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Director of 'Toy Story 3' movie returns to his roots
(by Sali McSherry - September 30, 2010)
Director of 'Toy Story 3' movie returns to his roots
By SALI McSHERRY
In a childhood bedroom where the walls were plastered with "Star Wars" posters and the "$6 Million Man" action figures and accessories cluttered the floor, Lee Unkrich grew up in South Russell in the 1970s and up through 1985.
In June, he said, he invited the $6 Million Man, Lee Majors, his boyhood idol, to attend the premiere of a recent movie he directed for Pixar, "Toy Story 3." It was a thrill to meet him, he said. It's amazing to have grown up in a little town and "ended up on this crazy path" to making movies, Mr. Unkrich said.
"Toy Story 3" is the first animated film to pass the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, according to Pixar.
A 1985 graduate of Chagrin Falls High School, Mr. Unkrich grew up on a little street off Bell Road where he used to walk to the now defunct Falls Theater downtown where he watched Disney features and his beloved "Star Wars" movies. It was a very sad day when the theater closed, he said.
At 7 p.m. Oct. 2, Mr. Unkrich, will screen "Toy Story 3" at the Chagrin Falls Performing Arts Center, with his childhood best friend, Tom Foley, a fellow Chagrin Falls graduate, who will act as moderator for questions and answers following the film.
The 43-year-old film director's journey to Pixar may have started with his fascination with the film, "The Shining." Mr. Unkrich loved watching movies but never made films when he was young. He said he might have, but they didn't have a home movie camera.
As a kid, he hung out at Nall's Drug Store with his friends, leafing through magazines. He said he remembers trying to figure out a tip the first time he bought his own burger lunch at the former Dink's restaurant. He worked at the Chagrin Falls Library as a page in junior high, and in high school he worked at a video store, in an era when they were novel. He remembers the pumpkin roll, but wasn't a participant. He chuckled when he looks back and said he was a good kid who didn't want to get into trouble.
With a father who was an artist, he had the talent for and the love of drawing. He remembers the "art cart" at Gurney School and was inspired by his teacher Helen Samstag and middle school art teacher, the late Pat Belanger, he said.
Mr. Unkrich's mother, Emiliem and late grandmother, Helen Schuster Leuchtag Lessem, were instrumental in his development in art and performance. He said he was never into sports. His mother and grandmother encouraged him to develop his talents, but they never pushed him. Unfortunately, his grandmother died before the film awards started rolling in. He said his grandmother once told him, "I'm going to see you on the stage for the Oscars someday." She's looking down on him from above, his mother said.
Mr. Unkrich said he has fond memories of acting at the Cleveland Play House as a youth. His background in art and performance helped form the foundation for the work he does and his respect for the actors he works with has developed from his experiences performing.
He co-directed award-winning "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc.," and "Finding Nemo." He also worked in editorial and film-editing positions for other award-winning films such as "Cars," "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo," "Toy Story 2," and "Monsters, Inc."
Mr. Unkrich graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in cinematic arts. He said he was asked to free-lance at Pixar for a four-week gig because he was considered an expert in Avid animation-computer-program system, which at that time was new in the field. It turned out he fit in at Pixar and never left.
He and his wife, Laura, and kids live in Marin County, Calif.
Unlike his own kids' Max, 6, Alice, 11 and Hannah, 13, whose bedrooms are filled with stuffed animals, he remembers just one -- a 9-foot fuzzy snake he bought at a garage sale when he was a kid and named Monty Python.
"He was so artistic in his vision. He sort of saw things other people didn't see," said Thomas Mattern, a Chagrin Falls teacher and alumni association director emeritus.
Maybe it's most telling that the caption Mr. Unkrich wrote under his senior picture in the high school yearbook was "C U at D Academy Awards!"
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