Brad Bird knows how to tell a story. Doesn’t matter if it’s about a giant alien robot (The Iron Giant), a family of Super Heroes laying low (The Incredibles) or something as simple as a rat who cooks in a Paris restaurant (Ratatouille – One of the very best films of 2007). His efforts have garnered him 2 Oscars and I’m sure he’ll get more in the future.
Seems that Bird is getting ready to make is first lead to live action with the film “1906” which will be about the major earth quake that hit San Francisco. Yahoo News gives us this:
“1906” centers on a college student whose investigation of his father’s murder uncovers a web of deceit that has left the city vulnerable to the sort of fire that breaks out in the aftermath of the great quake. The original script was written by John Logan (“Sweeney Todd”), and Bird is doing a rewrite. The project is a co-production between Warner Bros. and Disney/Pixar.
In my mind this man can do (or at least HAS DONE) no wrong, so I’m fascinated to see what he’ll do with a live action period piece. But what I find even MORE interesting is the fact that this is being produced by Pixar. For any of you who have read The Movie Blog for any period of time you know I believe Pixar is not just the best animation studio in movies… but the very best studio period. Every single one of their films have both amazing, and box office successes. Can they bring that same magic to live action?
Well, since the strength of Pixar has always been their pure dedication to great storytelling, I don’t see any reason to believe they can’t make this jump. As with all things we’ll have to wait and see.
