TWENTY-TWOTOY STORY

玩具總動員

Buzz and Woody to the Rescue

巴斯和胡迪救場

Jeffrey Katzenberg

杰弗里卡曾伯格

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible,” Walt Disney once said. That was the type of attitude that appealed to Jobs. He admired Disney’s obsession with detail and design, and he felt that there was a natural fit between Pixar and the movie studio that Disney had founded.

“挑戰不可能完成的任務，其樂無窮。”沃爾特·迪士尼曾經這樣說。這種處事態度很合喬布斯的口味。他贊賞迪士尼對細節和設計的執著，感覺皮克斯跟迪士尼創建的電影制片廠是天生的一對。

The Walt Disney Company had licensed Pixar’s Computer Animation Production System, and that made it the largest customer for Pixar’s computers. One day Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of Disney’s film division, invited Jobs down to the Burbank studios to see the technology in operation. As the Disney folks were showing him around, Jobs turned to Katzenberg and asked, “Is Disney happy with Pixar?” With great exuberance, Katzenberg answered yes. Then Jobs asked, “Do you think we at Pixar are happy with Disney?” Katzenberg said he assumed so. “No, we’re not,” Jobs said. “We want to do a film with you. That would make us happy.”

沃爾特·迪士尼公司已經獲得了皮克斯計算機動畫制作系統的使用授杈，并由此成為皮克斯公司計算機的最大用戶。有一天，迪士尼電影部的負責人杰夫·卡曾伯格邀請喬布斯到伯班克的工作室觀看制作技術。當迪士尼的一行人陪同參觀時，喬布斯突然轉身問卡曾伯格，“迪士尼對皮克斯滿意嗎？”卡曾伯格興髙采烈地說滿意。接著喬布斯又問，“那你認為我們皮克斯對迪士尼滿意嗎？”

Katzenberg was willing. He admired John Lasseter’s animated shorts and had tried unsuccessfully to lure him back to Disney. So Katzenberg invited the Pixar team down to discuss partnering on a film. When Catmull, Jobs, and Lasseter got settled at the conference table, Katzenberg was forthright. “John, since you won’t come work for me,” he said, looking at Lasseter, “I’m going to make it work this way.”

卡曾伯格說他覺得應該滿意吧。“錯，我們不滿意。”喬布斯說，“我們想跟你們合作一部電影，那樣我們才會滿意。”卡曾伯格很愿意。他很欣賞約翰·拉塞特制作的動畫短片，也曾經想誘惑他回迪士尼，但沒有成功。于是，卡曾伯格邀請皮克斯團隊來討論合拍電影。卡特穆爾、喬布斯和拉塞特在會議室一落座，卡曾伯格就看著拉塞特，開門見山地說：“約翰·，既然你不愿意來為我工作，我們就用這樣的方式來合作吧。”

Just as the Disney company shared some traits with Pixar, so Katzenberg shared some with Jobs. Both were charming when they wanted to be, and aggressive (or worse) when it suited their moods or interests. Alvy Ray Smith, on the verge of quitting Pixar, was at the meeting. “Katzenberg and Jobs impressed me as a lot alike,” he recalled. “Tyrants with an amazing gift of gab.” Katzenberg was delightfully aware of this. “Everybody thinks I’m a tyrant,” he told the Pixar team. “I am a tyrant. But I’m usually right.” One can imagine Jobs saying the same.

不僅迪士尼公司跟皮克斯彼此之間有一些共同點，卡曾伯格跟喬布斯也是如此。兩人都善于施展魅力，當興之所至或情緒高漲時也都富有攻擊性（甚至更糟）。即將離開皮克斯的阿爾維·雷·史密斯當時也參加了這次會議。“卡曾伯格跟喬布斯的相像給我留下了深刻印象，”他回憶說，“都是具有驚人口才的暴君。”卡曾伯格對此自鳴得意。“所有人都認為我是個暴君，”他告訴皮克斯團隊，“我也確實是個暴君。但我通常是正確的。”可以想象，喬布斯也會這么說。

As befitted two men of equal passion, the negotiations between Katzenberg and Jobs took months. Katzenberg insisted that Disney be given the rights to Pixar’s proprietary technology for making 3-D animation. Jobs refused, and he ended up winning that engagement. Jobs had his own demand: Pixar would have part ownership of the film and its characters, sharing control of both video rights and sequels. “If that’s what you want,” Katzenberg said, “we can just quit talking and you can leave now.” Jobs stayed, conceding that point.

同樣富有激情的卡曾伯格和喬布斯，兩人之間光是談判就用了好幾個月。卡曾伯格堅持要皮克斯授杈迪士尼使用其專利技術制作3D動畫。喬布斯說不行，最終他勝利了。喬布斯也有他自己的要求：皮克斯要對制作的電影及其角色擁有部分所有杈，并共同控制影片版權和續集。“如果那是你想要的，”卡曾伯格說，“我們就不用談了，你現在就可以走。”喬布斯沒走，在這個問題上作出了讓步。

Lasseter was riveted as he watched the two wiry and tightly wound principals parry and thrust. “Just to see Steve and Jeffrey go at it, I was in awe,” he recalled. “It was like a fencing match. They were both masters.” But Katzenberg went into the match with a saber, Jobs with a mere foil. Pixar was on the verge of bankruptcy and needed a deal with Disney far more than Disney needed a deal with Pixar. Plus, Disney could afford to finance the whole enterprise, and Pixar couldn’t. The result was a deal, struck in May 1991, by which Disney would own the picture and its characters outright, have creative control, and pay Pixar about 12.5% of the ticket revenues. It had the option (but not the obligation) to do Pixar’s next two films and the right to make (with or without Pixar) sequels using the characters in the film. Disney could also kill the film at any time with only a small penalty.

兩位同樣痩削的公司首腦劍拔弩張、針鋒相對，這給拉塞特留下了極為深刻的印象。“單單看著史蒂夫和杰弗里那個架勢，我就佩服得五體投地，”他回憶說，“那就像一場擊劍比賽，他們都是高手。”但在當時，卡曾伯格拿的是重劍，而喬布斯拿的只是把花劍。當時皮克斯瀕臨破產，遠遠比迪士尼更需要這次合作。另外，迪士尼資金雄厚，可以負擔整個項目，而皮克斯不能。1991年5月達成的協議是，迪士尼將完全擁有影片及其角色的版杈，給皮克斯大約12.5%的票房分成，迪士尼控制創作杈，可以在任何時候以很少的違約金為代價停掉這部影片，有杈利（而無義務）制作皮克斯接下來的兩部電影，也有權（不一定跟皮克斯一起）用該影片的角色制作續集。