Angus MacLane
MacLane in 2016
Born (1975-04-13) April 13, 1975 (age 48)
Riverside County, California, U.S.
Alma materRhode Island School of Design
Occupations
  • Animator
  • screenwriter
  • director
  • voice actor
Years active1997–present
EmployerPixar Animation Studios (1997–2023)

Angus MacLane (born April 13, 1975) is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor, best known for his work at Pixar Animation Studios.[1][2][3][4][5][6] He co-directed the film Finding Dory (2016)[7][8] and made his solo feature directorial debut with the Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear (2022).[9] MacLane is also a Lego enthusiast and created the CubeDudes building format and designed a LEGO WALL-E that has become an official set from The Lego Group.[10][11]

Early life and education

Angus MacLane was born on April 13, 1975, in Riverside County, California, but grew up in Portland, Oregon. He originally wanted to be a comic book artist but halfway through school switched to animation and hoped one day he could work at the Will Vinton Studios (now Laika) and would eventually go on to work for the studio before working for Pixar. In 1997, he received a bachelor of fine arts from Rhode Island School of Design.[12]

Career

1997–2023: Pixar

MacLane joined Pixar in 1997, starting as an animator on Geri's Game. He worked as an animator on every Pixar feature film from A Bug's Life (1998) through Toy Story 3 (2010). He also worked in the character development on Monsters, Inc. (2001) and The Incredibles (2004). His work on The Incredibles gained him an Annie for Outstanding Achievement in Character Animation.[13] After serving as Supervising Animator on One Man Band, MacLane started working on the story team for Andrew Stanton's WALL-E and later moved up to Directing Animator. After animating a small scene for a side character named BURN-E, MacLane wanted to know what might happen to the character. He originally wanted BURN-E's story arc part of the actual film, but Stanton ended up wanting him to develop it into a short which eventually became BURN-E, which can now be viewed on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of WALL-E. For a short amount of time, he worked on the animation for Up, and the animation on Toy Story 3.

After BURN-E, MacLane started to move further to directing and writing works in the studio with the Toy Story Toon: Small Fry and Pixar's first TV special Toy Story of Terror!, for which he won an Annie for Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production.[14] In addition, MacLane co-directed Pixar's 2016 film Finding Dory and directed the 2022 film Lightyear.[7][8] Following the commercial failure of Lightyear, MacLane was included among 75 Pixar employees laid off by The Walt Disney Company as part of an ongoing company-wide restructuring.[15][16]

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Director Writer Animator Story
Artist 		Character
Developer 		Production
Artist 		Other Voice Role Notes
1998 A Bug's Life No No Additional No No No No
1999 Toy Story 2 No No Yes Additional No No No
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command:
The Adventure Begins 		Partial No No No No No No Directed Pixar CG opening scene
direct-to-video [17] [18]
2001 Monsters, Inc. No No Yes Additional Yes No No
2003 Finding Nemo No No Yes No No No No
2004 The Incredibles No No Yes No Animation No No
2006 Cars No No Additional No No No No
2007 Ratatouille No No Additional No No No No
2008 WALL-E No No Directing Yes No Yes Yes BURN-E (uncredited)
2009 Up No No Yes No No No No
2010 Toy Story 3 No No Yes No Animation No No
2016 Finding Dory Co-Director No No No No No Yes Sunfish "Charlie Back and Forth"/Additional Voices Additional Story Material
2017 Coco No No No No No No Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team
2018 Incredibles 2 No No No No No No Yes
2019 Toy Story 4 No No No No No No Yes
2020 Onward No No No No No No Yes
Soul No No No No No No Yes
2021 Luca No No No No No No Yes
2022 Turning Red No No No No No No Yes
Lightyear Yes Yes No No No No Yes ERIC/DERIC & Zyclops
2023 Elemental No No No No No No Yes

Short films

Year Title Director Writer Animator Executive
Producer 		Other Voice Role Notes
1997 Geri's Game No No Yes No No
2000 For the Birds No No Yes No No
2005 One Man Band No No Supervising No No
2008 BURN-E Yes Yes No No Yes BURN-E/SUPPLY-R
2010 Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales No No No No Yes Additional Voices Episodes 8–9
2011 Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation No No Supervising No Yes Captain Zip
Toy Story Toons: Small Fry Yes Yes No No Yes Gary Grappling Hook/T-Bone/Funky Monk/Super Pirate
2012 Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex No No No No Yes Additional Voices Special Thanks
2016 Marine Life Interviews No No No Yes No
2017 Lou No No No No Yes Special Thanks
2019 Purl No No No No Yes
2022 Cars on the Road: Gettin' Hitched No No No No Yes Pixar Senior Creative Team

Television

Year Title Director Writer Other Voice Role Notes
2000-01 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Partial No No Directed Pixar CG intro variants [17][18]
2013 Toy Story of Terror! Yes Yes Yes Officer Wilson TV special

Other credits

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Tracy Waiter/Actor #9
2021 Pixar 2021 Disney+ Day Special[19] Himself Disney+ Original specials
2022 Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to 'Lightyear'[20]

Recognition

References

  1. ^ Wolcott, Gary (December 2, 2008). "Q&A with Pixar star MacLane". Tri-City Herald. ATOMICTOWN.COM. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  2. ^ Shamsian, Jacob (October 28, 2016). "One of the directors of 'Finding Dory' kept 'Finding Nemo' constantly running on his phone while making the movie". Insider. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  3. ^ Moore, Sara (August 26, 2015). "Interview with Angus MacLane of WALL•E". Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  4. ^ Telsch, Rafe (November 12, 2008). "Interview: BURN-E Director Angus MacLane". CinemaBlend. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  5. ^ White, Ryan (December 11, 2011). "Pixar writer, director Angus MacLane puts inspiration from Portland roots into short 'Small Fry'". The Oregonian. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  6. ^ Radish, Christina (October 14, 2013). "Carl Weathers Talks TOY STORY OF TERROR!, Playing "Combat Carl," Joining the TOY STORY Franchise, and More". Collider. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  7. ^ a b Han, Angie (2014-06-11). "Pixar Updates: 'Finding Dory' Gets Co-Director, More 'Inside Out' Details Revealed". /Film. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Feldberg, Isaac (2014-06-11). "Angus MacLane Co-Directing Finding Dory With Andrew Stanton". We Got This Covered. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  9. ^ Julie & T.J. (December 10, 2020). "Pixar Announces 'Lightyear' – An Origin Story of the Human Buzz Lightyear – Coming Summer 2022". Pixar Post. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  10. ^ Courtney, Tim (August 14, 2015). "Introducing LEGO® Ideas #011 WALL•E". LEGO Ideas Blog. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  11. ^ "LEGO Interview: Angus MacLane and the CubeDudes". bricksabillion.com. September 26, 2009. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  12. ^ Michael Cavna (2008-12-11). "The Interview: Pixar Animator Angus MacLane". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  13. ^ a b staff. "32nd ANNUAL ANNIE NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS RECIPIENTS". annieawards.org. Annie Awards. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  14. ^ a b staff. "41st ANNUAL ANNIE AWARDS WINNERS". annieawards.org. Annie Awards. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  15. ^ Chmielewski, Dawn (June 3, 2023). "Exclusive: Walt Disney's Pixar targets 'Lightyear' execs among 75 job cuts". Reuters. Archived from the original on June 3, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  16. ^ "Walt Disney's Pixar Animation eliminates 75 positions". The Economic Times. June 3, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  17. ^ a b White, James (October 27, 2021). "Lightyear Exclusive Interview: Director Angus MacLane On The 'Real' Buzz's New Movie". Empire. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  18. ^ a b Hermanns, Grant (April 21, 2022). "Angus MacLane & Galyn Susman Interview: Lightyear". Screen Rant. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  19. ^ Palmer, Roger (2021-11-10). "Pixar 2021 Disney+ Day Special Details Revealed". What's On Disney Plus. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  20. ^ T.J. Wolsos (June 10, 2022). "Buzz Lightyear Documentary 'Beyond Infinity' Now on Disney+". Pixar Post. Retrieved July 2, 2022.

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