Brad Bird: Difference between revisions

'''Brad Bird''' is a screenwriter/director from Kalispell, Montana. His experience lies mostly within the realm of animation, and he's also known as one of the directors to actually bob and weave his way around the concept of the [[Animation Age Ghetto]], due to most of his works looking aesthetically cartoony, but having a maturity and depth that rivals most live-action pieces. Bird got his start working as an animator on ''[[Animalympics (Animation)|Animalympics]]'', [[Disney]]'s ''[[The Fox and Thethe Hound (Disneyfilm)|The Fox and The Hound]]'' and Martin Rosen's ''[[The Plague Dogs (Literature)|The Plague Dogs]]'', and moved on to work with [[Steven Spielberg]] in his ''[[Amazing Stories (TV series)|Amazing Stories]]'' anthology series, notably with a short titled "Family Dog". He got his big break after he managed to grab the attention of [[Tracey Ullman]], and began work alongside [[Matt Groening]] on a crude animated series that premiered on her show, called ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]''.

Bird's most recent{{verify}} claims to fame include two films that captured his love of the classic comic book stories, ''[[The Iron Giant]]'' and ''[[The Incredibles (Animation)|The Incredibles]]'', the latter of which was the beginning of his tenure at [[Pixar]]. His last{{verify}} film was the Pixar-produced ''[[Ratatouille]]''. His latest directing gig is the fourth installment of the ''[[Mission: Impossible (Filmfilm)|Mission Impossible]]'' films, which is his live-action debut. The film has received extremely positive reviews, particularly for its action scenes.

* [[Cross-Dressing Voices]]: When he was working on [[The Incredibles]], he had a very specific idea in mind for how the superhero fashion designer Edna Mode was to sound. He demonstrated this for the voice actress he hired, who then told him to just take the role himself- he had it down cold.

*** ''[[The Incredibles]]'': In the first few minutes, he shows the negative effects of superheroes/villains on society, buries them ''[[Watchmen (Comic Bookcomics)|Watchmen]]''-style, then shows how difficult normal life is for supers like the Silver age. Then he gives them a villain to fight and shows that ''heroes'' aren't the problem.

{{quote| Everyone in Hollywood says they wish they could do it like Pixar, but they really don’t. There’s no secret at Pixar, but there is a belief in letting people pursue something with passion and take chances, and most of Hollywood, really, doesn’t like that. It’s too scary. Some studio executives will say they love obsessive creators who take risks, but really most of them would rather play it safe. Projects cost a lot of money and people would rather follow patterns they know and make things safe and accessible. Hollywood wants there to be a math formula for making hit films. To make something really great and different and interesting means taking risks and following these ideas in your head.}}

* [[What Could Have Been]]: Brad Bird planned on doing an animated film of [[Will Eisner]]'s ''[[The Spirit]]''. An animated clip was made for it was found by Will Einser,; he then asked to see the person who animated this sequence. And it was none other than Brad himself. He had a script for an animated feature of ''[[The Spirit]]''. This was turned down by Hollywood executives. Although they did like the script, [[Animation Age Ghetto|they couldn't picture it working out as a cartoon]]. One can wonder what would have happened if this got made instead of [[Frank Miller]]'s [[The Spirit (Filmfilm)|take on the comic]]. While [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSlUNl7CbeU an attempt] to [[Saved From Development Hell|to save the film]] is at hand.