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Pete Docter is probably today's Charles Chaplin, Francis Ford Coppola or Hayao Miyazaki in Hollywood animation. Miyazaki, the director of Spirited Away, was always an inspiration for Pixar, the studio where this 54-year-old American, who wanted to work at Disney, was trained, but the offer from Steve Jobs, then head of Pixar, seemed better.
He wasn't wrong.
Born in Bloomington, Minnesota, his birthday is October 9, one day after Perón and Manuel García Ferré. A fervent Christian, he is now the Creative Director of Pixar, but before that he was one of the three screenwriters of the first Toy Story and created Buzz Lightyear by looking at himself.
As a director, he debuted with Monsters, Inc. and then made Up, Intense-Minded and Soul. The last three won the Oscar for best animated film. Married to Amanda, with whom he has two children, Nicholas and Ellie, the latter gave her name to the character who is Carl's wife in Up (and his own daughter participates in the film by voicing Ellie when she is young), and Ellie was also the basis for the creation of Riley, the protagonist of Intense-Mind.
In addition to his enormous talent, what is impressive about Pete is his enormous height. He is 1.94 m., and taking a selfie with him and looking good in the frame is practically impossible.
Pete Docter was at the recent Cannes Film Festival, where Peter Sohn's Elements was the closing film. And we were lucky enough to interview him exclusively, alone and for 15 minutes at the Carlton Hotel, in a suite overlooking the Mediterranean.
To say that he's friendly and doesn't shy away from any question is an understatement. What follows are excerpts from the interview, in which he talks about Pixar's upcoming films - sequels to Intense-Mind and Toy Story included -, tells how the brainstorming meetings are at the company, how the jokes in the films come about and what inspires him when creating a story.
His time in Buenos Aires
-You were in Buenos Aires when "Intensa-mente" premiered.
-That was a great trip. Yes, I had a good time.
-We'll be waiting for you whenever you want...
-Well, I can't wait to go... -Well, I can't wait to go...
-Now that...