by Brendan Burch

One of lifetime Disney animator Glen Keane’s crowning career achievements takes place late in the 1991 Disney feature film Beauty and the Beast. The Beast, having heard of Belle’s love for him, goes through a transformation…

Keane, who was honored in 2007 with the Windsor McCay Award for lifetime contribution to the field of animation, has too has undergone some transformations in his career, and also watched the industry transform as well. A gifted football player in his youth, Keane opted out of a scholarship and turned his attention to painting – and eventually animation while at Cal Arts. In his first job at Disney, Keane’s work on The Rescuers marked the transition from the era of The Nine Old Men; subsequently beginning the era of The Nine New Men. Working alongside John Lasseter, Keane helped guide one of the seminal CGI projects ever conceived – a 30-second test based on Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are that merged 2D character animation with CG backgrounds. Along with films like Star Wars, Tron and Luxo Jr., the projected helped transition the world of animation closer to the CG landscape we now know. After his legendary work on Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas and Tarzan, Keane underwent another transition – that into director. He took the director’s chair in 2003 for the CG film Rapunzel, which is due in theaters next summer. In 2008, due to non-threatening health reasons, Keane relinquished his directing duties to Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, taking instead the role of Executive Producer on the project.

Glen also helped me transform into an animator – after seeing him in The Making of ‘The Rescuers Down Under,’ I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

I recently got the chance to run a few questions by Glen, and we go over the onset of the Lasseter-era at Disney, his Windsor McCay award his thoughts on passing his legacy onto the next generation.

BRENDAN BURCH: Now that you’re directing, do you miss the physical process of animating?

GLEN KEANE: Directing Rapunzel has been a great learning experience for me. However I have always seen myself as an animator at heart and have longed for the day to be back animating, living in the skin of the character I am drawing.

BRENDAN: How has the Pixar team changed the way things work at Disney?

GLEN: John Lasseter and Ed Catmull have brought with them a refreshing honesty and collaboration that is permeating the studio. They very quickly instituted a story trust made up of directors and heads of story to give honest critiques of each other’s films. To be open to this kind of feedback is both painful and liberating. Our films have made giant strides forward by this process.

BRENDAN: How has the transition from pencil to the Cintiq digital tablet gone for you?
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Devin Flynn, creator of Ya’ll So Stupid, and director of Dance Floor Dale has directed a music video for The Alchemist called Lose Your Life.

He and his teammates Seth Cooper and Joe Kossuth completed the job in only six weeks! Devin has a raw style and some of the best ideas I’ve seen in animation. He was nice enough to answer a few questions for LineBoil about the video.

BRENDAN: Did you storyboard this video, or go straight ahead with your ideas?
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Adult Swim recently posted a link to a brief behind the scenes clip for the upcoming Robot Chicken: Star Wars II episode.  This second installment of the stop-motion Star Wars parody will again feature some of the original Star Wars cast.  The show will air on Nov 16th at 11:30 pm on Adult Swim.

The first Robot Chicken: Star Wars DVD is available for $15.00.

The trailer for Pixar’s newest film Up is up!  The visuals in this new assembly are rich and beautiful, but it’s not very clear what the movie is about (IMDB says it’s a “coming of old age” story with a seventysomething hero, alongside his clueless wilderness ranger sidekick). Pixar has taken many gambles in the past that have paid off well and having a 70 year old star in this next CGI yarn seems like their latest risk.  But Up, which is directed by Pete Doctor (Monsters, Inc), will probably be like every other Pixar film – and that’s GREAT!  As we await the Summer 2009 release, we’ll be watching closely for more trailers and sneak peeks – so keep your eyes aimed at Lineboil.