I love to travel, I love to meet people, I love to interview people, I love to, you know, what other career really allows you to travel the world and meet all sorts of people you'd never get to meet. Your grandfather's UBI works, you started basically Disney animation. UBI always said, you know, anyone can draw a mouse. It's what you do with it that counts. First thing comes to mind is it seems so honorable that you wanted to tell his story. I think it's such a beautiful thing.

Without up there would have never been a Mickey. So he literally saved Disney Animation of it. That's insane. Yeah. Like it's truly insane. It is. Leslie, I work. Thank you so much for being on my show. I'm so appreciate you being here. A quick resume because I think it sort of sets up the thing. So you're a very accomplished documentary filmmaker. Is that a fair thing to say or just filmmaker? I'll always take it accomplished. I like it. I wouldn't. Okay. Just a quick resume on you. And this isn't complete. This is I'm just cherry picking hand behind the mouse. The abiwork story, which is also an involved your family. Recycle life, the Pixar story, dirty oil, Ella Brennan, industrial light magic creating the impossible, pipe dream, citizen hers, the imaginary story, super power, the DC story, 100 years of Warner Brothers, and of course the latest Disney handcrafted. That's quite a resume you got going. Thanks.

It's kept me out of trouble. Did you, did you, did you and I know you went to film school but I mean did you want to be a documentary filmmaker because it seems to me it's a very particular discipline. Yeah well not not really I went to film school thinking I'd be doing narrative and never I took a documentary class in film school at USC but I graduated and I had this burning desire to tell my grandfather's story because the people that were that worked with him were passing away and and I had never known him I was I mean I he passed he was like maybe you were like one year old one yeah yeah you know, I thought well This would be an opportunity for me to get to know him through other people sure and so I Adventure to make my own documentary about about him. So was that was so real quick your your grandfather's of I works We started basically Disney animation With Walt but going all the way back to Kansas City

and all this stuff.

So, I mean, he's a true pioneer for people don't know their Disney history. Exactly. He was very interested. He was, but was Disney involved in the making of the, I worked stocking right? Yes, they funded it. Okay. Which was the last. I did. I did. The fish, what you were saying, because I know it was important. So that was my first documentary and it was a passion project.

Yeah.

And then that was important. So that was my first documentary and it was a passion project. And then that was successful enough for Disney to put it up for Academy Award. And then John Lassiter saw it, I screened up a Pixar and said, would you tell our story? Oh wow. And so that led to the Pixar story. And then I went from there. It was like, I-O-M saw it and said, will you tell the George Lucas story of I-O-M? And then I led to, actually recycled life was right after that, though, that was about people living in the largest landfill in Central America in Guatemala City. So that was my second film that I directed and shot and edited and pretty much did all of it except produce it. And that led to an off screen nomination and then picks our story. You got Emmy nominated. So I think between the two back to back, it kind of solidified this future path of dots, which I really enjoy doing. But did you did you at any point feel like, do I really want to do this? Or this is like

my calling because obviously it's working like, well, just walking through that a little bit. I mean, I think it was both. I, I love to travel. I love to meet people. I love to interview people. I love to, you know, what other career really allows you to travel the world and meet all all sorts of people you never get to meet right and interview them in depth so to me that's been

really fun yeah and. And do I still wanna do narrative and am I still pursuing narrative, yes? Mm-hm. I was talking to a documentary and recently involving myself, but I'm watching this person really wrestle with the idea of asking me to come into their life for two years, you know what I mean? Yeah. So the question I thought to ask you was, do you feel that like when you take on a subject, I mean you talk about big subjects whether it's Pixar or the Imagineering story, I mean these are big subjects, lots of moving pieces, do you kind of question your sanity or whether you want to dive into that ocean? Because I gotta imagine a film's got to take you at least a couple of years, right? Yeah, it's an investment for sure. And you want to know that it's going to be a worthwhile endeavor. And it's going to be a compelling story. And it's going to have all the elements to important stories to tell that hasn't been told before. So yeah, it's definitely an investment. and each one that comes to me or I pursue, if I'm pursuing it, I know I want it, but if it comes to me, I'm at the real purpose. You must get pitched a lot, I would imagine. Yeah, I do. And not everything's, you know, what I want to do, but a lot of it, you know, it is so. Yeah. It's just juggling the, how much can I attack and all that. What do you think of the modern form of the documentary I mean in my mind the rise at Netflix sort of I should for this whole new generation of documentary Films but also this maybe like now you're getting it a different takes on how to make a documentary I love I love experimenting with different styles and appreciate everybody that's telling amazing stories out there You It's a cool group of filmmakers in the Academy branch that I'm into. Just fun to celebrate each other's work. Have you seen this documentary? I think it's called The Mother of All Lives. I have not yet. It was made by I think maybe it was some rock in filmmaker. It's very interesting because in her case, she didn't have, there was no archival footage. It was about a massacre that happened in her village before she was born but severely affected her family. So her and her father built this set and through the use of like handmade dolls and the setting of what the village looked like the time she recreates the emotional narrative of what happened to her family in the village. But she didn't even have one piece of documentary footage. And I was so groundbreaking because you know the first thing is a documentary person and I've obviously done stuff with my band. It's like you know which like you're like I wish we had that moment of you shaking so and so's hand you You know, there's always that moment and you kind of don't know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If only somebody had taken a picture.

Right.

And all she had for the whole film was one photo that somebody

sneakily took of people lying dead on the street from the massacre.

But that's all she had.

Wow.

And she built this really incredible, beautiful documentary.

So I think the evolution of the forum is interesting to me because as somebody's out there looking at my own Situation of a documentary point of view. You know, everybody's got their own take on what the and you know with music as you can Imagine is falling into this very talking head archival footage talking at archival footage Well, there's somebody in cool ways tell stories now with with animation and graphics and yeah, absolutely Do you love the purity of the form like what's what's your personal deeper attraction now that you're in it and you're accomplished in it you know what what keeps you in the game of it. I think it's telling stories that haven't been told before and finding new ways tell them and inspiring audiences yeah you new ways. Yeah. I don't know if that answers

your question. No, I think that's pretty good. But it's really why I do. You know, it's it's it's there's the glamour of like you just had this beautiful documentary come out. We're going to talk about that. But you know, there's a glamour of here's the it's finally done and everybody's patting on the back, but there's those two years where you're sitting in a room.

You're not out in the sun, you're working on your thing.

I mean, I'm, you know, involved in a number of docs now.

And Yeah, on the back, there's those two years where you're sitting in a room. You're not out in the sun, you're working on your thing.

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