Burtt, who has won four Oscars for sound effects editing and creature and robot voice creation, is moving on. He is joining Pixar Animation. It is, he says, time for a fresh wind to blow.***
Yet, the time had come for a new challenge and Pixar came calling. He terms it "the most attractive" of his offers. One reason, Burtt chose Pixar was its Bay Area location. The filmmaker has long been a resident of Northern California not far from Lucas' headquarters at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County and its allied operations. Burtt had no desire to pack up for Hollywood.
More significantly, the sound designer and film editor knew many of the Pixar folks. He recalls that many of the Pixar honchos had been Lucas employees when it was a small division of Lucasfilm.
I was just thinking since watching Episode III that sound is what really makes a great movie great these days. Now, the man who has made some of the legendary sounds of the Star Wars trilogy is packing up and moving to a LF spinoff known as Pixar.
To do animation? Really? Well, hopefully he'll keep his ear attuned to the sound in Pixar films as well and maybe we'll catch a Wilhelm or two. Maybe they'll have him helm a couple of audio projects for them as well.
Best of luck to you, Ben!
Posted by Jeffrey at June 1, 2005 10:31 AM