Joe Ranft

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Template:Short description Template:Pp-semi-indef Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Main otherScript error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image Joseph Henry Ranft (March 13, 1960 – August 16, 2005) was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.

Ranft's first film was The Brave Little Toaster in 1987. He received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination as one of the writers of Toy Story (1995), and was also the co-director on Cars (2006), his final work before his death.

Early life

Joseph Henry Ranft[1] was born in Pasadena, California, on March 13, 1960,[1] and raised in Whittier. His parents were James and Melissa Ranft. As a child, Ranft developed a love for magic, storytelling, film and comedy. At age 15, he became a member of the Magic Castle Junior Group. After graduating from Monte Vista High School, Whittier, in 1978, Ranft began studying in the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts alongside John Lasseter and Brad Bird.[1] After two years, Ranft's student film Good Humor caught the attention of Disney animation executives, who offered him a job.

Career

In 1980, Ranft joined Disney as a writer and storyboard artist. During his first five years with Disney, he worked on a number of television projects[1] that were never produced. Later in his Disney career, he was promoted into the Feature Animation department, where he was mentored by Eric Larson. Ranft later spoke about Larson's training: "He always reminds me of just the fundamental things that I tend to forget. You know, it's like, animation is so complex; 'How many drawings are in there?' and stuff, but Eric always comes back to like; 'What does the audience perceive?'"[2]

Around this time, he studied under and began performing with the improvisational group, The Groundlings.[3] Ranft stayed with Disney throughout the 1980s, writing the story on many animated features, including Oliver & Company, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. He also worked on The Brave Little Toaster in 1987 for Hyperion Animation and James and the Giant Peach in 1996 for Allied Filmmakers.[1]

Ranft reunited with Lasseter after joining Pixar in October 1992 as their head of story.[4] There he worked on all of their films produced up to 2006; this included Toy Story (for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay) and A Bug's Life, as the co-story writer and others as story supervisor. He also voiced characters in many of the films, including Heimlich the caterpillar in A Bug's Life, Wheezy the penguin in Toy Story 2, and Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo.[1]

In the film Monsters, Inc., Ranft had a monster named after him (J.J. Ranft) as most of the scarers in the film were named for Pixar staff. Ranft was also given lead story credit on The Brave Little Toaster (1987) and voiced Elmo St. Peters, the appliance salesman. Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

His favorite writers were Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe. His favorite magicians were John Carney, Daryl, Michael Ammar, Ricky Jay and Jimmy Grippo.[5]

Ranft was posthumously honored in 2006 as a Disney Legend and in 2016 with the Winsor McCay Award, the lifetime achievement award for animators.

Death and legacy

On August 16, 2005, Ranft, 45, and his friend Eric Frierson, 39, were passengers in Ranft's 2004 Honda Element, which was being driven by another friend, Elegba Earl, 32. Earl suddenly lost control and crashed through a guard rail while northbound on Highway 1 in Mendocino County, California. The SUV tumbled down a cliff and plunged Template:Convert into the mouth of Navarro River, killing Ranft and Earl instantly. Frierson was injured, but survived by escaping through the sunroof.[6][7] Cars and Corpse Bride, for which he was respectively a director and producer, were released posthumously and dedicated to him.[8] His remains were cremated.[9]

Ranft has been recognized by colleagues and in various tributes in animated films released after his death. Henry Selick called him "the story giant of our generation."[7] In honor of Ranft, in Selick's animated film production Coraline, the moving SUV that moves Coraline into her new apartment is emblazoned with a "Ranft Moving, Inc." logo. The movers themselves are modeled after Ranft and his brother Jerome, who voiced one of the movers. Jerome took over most of Ranft's voice roles following his death. The 2010 Blu-Ray and DVD re-release of Toy Story 2 includes a special feature that focuses on Ranft and his accomplishments titled "Celebrating Our Friend Joe Ranft".[10] Ranft did early drawings for the character of Finn McMissile in an unused scene from the film Cars, and his drawings were later used in creating the character for Cars 2.[11] John Lasseter has cited Ranft as being one of the main inspirations for the character of Mater from the Cars films and described his influence as being "all over Cars 2".[12] In the film Inside Out, the character of Jangles the clown is based on a character created by Ranft outside of Pixar named "Buttocks the Clown",[13] according to co-director Ronnie del Carmen and story artist Domee Shi.[14] The end credits of the Pixar film Coco showcase a digital ofrenda with pictures of many Pixar employees and their loved ones who had previously died, including Ranft.[15] Additionally, the 2020 film Soul includes his name on a wall of previous mentors to the character 22.

Filmography

Films

Year Title Director Writer Story
Supervisor 		Story
Artist 		Animator Executive
Producer 		Other Voice role Notes
1987 The Brave Little Toaster No Yes No Yes Directing No Yes Elmo St. Peters / Clown[16] Animation Screen Story[17]
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit[18] No No No Yes No No No Animation: Storysketch
Oliver & Company No No No Yes No No No [19]
1989 The Little Mermaid[19] No No No Yes No No No Storyboards
1990 The Rescuers Down Under No Screenplay Yes No No No No Screenplay [19]
1991 Beauty and the Beast No No No Yes No No No [19]
1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas No No Yes No No No Yes Igor [20][19]
1994 The Lion King No No No Yes No No No [21]
1995 Toy Story No Original Story Yes No No No Yes Lenny [21]
1996 James and the Giant Peach No No Yes No No No No [17]
1998 A Bug's Life No Original Story Yes No No No Yes Heimlich[16] [21]
1999 Toy Story 2 No No Yes No No No Yes Wheezy / Heimlich[16] Additional story material[21]
Fantasia 2000[17] No No No Additional No No No Additional story artist
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins No No No No No No Yes Wheezy[16] Direct-to-video
2001 Monkeybone No No No No No No Yes Streetsquashed Rabbit [22]
Monsters, Inc. No No No Yes No No Yes Pete "Claws" Ward Additional story material[21]
2003 Finding Nemo No No No No No No Yes Jacques[16]
2004 The Incredibles No No No No No No Yes Additional Voices
2005 Corpse Bride[17] No No No No No Yes Yes Films dedicated in Ranft's memory
2006 Cars[23] Co-Director Yes Yes No No No Yes Red, Peterbilt[16]

Short films and TV specials

Year Title Writer Puppeteer Other Notes
1982 Fun with Mr. Future Yes No No
1983 Hansel and Gretel No Yes No TV special
1987 Sport Goofy in Soccermania Yes No No
2006 Mater and the Ghostlight[24] Original Story No Yes End credits designer

Documentaries

Year Title Role Notes
2007 The Pixar Story Himself Film dedicated in memory
2009 Waking Sleeping Beauty caricaturist

Video games

Year Title Voice role
1996 Toy Story Animated Storybook Lenny
1998 A Bug's Life: The Video Game Heimlich[16]
2002 Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena Pete "Claws" Ward
2003 Finding Nemo: The Video Game[19] Jacques
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure Wheezy
2007 Cars Mater-National Championship Red (credit only)

Theme parks

Year Title Role Notes
2002–2018 Heimlich's Chew Chew Train Heimlich
2018–present Heimlich's Candy Corn Toss Heimlich Posthumous, archival audio[25]

References

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External links

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  1. ↑ a b c d e f Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  4. ↑ To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios
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  16. ↑ a b c d e f g Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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