John Lasseter Talks Possible Pixar/Marvel Movie; Says He’d Be Open to It if a Filmmaker Was Interested

Ever since Disney acquired Marvel Studios, fans have been essentially foaming at the mouth at the prospect of a possible animated Marvel film from the exceptionally talented folks at Pixar.  The acquisition is still fairly recent so we really haven’t gotten much solid word on that possibility as of yet, but if anybody knew what the true chances of a Marvel/Pixar crossover were it would be John Lasseter.  You may know Lasseter’s name as the director of Pixar films like Toy Story and Cars, and as one of the founding members of the animation studio he has overseen every Pixar film to date.  Moreover, Lasseter serves as the Chief Creative Officer at both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Steve recently got the chance to speak with Lasseter at the press junket for Pixar’s latest creation, Brave.  During the course of their interview (in Scotland, no less), Steve asked Lasseter about the chances of a Marvel/Pixar film actually happening.  Hit the jump to see Lasseter’s somewhat surprisingly hopeful answer.

During their interview, Steve asked Lasseter if the idea of Pixar making a Marvel film was a possibility, and the multi-hyphenate responded thusly:

“Well, I can’t say anything about that because Marvel just got—[they’ve] been a couple years as part of the Disney company, we’ve been six years as part of the Disney company.  And at Pixar, we stay focused on making original films.  Even our sequels are kind of created internally and we come up with ideas [on our own].  I’m also leading the Walt Disney Animation Studio and all of that.  These studios are filmmaker driven studios, so if a filmmaker comes to me and says, ‘Hey, I wanna do this,’ then I would be really open to it.”

Given that Pixar notoriously generates their own material, it’s been assumed in the past that the prospect of an animated Marvel film getting made was up to the animation studio.  Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said as much during his interview with Steve back in April, but it appears that Lasseter would be open to the idea if a filmmaker came up with great take on a Marvel character.

For those unaware, most of Pixar’s films are borne out of a long development period in which filmmakers pair up with producers and develop an idea until it gets to a stage where it’s ready to pitch to the studio’s “Brain Trust” (ie. a group of the head honchos of Pixar).  Some films move forward after this stage, and others return to development for further foundation work.  This is what Lasseter means when he says that Pixar and Disney are “filmmaker driven studios,” as their films begin and end with the filmmaker.

While it’ll most likely be a while before we see anything from a Pixar/Marvel team-up should the pairing actually happen, it’s definitely reassuring to hear that Lasseter isn’t opposed to the idea.  You can watch the portion of Steve’s interview with Lasseter in which they talk about a possible Pixar/Marvel film below, and be sure to look for the full interview next week.  We’ll be running a new interview with the cast and filmmakers of Brave every day next week leading up to the film’s release, so keep an eye on the site for lots of Brave goodness.