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Secrets of Pixar’s inner circle

For all the success, however, there’s very little room atop Pixar’s food chain. While live-action movie studios might crank out more than a dozen movies annually, the digital animation company built by Apple’s Steve Jobs barely makes a film a year — and had no features at all in 2005 or 2002. What’s more, all Pixar movies so far have been directed by an inner circle of animation all-stars: John Lasseter (”Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2″ and “Cars”), Brad Bird (”The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille”), Andrew Stanton (”Finding Nemo” and summer’s forthcoming “Wall-E”) and Pete Docter (”Monsters, Inc.” and 2009’s “Up”).

Some of Pixar’s limited future directing slots already have been claimed. Longtime company editor Lee Unkrich is making 2010’s “Toy Story 3.” Sound designer Gary Rydstrom, who directed the Pixar short “Lifted,” and Brenda Chapman, a Disney and DreamWorks alumna who had a writing credit on “Cars,” also are developing Pixar movies.

In other words, Pixar director slots are few and far between. Which brings us to the 36-year-old Hayward, who departed Pixar’s Emeryville, Calif., campus in late 2002 and is making his directorial debut on “Horton,” a co-production of 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios.

Via LAtimes

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