaking... devastating... distressing'
When Pixar’s Brave arrived in theaters in June, two directors shared full credit for the film: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman. The project had originated with Chapman — who’d previously directed DreamWorks Animation’s The Prince of Egypt — but at the beginning of 2011, the studio took the reins from her completely and handed them to Andrews, who’d worked on The Incredibles and Ratatouille.
It was a surprising development to say the least, given that Chapman had been Pixar’s first female director of a feature length film, not to mention that Brave featured the studio’s first female protagonist, a fiery Scottish archer-princess named Merida (Kelly Macdonald). But other than a brief comment to the Los Angeles Times in 2011 that the split was due to “creative differences,” Chapman has remained silent on the matter. Until now.
In an essay for a larger New York Times feature about women’s perpetual underrepresentation in all corners of Hollywood, Chapman wrote that the past year and a half had been “a heartbreakingly hard road” for her. “When Pixar took me off of Brave — a story that came from my heart, inspired by my relationship with my daughter — it was devastating,” she writes.
While she still does not go into any specifics about why she was removed from the film, Chapman makes quite clear she did not agree with the decision. “Animation directors are not protected like live-action directors, who have the Directors Guild to go to battle for them,” she writes. “We are replaced on a regular basis — and that was a real issue for me. This was a story that I created, which came from a very personal place, as a woman and a mother. To have it taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on so many levels.”
Chapman does point out that ultimately her “vision” remained in the film, and that she remains “very proud of the movie.” But her last word on the matter (for now) would seem to suggest that after reportedly leaving Pixar to consult on an animation project for Lucasfilm, she’s not eager to return. “Sometimes women express an idea and are shot down, only to have a man express essentially the same idea and have it broadly embraced,” she writes. “Until there is a sufficient number of women executives in high places, this will continue to happen.”
When reached by EW, Pixar declined to comment.
source
'Brave' director Brenda Chapman breaks silence: Getting taken off film
'Brave' director Brenda Chapman breaks silence: Getting taken off film 'heartbreaking... devastating... distressing'
When Pixar’s Brave arrived in theaters in June, two directors shared full credit for the film: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman. The project had originated with Chapman — who’d previously directed DreamWorks Animation’s The Prince of Egypt — but at the beginning of 2011, the studio took the reins from her completely and handed them to Andrews, who’d worked on The Incredibles and Ratatouille.
It was a surprising development to say the least, given that Chapman had been Pixar’s first female director of a feature length film, not to mention that Brave featured the studio’s first female protagonist, a fiery Scottish archer-princess named Merida (Kelly Macdonald). But other than a brief comment to the Los Angeles Times in 2011 that the split was due to “creative differences,” Chapman has remained silent on the matter. Until now.
In an essay for a larger New York Times feature about women’s perpetual underrepresentation in all corners of Hollywood, Chapman wrote that the past year and a half had been “a heartbreakingly hard road” for her. “When Pixar took me off of Brave — a story that came from my heart, inspired by my relationship with my daughter — it was devastating,” she writes.
While she still does not go into any specifics about why she was removed from the film, Chapman makes quite clear she did not agree with the decision. “Animation directors are not protected like live-action directors, who have the Directors Guild to go to battle for them,” she writes. “We are replaced on a regular basis — and that was a real issue for me. This was a story that I created, which came from a very personal place, as a woman and a mother. To have it taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on so many levels.”
Chapman does point out that ultimately her “vision” remained in the film, and that she remains “very proud of the movie.” But her last word on the matter (for now) would seem to suggest that after reportedly leaving Pixar to consult on an animation project for Lucasfilm, she’s not eager to return. “Sometimes women express an idea and are shot down, only to have a man express essentially the same idea and have it broadly embraced,” she writes. “Until there is a sufficient number of women executives in high places, this will continue to happen.”
When reached by EW, Pixar declined to comment.
source
A lot of what was said around the time of her being fired was about how the Brain Trust didn't want the story to be so focused on the mother/daughter story.
Back in 2011 at Disney's D23 Expo there was a panel discussing the art of Brave. It was ran by Steve Pilcher (production designer) and Tia Kratter (art director) along with producer Katherine Sarafian. One of the key points made during this panel was that Brenda Chapman wanted three things from Pixar when it came to developing new 3D/CGI technology: a system for foliage/floral (that it appeared layered and breathing/alive), Merida's hair, and the layering of snow and how it would rest on the environment. Brenda wanted all three and wouldn't budge when it came to giving up on the snow part, as 80% of the film originally took place in a snowy environment (whereas the final film had maybe... 10 minutes of on screen snow time?). As for the reason to abandon ship on idea three, it appeared to me that the producer was tired of having the film in "production hell" and wanted it finished and done with so she could recoup her investment and get her profit.
Between that statement about the original film, how the producer seemed to not care for/be pissed off whenever Brenda Chapman's name was mentioned (so much so that Tia had to quickly step in and answer the "Why did you let Brenda go?" question that a young teenage boy asked during the Q&A), and the silence on Brenda Chapman's end... it seemed like the firing was a powerplay/political move to get the film out last year rather than having it delayed for another year or so.
As long as that producer is alive and successful or until the NDA (nondisclosure agreement) that Brenda Chapman was forced to sign when she was fired in null and void we won't know the whole story.
Regardless, the whole thing is fucking sad and there's at least a half hour on the cutting room floor up in Emeryville and the general public will never see it.
At least they had her up there to get the Oscar (Still feel it was undeserved).
I always think it's weird that Wreck it Ralph won the Annie but Brave took the AA, and I don't know to what extent some of that was more about Brenda than about Pixar.
I wonder how much the Academy knew (or cared) about Brave's behind the scenes issues.
real talk.
I've had this happen to me, at an old job, multiple times.
I don't even think it always comes down to the fact that men get taken seriously either. I think it's because when women speak, people just watch your mouth move rather than actually listen to what's coming out of it.
Edited at 2013-03-01 02:29 pm (UTC)
Speaking volumes here, and it's so depressing. I get so angry when people (especially other women) insist that sexism no longer exists and men and women are on equal terms. If that were the case, shitty situations like this wouldn't happen.
urgh
I was so naive until the last few years in the workforce. Women have it SO much harder, and you know...women make it harder on other women too. There's just no winning. You can either get walked all over at jobs, or you can be assertive and be labeled as a bitch. There's no winning.
i read an article about a study on teachers and how much more frequently they called on boys in class instead of girls, and it was SO out of balance, like, girls spoke 20% of the time and boys the rest of it. so when teachers started being aware of it and calling on girls more, the boys acted as though the girls were called on much more often when they were still only speaking like, 40% of the time.
Say what you want about the quality of their films but at least dreamworks actually lets women direct
Brenda come back to Dreamworks
I only watched it for Jennifer but that movie was amazing.
I just realized that I dont have any icons from that movie and I hate myself for it.
but kudos to her for prince of egypt, that is literally one of my favorite movies of all time
“Sometimes women express an idea and are shot down, only to have a man express essentially the same idea and have it broadly embraced,”
I know I stan for her, but this is something I've been saying for about a year now: If you look at Finding Nemo, it is essentially a story of Father/Son and everybody praises it up and down and Pixar glorified the shit out of it and Andrew Stanton.
But when Brenda tried to do a Mother/Daughter story, it was all hmm nope, ain't nobody that wants to watch that.
And I am pissed as fuck that Andrew whatshisname got to speak before Brenda and thanked John Lasseter and Ed Catmull. Those 2 gross misogynists can smd
It's like watching your childhood hero kick a puppy or something
Pixar, you done goofed.
:(