Pete Docter #1
Pete Docter #1
Up, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story
Peter Hans "Pete" Docter is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer and voice actor from Bloomington, Minnesota. He first gravitated toward animation at the age of eight by creating his own animated flip-books.
After graduating from John F. Kennedy High School, Docter spent a year at the University of Minnesota. where he took philosophy classes and a couple of art classes. He moved on to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he created several student films including WINTER (about a boy who wants to play out in the snow, but once dressed, finds out he can’t move), PALM SPRINGS (about a purple dinosaur named Sigmund, who likes to bounce on top of trees) and NEXT DOOR. He won a Student Academy Award for NEXT DOOR, a hand-drawn story about an old grump (with a square head) and an annoyingly perky neighborhood girl that sounds like an early draft of UP.
In 1990, at the same time Pete was nearing graduation, Pixar was looking for its third animator (John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton). Lasseter contacted his old friend, Joe Ranft, who was teaching storyboarding at CalArts and Ranft thought Pete would be a good fit. Docter thought he would go to work for Disney, but was pleasantly surprised when Lasseter offered him a job. Docter was ready to go and even skipped his own graduation to begin work at Pixar.
He served as animator and co-wrote the original story on TOY STORY, storyboard artist on A BUG's LIFE and co-crafted the original story for the TOY STORY 2. In 2001, he turned his attention to MONSTERS, INC., for which he conceived the original story and took the director's chair. The movie was a huge box office hit and also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.
In 2004, he was asked by John Lasseter to direct the English translation of Hayao Miyazaki's HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE which was released by Disney in the U.S in June of 2005.
Also in early 2004, Pete and co-writer Bob Peterson, began playing around with the idea of a grouchy old man who sells balloons which eventually became UP. This feature was selected to open the Cannes International Film Festival, marking the first time an animated movie ever received that honor (and the first Disney film ever to be given the Cannes opening night spot). It's also the first Pixar film to receive the 3D treatment.
As one of Pixar Animation Studios’ key creative contributors, Docter also garnered another Academy Award nomination for his original story credit on Wall-E.
Pete's next Pixar film, INSIDE OUT, is due out in June 2015.
Pete Docter at the Internet Movie Database