John Lasseter

John Lasseter, 2002

John Lasseter (born January 12, 1957 in Hollywood , California ) is an American director , screenwriter and producer of computer animation films .

Life

John Lasseter worked for the Walt Disney Company while studying art at the Californian Institute of the Arts . From 1979 he worked for the company for five years and worked as an animator on films such as Cap and Capper . Inspired by the equally innovative and unsuccessful Disney production Tron , Lasseter tried a computer-animated cartoon together with the animator Glen Keane . 1984 visited Lasseter, the special effects computer group of Lucasfilm and announced at Disney. Lasseter created a spectacular scene for the Spielberg production The Secret of the Hidden Temple (1985) and made a glass knight jump out of a church window and come to life.

John Lasseter realized the computer-animated short film Luxo Jr. for Pixar Animation Studios , which was not only nominated for an Oscar in 1986 and received a Nica in 1987 in Linz , but also gave his new employer Pixar a memorable company symbol with the jumping lamp. In the same year Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull led Pixar into self-employment. In 1988 he was awarded the Prix Ars Electronica for Red's Dream in the Computer Animation category. After other short films such as the Oscar-winning Tin Toy (1987) and Knick Knack (1989), Toy Story was finally produced in 1995, under the direction of Lasseter and in collaboration with Disney, the first fully computer-animated feature-length film. Other successes such as Das große Krabbeln , Toy Story 2 , Die Monster AG and Finding Nemo followed and slowly but surely displaced conventionally drawn cartoons from the hit lists of the cinemas. After The Incredibles , Cars , for which he received the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film in 2007 and which John Lasseter directed for the first time since Toy Story 2 , is the last film in collaboration with Disney, as Pixar was bought by Disney. In 2008 Lasseter produced WALL · E , also a Pixar film. His latest feature film as a director for Pixar is the sequel to Cars, Cars 2 , from 2011.

In early September 2009 Lasseter was honored with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 66th Venice Film Festival together with his professional colleagues Brad Bird , Pete Docter , Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich .

Lasseter's works can also be found outside of the film, for example he drew the BSD daemon on March 22, 1988 .

Lasseter has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2007 .

In the course of the public debate about sexual harassment in Hollywood, which culminated in the Harvey Weinstein scandal in autumn 2017 (see also MeToo ), allegations against Lasseter also became known. In direct connection with these allegations, it was announced that Lasseter would be resigning from his position as Artistic Director at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios for an initial period of six months . In June 2018, the Disney group announced the separation from Lasseter. He will leave the company at the end of the year, but will still work in an advisory capacity until then.