The Hollywood Reporter has a fantastic look into the rise of Pete Docter coming into his current role leading Pixar, including that Pete is not looking at directing a movie in the future after the release of Soul. We posted some highlights below but highly recommend to read the full article as it has dozens of quotes and stories from all over the company.
- Docter had always been thought of to take over for John Lasseter once the time was ready. This was something well known in the studio according to talks with Ed Catmull and Bob Iger that they feature shows, but Docter was still hesitant to take the role from his mentor.
- Docter was worried about having to step into the shoes Lasseter filled, but had been told the reason he had been chosen was for his own unique personality and not to mimic what had come before.
- The change brought to light some of the issues that were in the shadows of Pixar, like the role of women in the organization. Many of the roles were being filled by men, and with it being brought up to Docter, changes started to happen to bring more diversity to Pixar.
- Docter says Disney+ and the new series and shorts coming from the studio for the service have brought a sense of the old days of Pixar, along with the new movies on the docket like Lightyear and Luca.
Make sure to give the full article a read as there are a ton of details and quotes we didn’t put in the highlights that are a great read into how Docter got to where he is, along with the thoughts of others in the company.