Our recent Pixar Animation Studios employee screening of These Amazing Shadows took place in their newest building, which they have named Brooklyn (many of the Pixar buildings are named after places in New York). I was snapping photos inside this beautiful building until our wonderful guide, Michelle Radcliff, told us that I wasn't supposed to because images of the structure has not yet been released to the media. A reasonable request. Much of the building was reportedly designed or at least inspired by John Lasseter. Our screening took place in the Presto Theater inside Brooklyn. We had a really great crowd that included Jonas Rivera, one of the producers of Up. On his way out of the theater after the screening he stopped and told us how much he loved TAS. Another interesting person we met was Susan Bradley, who designs opening title sequences. She asked us if the type face we used for our lower thirds (meaning the interview subjects name and title text that appears on the "lower third" of the screen) is called Trade Gothic. That was a pretty funny and shocking observation because right she was right - Trade Gothic it is! That experience is representative of the wonderfully nerdy world at Pixar.
In the lobby of the Brooklyn building is a very, very large image from Pixar's next big release, Brave. It's their first feature with a female lead. The story is about Merida, a skilled archer and daughter of a Scottish King and Queen, who is determined to carve out her own path in life. Please try to watch the above trailer for Brave in 1080p resolution full screen mode - makes a big difference.
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| Just prior to our Pixar employee screening Mimi and Suzanne walk past a very, very large image of, Merida, the heroine of Pixar's next big production, Brave. |
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It's been a good week for Pixar as their latest release, Cars 2, exceeded expectations at the box office; their Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter, was re-elected to the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and it was just decided that next year he will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Speaking of the board of governors, The Hollywood Reporter says that Gale Anne Hurd was elected to join the board. That makes three of our These Amazing Shadows interview subjects on the board - Gale Anne Hurd, John Lasseter and Caleb Deschanel.
Gale is working on a very interesting project for the FX Network entitled, Port Royal, a one-hour weekly series that centers on pirates and Jamaica's rise as the "richest and wickedest city" in the new world and as a self-governing safe haven for cutthroat pirates, corrupt politicians and ruthless merchants. Evidently pirates and Port Royal have held a life long fascination for Gale. In a weird twist of six degrees of separation our producer Christine O'Malley has a daughter named Grace O'Malley. Grace O'Malley is the name of one of the most infamous female pirates of the Caribbean and frequent visitor of Port Royal.
