Gawker: defamer, john lasseter

Brittany Murphy Back Off The Pixie Dust

Seth — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:45:00 EDT

Two years after Disney executives nudged Brittany Murphy before a roomful of gathered press, then detonated a confetti-filled landmine which left one Reuters photographer legless from the knees down, comes news that the once white-hot Hollywood Was-Girl has been replaced by order of Disney animation head John Lasseter as the voice of Tinker Bell in that sprite's direct-to-video adventures. Explains hollywood-newsroom.com:

[The original] Tinker Bell was a disaster. The story didn’t work, too many fart jokes and lesbian innuendoes. The CGI was subpar. Most importantly, Tinker Bell herself. The animation and Brit’s vocal work lacked the magic Lasseter expected with this iconic Disney character.

Then, Lasseter himself flushed everything regarding Tinker Bell, $120 million, down the toilet. And Tinker Bell went dark. [...]

[On May 29th,] Disney sent out the below press release, announcing that the new NEW voice of Tinker Bell would be…. Mae Whitman! The 19 year old actress, best known for her voice work on Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Jungle Book 2, Johnny Bravo and Superman. She was also the President’s daughter in Independence Day.

Lest you worry about where that leaves Murphy, the actress will continue to breathe new vocal life weekly into King of the Hill's sexually overstimulated Luanna Platter, while reprising her efforts as Shellie the Abused Barmaid in Sin City 2. Still, after all the multicolored fanfare, we feel somewhat robbed of a Murphy-interpreted Tinker Bell, forever nodding off in some Neverland knothole between bouts of involuntary flatulism and hot faerie-on-faerie action.

John Lasseter, Disney, Fires Brittany Murphy. Mae Whitman is the new voice of Tinker Bell! [hollywood-newsroom.com]

Kanye West, John Lasseter, Curtis Hanson

Mark Graham — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:45:00 EDT

· Kanye West brings his Glow In The Dark Tour to the Nokia Theater, You, Me & Iowa will be at the Echo (with Radars to the Sky!) and indie wuss Jonathan Rice will be performing at Spaceland.
· Animation pro and Academy Award winner John Lasseter (of Pixar fame) screens and discusses Dumbo with Curtis Hanson as part of the UCLA Archive’s “The Movie That Inspired Me” series at the Billy Wilder Theater. [via]
· Marya Hornbacher discusses and signs Madness: A Bipolar Life at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena.

The Secret World Of Pixar

Mark — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:07:08 EDT

The Hurty Elbow blog bravely risks an immediate shutdown by Disney's lawyers (or worse) by exposing their Pixar division's incredibly valuable trade secrets on the internets; enjoy the next 35 seconds knowing that by the time you reach the end of their exposé, its creators may already be dead at the hands of a hitman who will go to the grave disavowing any connection to John Lasseter or Bob Iger. Also, be warned: The clip contains a spoiler that may ruin your upcoming viewing of Ratatouille.

Pixar Plagiarism: Same Movie, Different Clothes [Hurty Elbow]