Dan Scanlon (Monsters Academy, Onward) says goodbye to Pixar with a comic

Arriving in the studios on September 11, 2001 (!), the host and director has just left him, and he explains this choice in images, of course.

Dan Scanlon is not the first filmmaker to leave Pixar studios after having spent a large part of his career there: Andrew Stanton (1001 paws, Finding Nemo, Wall-E…) or Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3, Coco) notably preceded it. But his announcement is original, playful and perfectly logical in relation to his initial profession as a designer, who became an animator then director. The one to whom we owe Monsters Academy And Ahead announced his departure on social networks in the form of a short comic strip, in five parts.

Forward: Pixar moves nicely into fantasy [Critique]

He describes his first arrival at the studio on September 11, 2001. After having had a half-day initiation the day before, he was supposed to do his first full day, but he quickly understood that something something serious was happening. When the bosses of the Californian company decided to close early, upon learning of the attack on the twin towers in New York, he says he was afraid of not being able to return home when he discovered that the subway was blocked, as a measure of security. However, he was able to count on one of his managers, Mark Nielsen, to accompany him, sent by the director Joe Ranft (the co-creator of Carswho died in 2005) to ensure that all employees on his team could return home safely.

“That day I learned that Pixar was full of people who looked out for each other…even when the world around us was falling apart,” he writes.

He also evokes Pixar's ability to imagine sensitive stories, which know how to touch the public by drawing inspiration from experiences which first marked the members of the team. “I learned to be vulnerable”he explains on this subject, defending this as a quality for designing sincere animated films.

Also addressing questions of diversity and motivation, the job of animator often requiring redoing, starting from scratch to find a better idea, he concludes by recounting having always been a little afraid of Luxo, the emblematic lamp of the company, a gigantic replica of which is on display at the reception of the main building.

No more original and autobiographical stories, Pixar is all about sequels

In addition to this announcement in comic form, Dan Scanlon replied throughout the weekend to questions from his followers, not avoiding angry topics. The management of Pixar having recently announced that it wanted focus more on sequels (of Toy Storyfor example) as new ideas, he himself admits having presented some pitches in recent years which could not be developed.

“I love Pixar, but I want to do something other than writing and directing family entertainment, actually,” he begins, adding that he would not hesitate to return as a consultant if a former colleague asked him: “I'm open to helping out, part-time, at any studio, so yes, I would love to be able to help out at Pixar again.” Then he specifies: “It’s true that I pitched a few film ideas in recent years, but they were complicated to develop. I understood that the problem came from the fact that I had looked at what I had to say in the context of animated films for the whole family. For now, anyway, I feel like I need to try new things.”

He invites comic book and animation enthusiasts to follow him on Instagram, where he has also posted extracts from his comic book retracing his career at Pixar, and where he draws all kinds of stories aimed at a more adult audience.

Pixar LGBTQIA+ employees accuse Disney of censoring overtly gay references in their films