“In addition to the charges in Deadline, a source recently told Vanity Fair about a phone call among Disney and Pixar execs following an incident in 2010, in which Lasseter allegedly French kissed and groped a former Disney employee. “The subject of the phone call,” said the source, was, “‘Shit, what are we going to do about John?’”

“Lasseter is the crazy-horny 13-year-old who you have to keep in check all the time,” the source continued. “But there’s no No. 2 for John. He’s the beating heart of Disney Animation and Pixar. He’s a genius. Nobody can do what he does.”

“He’s very tactile in a weird way,” a former female executive told Deadline. “He would rub my leg in a meeting . . . It was creepy and weird. It got to the point where I wouldn’t sit next to him in a meeting, because it undermined everything I said.””

Ugh. Take retirement, John, because no amount of genius justifies you remaining employed after treating women’s bodies like your personal touch museum. Also, anonymous Disney exec, you are terrible.

Well maybe if you actually back up your claims instead just saying the same thing over and over. Thinking the results is going to be different some how. I’ve backed up my talk with facts so I’ve done my part. Its not my fault you can’t come up with a convincing argument.

They’ve innovated plenty. Their animation is still top notch and groundbreaking with every film. Their storytelling and character development in each of their films have improved tremendously from before. Which was weak spot for them in their earlier films. Best examples of this is what they have done with the fairytale princess narrative that became tiresome during the Renaissance. With Brave, Tangled, Frozen, and Moana they broke the standard Princess Tropes and made actually fully grown characters with new fresh story beats. Same could be said with Monsters University and Cars 3. MU is a big improvement from Inc because of the focus and development of Mike who was so obnoxious in the first film that he nearly sunked the movie. Mike becomes fully formed character in MU and erases the mistakes of the character in the first film. Ditto with Lightning Mcqueen in the Cars 3. Not even going to bring up Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Inside Out, and Coco. People already know how amazing those films are. So there, Did I Adequately Answer Your Condescending Question?

Last time I checked we were talking about the actual Best directors. Not favorites.

“Lasseter hasn’t been innovating for a while”

“The movies he makes are good, your opinion makes no sense”

That’s been us for a while now. So let’s change this up. How have Disney and Pixar been innovating this decade? I’m not being snarky or anything, I want to hear your opinion on what they’ve been trying out, what new things they’ve brought to the table.

(I mention Spielberg because he’s my favorite. Jaws, Raiders, Jurassic Park, Catch Me If You Can, Bridge of Spies, I’m just a sucker for the guy. That’s why I brought him up =) )

Because it doesn’t make sense. I call it how I see it. Maybe if you start making sense I will agree with you.

Nope I can’t agree. Because I haven’t seen it happen yet. Making some films that aren’t nearly as good as your best doesn’t mean you aren’t trying or innovating. You sound like one of those parents that yell at their kids for getting an A- on their report card.

As for sequels to you it may not be innovative. It will never bother me. Because Sequels are more difficult to get right than original movies. They are competing against the orginal film and heavy expectations. But they’re still have been many sequels that are better than the original. Also Movies have been doing it since the beginning. Heck books do sequels all the time. Tv shows do sequels all the time. “This is Us” one of the best tv shows today. I don’t see anyone whining and moaning that they aren’t innovating anymore just because they are doing a second season which is a sequel. Btw Pixar has made 4 sequels that are better than the original(Toy Story 2and 3, Monsters University, and Cars 3. So they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt as far as sequels go in my opinion.

Would you stop bringing up Spielberg. I haven’t mentioned him once. He makes entertainmening films but no where close to the best. He isn’t even the best of his generation heck not even top three. That honor goes to Marty Scorsese the guy you keep replacing with Spielberg for some reason.

As for Kubrick he was never held to a higher standard. When he made Barry Lyndon I didn’t see anybody telling him isn’t innovating or trying anymore. People just told him it was not as good as his other films and moved on.

No thats reality. Competition gets stronger. Btw who has been beating Pixar consistently the last seven years? Oh its Walt Disney Animation. Which was led by who? Oh yeah John Lasseter. So he’s been competing and beating himself lol. Oh look one of your opinions stopped making sense again.

It’s really not fun to have a conversation when you keep saying my opinions don’t make sense. Your opinions make sense. I disagree with them but they’re perfectly reasonable. Can you really not make sense of my opinions that Disney and Pixar are not as daring and innovative as they used to be? When all they’re releasing for the next three years are sequels? That’s by definition not innovative.

Also, Spielberg and Kubrick ARE held to a higher standard. If anyone else had made Bridge of Spies it would’ve been hailed as one of the best movies of that year, but for a Spielberg movie it was “only okay”. When you prove you’re capable of genius in a consistent manner and you’re a game changer, I think it’s normal that more is expected of you.

Like if you win 6 Best Animated Feature Academy Awards in a decade and then in the next seven years you only win twice and most of your movies aren’t even nominated, that’s worrying.

Bull if the best directors like Scorsese or Kubrick aren’t held to that type of high standards. Then why should Pixar. These are the guys that made 2001, Raging Bull, Clockwork Orange, Goodfellas etc. Yet they made some ok films in between. I didn’t see anyone saying they shouldn’t direct anymore because of that.

Lol your view on sports makes no sense just like most of your opinions. Pixar has been trying. They haven’t lost in the first round. Most of their films have been nominated or won for Oscars. You make it sound like they are Blue Sky. Who make ok films but aren’t trying to be the best. Now thats a studio that fits your description. Lasseter is Tom Brady or Michael Jordan. Didn’t see any of their teams trying get rid of them just because they fell short of championships once in a while.

Well, we’re clearly not agreeing so might as well stop the conversation. I do hold Pixar to a higher standard. If you’re capable of producing Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, and Toy Story 3 in consecutive years you SHOULD be held to a higher standard. You can’t make Finding Dory and The Good Dinosaur and expect people to love them as much as they loved The Incredibles.

To stick with the sports team metaphor, if my team wins the championship four years in a row and then for almost a decade they just make the playoffs and go out without really trying in the first round, I would 100% change head coaches.

But you disagree on that. Which is perfectly fine. I still think Lasseter has to go if the environment he was creating was unpleasant for half the employees.

More ridiculous statements.

I don’t agree with you one bit. I don’t agree that Pixar has grown complacent their still making excellent films and putting in the full effort. Their films are just judged harder than before because of peoples high standards. Expecting them to pull of the run they had with Wall:E, Up, Incredibles etc is impossible. Especially since two of those directors have done other projects outside Pixar. Circumstances happen.

Also suggesting that someone step down because their making good films but not as good as their best is just a dumb idea period. Thats like getting rid of a head coach on a Sports Team because he got his team in the Playoffs but didn’t win a Championship.

Losing a leader when the company is performing very well never works. It didn’t work for Disney when Walt died, it didn’t work for Disney when Katzenberg was fired, it also hasn’t worked well for Apple when Steve Jobs passed away.

I think we have to get on the same page before we can keep our discussion going! First of all, I love most movies Disney has done under Lasseter. Tangled is my favorite Disney movie! Wreck-It-Ralph is extraordinary. Moana is so lovable.

I love that protagonists are getting more progressive and that love interests aren’t a requirement. My favorite thing about Pixar was always that they valued friendship and thought it was worth telling stories about and with WIR and Moana, I was overjoyed to see Disney doing it too.

I do miss the villains, because I love a good villain, but the movies work without them.

But here’s my complaint: From 2007 to 2012, going to see a Pixar or Disney movie was incredibly exciting for me. Ratatouille, Wall-E, and Up were unlike anything I had ever seen in animated movies! They had long silent stretches, sophisticated storytelling, and they all felt so NEW.

Then Tangled came out and introduced Disney’s classic movie to the 21st Century. An extraordinary movie. WIR was even more exciting, it felt like nothing Disney had ever done.

And since then? Well. I’ve only felt that way with Inside Out and Coco. Nothing else has felt new. I really enjoyed Frozen and Moana. I was kinda bored by Finding Dory and The Good Dinosaur, but I wouldn’t call them bad movies. But they’re certainly not as exciting as Wall-E or WIR. They don’t bring anything new to the table.

Lasseter was as good as a creative chief officer as you can be while creating an environment in which apparently women felt unsafe. The movies used to be exciting and daring and great. And now they’re just safe and good.

It’s what always happens. Someone is successful through daring and innovative ways and then they get put in charge and they grow complacent. They start coming back to what made them famous. Ridley Scott has done it, Peter Jackson has done it, Spielberg has done it. Everyone does it. It’s fine.

But in my opinion, when you start doing that and you’re in charge of a studio, you step down. And let someone else have a run and doing things. I think that’s true of anyone in charge. No one can keep innovating and being the right fit for over a decade. Not a president, not a CEO, not a studio chief. So you bring someone new. To add a new POV, new ideas, new ways of doing things.

Because Disney has been flawless since 2008. Pixar is always consistent. But Disney hasn’t made anything that feels revolutionary in five years. And Pixar used to do that every year and they’ve done it twice in seven years now. And I trust they can do better.