John Lasseter Accused of Sexual Assault

[JeanGreyForever]

Except they weren't forced to do Aladdin at all. It was their own choice which they hand-picked out of a variety of selections. Saying otherwise is spreading a false narrative.

I don't get why is it so unbelievable that they wanted to do Treasure Planet, a film they pitched back in the 80's alongside The Little Mermaid, instead of Aladdin. It doesn't mean they were unhappy doing Aladdin, but it is known that Treasure Planet was their passion project, Aladdin was not even if we like Aladdin better than Treasure Planet.

I never said that they didn't want to do Treasure Planet after TLM but the way you keep wording it out makes it seem like they were stuck with Aladdin and never wanted to make it in the first place which is grossly incorrect. It's possible to want to work on one film while getting another which you also want to work on. They've never expressed anything less than the utmost admiration of Aladdin and how much they enjoyed working on the film and the articles I quoted above make it very clear that they chose Aladdin specifically because the project intrigued them and piqued their interest. They didn't just get a list of choices and decide that Aladdin was the lesser of all evils and begrudgingly claim it. That's the false narrative which I don't see why you seem to be stating unless I'm misinterpreting you.

[Sotiris]

I don't get why is it so unbelievable that they wanted to do Treasure Planet, a film they pitched back in the 80's alongside The Little Mermaid, instead of Aladdin.

They wanted to do Treasure Planet right after The Great Mouse Detective. Clements pitched The Trumpet of the Swan, Treasure Island in Space, and The Little Mermaid. Ultimately, the execs went with The Little Mermaid. After the success of The Little Mermaid, they were asked repeatedly to do Beauty and the Beast but they declined. Then they pitched We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story but were told the rights were acquired by Spielberg. Shortly after, they were given the choice between directing Swan Lake, King of the Jungle, and Aladdin and went with Aladdin because they liked Howard Ashman's story treatment. Afterwards, they started working on Treasure Planet but the execs were unhappy with how the story was progressing. Eventually, they agreed to let them do it if they first directed a different project. They were again given a choice between several projects and they picked Hercules. My point is that even though they had to make concessions which is expected when you're working for someone else, they had more options and choices during that era than they did with Lasseter (at least from what we know).

[D82]

They wanted to do Treasure Planet right after The Great Mouse Detective. Clements pitched The Trumpet of the Swan, Treasure Island in Space, and The Little Mermaid. Ultimately, the execs went with The Little Mermaid. After the success of The Little Mermaid, they were asked repeatedly to do Beauty and the Beast but they declined. Then they pitched We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story but were told the rights were acquired by Spielberg. Shortly after, they were given the choice between directing Swan Lake, King of the Jungle, and Aladdin and went with Aladdin because they liked Howard Ashman's story treatment. Afterwards, they started working on Treasure Planet but the execs were unhappy with how the story was progressing. Eventually, they agreed to let them do it if they first directed a different project. They were again given a choice between several projects and they picked Hercules. My point is that even though they had to make concessions which is expected when you're working for someone else, they had more options and choices during that era than they did with Lasseter (at least from what we know).

Thanks for the detailed info, there were some things I didn't know. It's curious that under previous managements the people above them were usually the ones who provided the options and they picked the one they preferred, while under Lasseter they had to pitch three of their own ideas and it was him who decided which one they would do. When it comes to picking the story, I'm not sure when they had more freedom. Before, they could make the final choice, but with Lasseter, at least they had selected the three pitches and supposedly they were all projects they were attracted to.

[Farerb]

Thanks for the detailed info, there were some things I didn't know. It's curious that under previous managements the people above them were usually the ones who provided the options and they picked the one they preferred, while under Lasseter they had to pitch three of their own ideas and it was him who decided which one they would do. When it comes to picking the story, I'm not sure when they had more freedom. Before, they could make the final choice, but with Lasseter, at least they had selected the three pitches and supposedly they were all projects they were attracted to.

Well apparently they didn't enjoy making Moana, that was all Lasseter's idea. They wanted to make a traditionally animated Maui film.also I'm sure the ocean voyaging came from Lasseter since he really loves that road trip trope, probably the offensive Disney Princess joke as well cause why would M&C make fun of Ariel, Jasmine and Tiana? So it's pretty obvious that Lasseter was more involved in this film than M&C, probably LMM too, which is why it is the blandest of the revival unlike Zootopia where it talks about important subject like animal racism and oppression or Frozen that subverts all the Disney Princess films expectations.

[Sotiris]

I never heard that Lasseter was the one who forced them to change Maui to Moana. In the commentary they say they decided it after their trip. All I heard is that Lasseter wanted them to do it in CGI.

Yes, they did say that but I'm not totally buying it. From their interviews, it seems they really wanted to tell a Maui-centric story. It just doesn't seem to me an organic story change like eliminating Moana's brothers or Moana's dad getting lost at sea and her going to save him. I could be wrong though. Who knows? The official party line is that they changed their minds after a research trip.

“Moana” was a film originally pitched by Musker. Inspired by Joseph Conrad novels set in the Pacific Islands and paintings by Paul Gauguin, Musker delved into Polynesian mythology where he read about the the islands’ history and the character Maui, which he described as “made for animation.”

Source: https://dailynorthwestern.com/2019/02/1 ... ver-after/

Five years ago I started reading Polynesian mythology and discovered a rich source of storytelling, particularly in Maui, the demigod. He was a shape-shifter, a trickster, and had superpowers and a magical hook. All of this lent itself to an animated treatment. Ron started reading about it as well, and we put together a simple story and pitched it to John Lasseter.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behin ... ged-950468

In an early story, Maui was the lead — “we even had a pet name for him, like Mighty Maui,” says Clements — and there was a female supporting character, “but she didn’t have anything to do with navigation.” Musker elaborates, “It was based on a myth where a girl’s lover had been kidnapped, and she enlisted Maui to help her rescue her lost lover. That was the bare bones of it, certainly not much more to it than that. And John [Lasseter] loved the arena of it, but he said, ‘You’ve got to dig deeper.’”

Source: https://ew.com/movies/2017/01/11/moana-10-fun-facts/

[Disney's Divinity]

It's weird to think that M&C could've made the original versions of so many films from that time now (the same way they beat The Thief and the Cobbler to the punch with Aladdin). We're Back, The Swan Princess, and Disney's own Beauty and the Beast and Tarzan. I would definitely have been interested in their versions of Swan Lake and Tarzan, but I'm glad B&tB ended up the way it did.

[disneyprincess11]

I am shocked that John wants to work with Alan Menken after the way he banned Alan from WDAS after all these years and treated him horribly on Tangled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTv0Sc4 ... =emb_title (0:35)

[Sotiris]

I'm actually not that surprised. Lasseter is desperate to have creative people work at his new studio after the damage his reputation took and so many people in the industry refuse to work for him. He probably got rejected from other popular songwriters before he offered Alan a project. Lasseter is a user. He exploits people whenever it suits him. Alan is too nice and feels obligated when someone offers him work at this point in his career so he never turns anything down. He actually feels grateful to Lasseter for giving him the job on Tangled despite the conditions under which that happened. You'd think he would realize what Lasseter really thought of him after he had him replaced on two movies and didn't give him any other projects to work on at WDAS, but unfortunately that's not the case. He can be quite naive when it comes to that sort of thing.

[Disney's Divinity]

It could be another case like with Musker, where Menken simply chose to be a better person than John Lasseter was to him. It's incredibly kind of Menken. I don't think I could do it; the most I could manage if I were in his shoes would be to respectfully decline. And that's only in relation to what Lasseter did to Menken personally. All the sexual harassment stuff on top of it would make it a hard no thanks for me.

And, who knows... Lasseter may not still be at WDAS, but he probably has minions there who he still holds sway with; it took a very long time for Disney to force him out after all, you could tell they didn't want to. If Menken throws Lasseter a bone, perhaps those friends of Lasseter's still at WDAS might look on Menken more favorably, which could lead to another feature film project for him down the line. *shrug* You never know.

[D82]

I hadn't thought that could happen. On the one hand, I'm happy Alan will get to work in an animated project again, but I wish it wasn't for that studio.

[Farerb]

Disappointing. I expected better from Menken. I guess he's just like the rest of them.
Alan Menken has been working in the industry for 40 years now, he's not a newcomer who needs an opportunity. He's working on a lot of projects as we speak. If he wants to work on a new animated feature, he should ask Jennifer Lee, unless she's one of Lasseter's "minions", which would not surprise me since she talks about him dearly.
Weren't you the people who bashed Nathan Greno for going to work with Lasseter? Double standards much?

[disneyprincess11]

Weren't you the people who bashed Nathan Greno for going to work with Lasseter? Double standards much?

I don't think I was one of them? And I don't think Greno has a choice, unlike Menken, since John joined right after he did. I'm really disappointed in Menken too and I think he knows better, but I highly doubt he's comparable to Lasseter.

Also it's in development. Stephen Schwartz just revealed he's doing the lyrics. (unless it's about Disenchantment?)

There's a potential movie project that I really can't say too much about. But it's a project that I'm doing with my frequent collaborator Alan Menken, and we don't know for sure that the movie will happen, but we're supposed to write some songs. So, we're in the process of doing that," he teases.

https://ew.com/movies/stephen-schwartz- ... ronavirus/

[Farerb]

Weren't you the people who bashed Nathan Greno for going to work with Lasseter? Double standards much?

I don't think I was one of them? And I don't think Greno has a choice, unlike Menken, since John joined right after he did. I'm really disappointed in Menken too and I think he knows better, but I highly doubt he's comparable to Lasseter.

I don't think he's comparable to Lasseter, I just don't think someone who's been working in the industry for 40 years is naive.

[blackcauldron85]

See, if Alan had just said "I'm working on a new animated film at Skydance" & didn't mention John, ya know, maybe someone else at the company, someone else working on the film, like a producer, asked him to join, but to say John specifically... that is fishy. :/ Maybe there were others at Disney that didn't want to give Alan more movie work post-Tangled? We may never know... :/ It makes the fans torn...support Skydance because of Menken, or boycott Skydance and miss Menken goodness?

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't think I was one of them?

I looked back in this thread, and all I can find of me talking about Nathan Greno is wondering if Greno helped Lasseter get his new job where he is since he resigned from WDAS right before the expose came out about Lasseter. I didn't see anyone else talking about him either; Sotiris posted the information without giving an opinion. I didn't bash Jennifer Lee or John Musker like some did, so why would I bash Alan Menken? I wish he hadn't taken the job, but Lasseter's going to have that position regardless of who the composer is. I'm not going to support Skydance via buying anything, so... *shrug*

[UmbrellaFish]

Menken should not have agreed to work on a new John Lasseter project, period. I am very disappointed in his decision.

[Disney's Divinity]

Are you going to burn your Aladdin, Mermaid, and B&tB soundtracks then?

No offense, but having just re-visited the Jim Cummings thread the other day, I remember how many members were applauded for actually defending someone accused of sexual harassment when the story was still in its early stages. But you're right, not raking Menken over the coals for working at a company that chooses to employ someone else guilty of that sin is the bigger crime. We can all play the judgmental / holier-than-thou game if that's what you want to do. I'm learning that's sort of farerb's thing after being talked down to by them in the Mulan thread and now again here. I think many members here have selective morality depending on whoever the posters they're talking to are. It's just a good thing I don't talk about God very much myself, or I'm sure some here might start worshiping Satan because they must always be the opposite of me some way, somehow. Thankfully God is no respecter of persons.

[UmbrellaFish]

Was that directed at me? My post was not directed at you or anyone else...? Except I guess Menken and Lasseter.

[Disney's Divinity]

How else was I supposed to take it when you added that period at the end as if you were responding to anyone who didn't take the same exact line you did as being at fault? I didn't take it as being directed at just me though.

[UmbrellaFish]

Why do you think it has anything to do with you? I presume you are not Alan Menken or John Lasseter.