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Kirk Wise (born August 24, 1963) is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wise has directed Disney animated films such as Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Kirk Wise. Director: Beauty and the Beast. Kirk Wise was born on 24 August 1963 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a director, known for Beauty and the Beast (1991), Spirited Away (2001) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).
- January 1, 1
- Director, Art Department, Additional Crew
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Kirk Wise
Aug 11, 2020 · Watch an hour-long chat with the directors of Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis, who share their stories and insights on their career and challenges. Learn about their beginnings, their collaborations, their controversies and their legacy in animation.
- 54 min
- They Met at CalArts. “Gary and I actually met at CalArts in my first year, that would’ve been 1981,” Kirk Wise shared. “We didn’t cross paths again until I was at Disney….
- Their Directorial Debut… At Epcot. Surprisingly Walt Disney Imagineering doesn’t often collaborate with Walt Disney Animation Studios. For the Epcot attraction Cranium Command, WDI outsourced the pre-show animation to another studio and was very unhappy with the result.
- They Felt Thrown into the Deep End on Beauty and the Beast. While developing a project called “Goofy of the Apes,” described as “Goofy as Tarzan,” Kirk and Gary received a call asking if they could drop what they were doing and fly to New York to take over directorial duties on Beauty and the Beast, which was being retooled after over a year in development with another director.
- Howard Ashman Changed Disney Animation. “If you had to point to one person responsible for the Disney renaissance, I would say it was Howard,” Kirk Wise shared when talking about the late lyricist who worked with them on Beauty and the Beast.
- Overview
- Career
Kirk Wise is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, and producer, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wise has directed Disney animated films, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (alongside Gary Trousdale). He also directed the English-language translation of Hay...
Wise graduated from Palo Alto High School and went on to study character animation at California Institute of the Arts. Early in his career, Wise worked as an animator on Disney's Sport Goofy in Soccermania (1987), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and The Brave Little Toaster (1987), as well as Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories episode "Family Dog".
Returning to Walt Disney Feature Animation, he began work on The Great Mouse Detective (1986) as an assistant animator, but eventually joined the story department, where he was reunited with former CalArts classmate, Gary Trousdale.
Kirk Wise is an American animator, director and producer known for his work at Disney. He co-directed Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and also directed the English dub of Spirited Away.
Jun 3, 2024 · Known for his collaboration with Disney, Wise's films have not only shaped childhoods but have also set benchmarks in storytelling and visual excellence. This list celebrates the best movies directed by Kirk Wise, showcasing films that blend imaginative narratives with stunning animations.
