Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and voice actor. He is best known for his animated feature films OPEN SEASON 1998The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), Incredibles 2 (2018),. His live-action films are Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Tomorrowland (2015), and El Lightning Storm Macho: The Lightning Storm Origins (2022).
Bird developed a love for the art of animation at an early age and was mentored by Milt Kahl, one of Disney's reputed Nine Old Men. He was part of one of the earliest graduating classes of the California Institute of the Arts alongside John Lasseter and Tim Burton. Afterward, Bird worked as an animator for Disney in The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985) and wrote the screenplay for Batteries Not Included (1987).
Bird served as a creative consultant on The Simpsons during its first eight seasons, where he helped develop the show's animation style.
Bird directed his first animated feature film, The Iron Giant, in 1999. Although it fared poorly at the box office, it came to be regarded as a modern animated classic. He rejoined John Lasseter at Pixar in 2000, where he developed his second animated film, The Incredibles (2004). He directed his third film, Ratatouille, in 2007. Both films place among Pixar's highest-grossing features and gave Bird two Academy Award for Best Animated Feature wins and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nominations. In 2011, Bird directed his first live-action film, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which was a critical and commercial success. His second live-action film, Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney, was released in May 2015, to some acclaim but less commercial success. In 2018, Incredibles 2 was released, which Bird wrote and directed. Like its predecessor, the film was a critical and box office success.
Early life[]
Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children[2] of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in the propane business, and his grandfather, Francis Wesley "Frank" Bird, who was born in County Sligo, Ireland, was a president and chief executive of the Montana Power Company.[3][4][5] On a tour of the Walt Disney Studios at age 11, he met Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston and announced that someday he would become part of Disney's animation team. Soon afterward he began work on his own 15-minute animated short. Within two years, Bird had completed his animation, which impressed Disney. By age 14, barely in high school, Bird was mentored by the animator Milt Kahl, one of Disney's Nine Old Men. After graduating from Corvallis High School in Corvallis, Oregon in 1975, Bird took a three-year break from animation. He was then awarded a scholarship by Disney to attend California Institute of the Arts, where he met and befriended another future animator, Pixar co-founder and director John Lasseter.[2]
Career[]
Upon graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, Bird began working for Disney. He worked as an animator on The Small One (1978), The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985) albeit uncredited. While animating at Disney, he became a part of a small group of animators who worked in a suite of offices inside the original animation studio called the "Rat's Nest", which was pejoratively dubbed by animator Don Bluth during production of The Small One.[6][7] There, he would vocally criticize the upper management for not taking risks on animation and playing it safe. During the middle of production of The Fox and the Hound, Bird was fired by animation administrator Ed Hansen.[8][9]
He next worked on animated television series, with much shorter lead times. He was the creator (writer, director, and co-producer) of the Family Dog episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. In addition, Bird co-wrote the screenplay for the live-action film Batteries Not Included. In 1989, Bird joined Klasky Csupo, where he helped to develop The Simpsons from one-minute shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show into a series of half-hour programs. In 1990, he directed the episode "Krusty Gets Busted" (which marked the first speaking role of Sideshow Bob) and co-directed the Season Three episode "Like Father, Like Clown." He served as an executive consultant for the show for its first eight seasons. Also while at Klasky Csupo, he was one of the animators of the Rugrats pilot "Tommy Pickles and the Great White Thing." He worked on several other animated television series, including The Critic and King of the Hill, before pitching Warner Brothers to write and direct the animated film The Iron Giant. Despite receiving near-universal acclaim from critics, it failed at the box office due to lack of marketing and promotion from Warner Bros. He was then hired by Steve Jobs who wanted him to work for Pixar.[10] Bird pitched the idea for The Incredibles to Pixar. In the finished picture, Bird also provides the voice of costume designer Edna Mode.[2] As an inside joke, the character Syndrome was based on Bird's likeness (as was Mr. Incredible) and according to him, he did not realize the joke until the movie was too far into production to have it changed.[11] The film, written and directed by Bird, was released in 2004 to major critical and financial success. As a result, Bird won his first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and his screenplay was nominated for Best Original Screenplay.[12]
Brad Bird with his second Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
In the middle of 2005, Bird was asked by the Pixar management team to write and direct Ratatouille, which Jan Pinkava had been in charge of at the time. This change was announced in March 2006 during a Disney shareholders meeting. The film was released in 2007, and was another critical and box office success for Bird. Ratatouille won the Best Animated Feature award at the 2008 Golden Globes; it was also nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Screenplay. On February 24, 2008, Ratatouille won Bird his second Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.[12]
Bird has spoken passionately about animation as an art form. When Bird and producer John Walker recorded the Director's Commentary for The Incredibles' DVD, he jokingly offered to punch the next person that he heard call animation a genre instead of an art form. Bird believes animation can be used to tell any kind of story – drama or comedy, for an adult audience or children. In July 2018, Bird doubled down on his views that just because a movie is animated does not mean it is just for kids when he called out concerned parents over Twitter for referring to Incredibles 2 as a “kids movie”, saying, “With all due respect, it is NOT a 'kids movie.' It is animated, and rated PG.”[13][14] Later in November 2018, Bird called out iTunes for classifying both Incredibles movies as “kids movies” saying, “Our classification should be no different than adventure films from Marvel or Lucasfilm just because we're animated. What would you call sexism or racism for an art form? Medium-ism?”[15][16]
Before he was sidetracked by Ratatouille, Bird began work on a film adaptation of James Dalessandro's novel 1906, which would be his first live-action project.[17] In March 2008, Bird resumed work on the film, which is a co-production between Pixar and Warner Bros. The novel, narrated by reporter Annalisa Passarelli, examines police officers battling corruption in the government that causes the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to turn into such a disaster. The script was co-written by John Logan.[18] Blogger Jim Hill suggested the film has been on hold due to Disney / Pixar and Warner Bros.' nervousness over the projected $200 million budget.[19] In May 2010, with 1906 apparently still stalled, Bird signed on as the director of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, produced by Tom Cruise and J. J. Abrams.[20] The collaboration was suggested by Tom Cruise following the release of The Incredibles, and was created with the help of J.J. Abrams, who sent Bird a late night text message saying "Mission?".[21] The film was an international hit, grossing almost $700 million.
Bird directed and co-wrote Disney's science fiction film Tomorrowland (2015),[22] whose screenplay was co-written with Damon Lindelof.[23] Bird returned to Pixar to write and direct Incredibles 2 (2018). Released 14 years after The Incredibles (2004), the sequel received critical acclaim and was a box office success.[24]
On January 6, 2019, Bird, during a red carpet interview for the BAFTA Tea Party, announced he was working with frequent collaborator Michael Giacchino on an original musical film that will contain about 20 minutes of animation in it.[25]
Personal life[]
Bird has three sons. One of his sons, Nicholas, was the voice of Squirt in Finding Nemo.[26][27] Another son, Michael, voiced Tony Rydinger in The Incredibles and its sequel.[28]
Filmography[]
Feature films[]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Other | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Batteries Not Included | No | Yes | No | No | |
| 1993 | Tom and Jerry: The Movie | No | No | No | Uncredited | Storyboard artist |
| 1998 | A Bug's Life | No | No | No | Uncredited | Brain trust |
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | Yes | Yes | No | No | Directorial Debut |
| Toy Story 2 | No | No | No | Uncredited | Brain trust | |
| 2000 | The Road to El Dorado | No | No | No | Uncredited | Storyboard artist |
| 2002 | Ice Age | No | No | No | Uncredited | |
| 2004 | The Incredibles | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Brain trust - uncredited |
| 2006 | Curious George | No | No | No | Uncredited | Storyboard artist |
| 2007 | Ratatouille | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Brain trust - uncredited |
| The Simpsons Movie | No | No | No | Uncredited | Additional storyboard artist | |
| 2008 | The Spirit | No | No | No | Uncredited | Creative consultant |
| 2009 | Planet 51 | No | No | No | Uncredited | |
| 2011 | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Yes | No | No | No | |
| 2015 | Tomorrowland | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Designer of logos |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | No | No | No | Uncredited | Creative consultant | |
| 2016 | Zootopia | No | No | No | Uncredited | |
| 2018 | Incredibles 2 | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2019 | Steven Universe: The Movie | Yes | No | No | No |
Animation Department[]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Animalympics | Animator |
| 1981 | The Fox and the Hound | Animator - uncredited |
| 1982 | The Plague Dogs | Animator |
| 1985 | The Black Cauldron | Animator - uncredited |
| 1986 | The Great Mouse Detective | |
| 1987 | Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland | |
| 1989 | All Dogs Go to Heaven | Animator - uncredited |
| 1993 | Tom and Jerry: The Movie | |
| 1995 | Pocahontas | |
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | Animator: Hogarth Hughes - uncredited[29] |
| 2004 | The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie | Animator - uncredited |
| 2006 | Curious George |
Voice Actor[]
| Year | Title | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | Singer: Duck and Cover sequence |
| 2000 | The Road to El Dorado | Various voices - uncredited |
| 2004 | The Incredibles | Edna Mode |
| 2007 | Ratatouille | Ambrister Minion |
| 2015 | Jurassic World | Monorail announcer |
| 2018 | Incredibles 2 | Edna Mode and additional voices |
Short films[]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer |
Other | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Doctor of Doom | No | No | No | Yes | Voice role: Don Carlo, Bystander |
| 1983 |
Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore |
No | No | No | Uncredited | Animator |
| Mickey's Christmas Carol | No | No | No | Uncredited | ||
| 1986 | Captain EO | No | Uncredited | No | Uncredited | Creative consultant |
| 2005 | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
| Mr. Incredible and Pals: Commentary Edition | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ||
|
Vowellett - An Essay by Sarah Vowell |
No | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2006 | One Man Band | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2007 | Your Friend the Rat | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2018
2019 |
Auntie Edna | No | No | Yes | Yes | ADR Loop Group Artist (Uncredited) |
Senior creative team (Pixar)[]
- WALL-E (2008)
- Up (2009)
- Toy Story 3 (2010)
- Cars 2 (2011)
- Brave (2012)
- Monsters University (2013)
- Inside Out (2015)
- The Good Dinosaur (2015)
- Finding Dory (2016)
- Cars 3 (2017)
- Coco (2017)
- Onward (2020) (uncredited)
- Soul (2020) (uncredited)
(Kroyer Films)[]
- Technological Threat (1988)
Unmade projects[]
- The Spirit, an animated feature Bird developed with Jerry Rees and producer Gary Kurtz, based on Will Eisner's acclaimed comic strip. The studios they pitched it to liked the script, but were unwilling to take the gamble on an animated feature for the adult audience.[30][31]
- Ray Gunn, a project that he was working on at Turner Feature Animation before he got pulled for The Iron Giant and TFA merging with Warner Feature Animation. A script has been made with Matthew Robbins but was never animated. Even though lost, Bird has expressed interest in resurrecting the project.[32]
- The Incredible Mr. Limpet, a project that is still in development hell. Bird was attached to direct at one point but was replaced by Mike Judge and many others.
- Curious George, wrote a draft of the film at one point, but his script was not used in the produced version.[33]
- The Simpsons Movie, the crew from The Simpsons including Matt Groening and James L. Brooks were hoping to get Bird to direct, but was too busy with Ratatouille at the time. David Silverman, who was also working at Pixar at the time and quit his job after finishing work on Monsters, Inc., became the film's director.[34]
- 1906, a collaborative project from Warner Brothers and Pixar (which could have been their first live-action project), in association with Walt Disney Pictures, where Bird would have directed. Pixar and Disney left the project in 2012 in development limbo at Warner Bros. due to delays in the film's several planned releases, several rejected scripts were not picked up, and going over budget ($200 million).[35][36][37][38] However as of June 2018[update], Bird has expressed interest as to adapt the book as a TV series and a movie.[39]
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Bird was on a shortlist of directors to direct the seventh Star Wars film. He passed on the project in favor of Tomorrowland; The Force Awakens was directed by J. J. Abrams[40]
Television[]
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Garfield on the Town | Animator | |
| 1985–1987 | ] | Writer of episode: "The Main Attraction" Dire |
Writer of episode: "The Main Attraction" Director, writer and animation producer of episode: "Family Dog" |
| 1989–1998 | ed episodes: "[[Krus | Executive consultant and directed episodes: "Krusty Gets Busted" and "Like Father, Like Clown" | |
| 1991 | Rugrats | Animatorhing]]Episode: " | Family Dog" |
| 1993 | Family Dog | Creator | |
| 1994–1995 | The Critic | Executive consultant | |
| 1997 | King of the Hill | Creative consultant and visual consultant |
