Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - How Did This Murder Lead To The Incredibles? - The Brad Bird story

Episode Date: May 24, 2025

This is the story of Brad Bird, the writer and director of The Iron Giant and Pixar's The Incredibles.

An all-new season of the secret lives of Mormon wives is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. Mom Talk has just been blowing up. Whitney and Jen are on dancing with the stars. Taylor is a bachelorette. Saying that out loud is crazy. That is huge. But all the cool opportunities could close apart. It's causing issues in everyone's marriage.

My whole world is falling apart right now. It's chaos. Watch the Hulu original series. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bumno subscribers. Terms apply. So how does this horrible murder eventually lead to the Incredibles getting made? Well, it all starts with this guy, Brad.

And Brad's around 20 years old during this time, and he's got big dreams. He wants to create an animated movie that ends up being a classic. You know, like Snow White or Jungle Book. And so, in the late 70s, he starts going to college at Cal Arts, studying animation. A few years later, he finally graduates. And boom, he starts working as a screenwriter. But over the years, most of the movies he writes don't get made. But whatever, Brad's not gonna give up.

And he works for years. And then, in 1989, Brad's around 32 years old now, something terrible happens that changes his life forever. See, Brad has a sister, this woman, Susan. And Susan's around 37, and she and Brad are really close. But, unfortunately, Susan is in a terrible marriage. And her husband's an absolute piece of shit. I mean, he's awful to her, he's abusive,

and she's been trying to get out of this marriage for a while. So, from what I read, Susan and her husband are separated, or at least they're living in different places at this point. But one night, husband comes over to her house, probably to start some shit. And the two of them get into some kind of fight, and this fight gets really bad. And at some point, he gets so mad that he pulls out his pew-pue,

And he just blam! Shoot Susan. And then he shoots her again and again. And then he uses it on himself. Blam. And they're both tragically unalived. And as you can imagine, this is devastating for Susan's whole family. And when Brad hears the news, it hits him hard.

I mean, he is beyond depressed. He can't function. He stops working. He shuts down and goes into a daze. He's never had to deal with loss. like this, this is the worst. And several years pass, and it's around 1996 now, and he's still coping with this loss. But one day, something changes. See, Brad has been working hard for years, and now he has a contract at Warner Brothers to possibly direct an animated movie. And the execs

there, they tell him they have a lot of projects in development, would you like to direct one of these? And one of those projects is based on a novel written in the 60s called The Iron And it's a story about a big metal robot who becomes friends with a small boy. And so Brad's like, all right, let me read this Iron Man novel to see if I'm interested in this movie project. And so he reads it and he immediately connects with the story because he relates some of the themes in the book to the passing of his sister. And he starts thinking about the actual gun that was used to unalive Susan. And he thinks, what if something that was designed to kill didn't want to be? to kill? Like, what if a gun had a soul? And so Brad takes this quirky idea to Warner Brothers,

and he pitches it, what if a gun had a soul? And in this case, the gun being the big metal robot from the story, a story that's going to eventually become the Iron Giant. And amazingly, the suits at Warner Brothers say yes. And so for the first time, Brad gets the chance to write and direct his first ever feature film. And so, boom, Brad gets to work, right away banging out the screenplay for this. He wants this Iron Giant movie to not just be an animated classic, but he specifically wants it to help people cope with death and loss the same way he had to deal with losing someone he loves.

And so he and his team, they start producing this movie, and they work for years on it. I mean, this movie means everything to Brad. And so he carefully works the themes of death into this children's story. It's dead. And so the giant learns how to come to terms with loss. I know you feel bad about the deer, but it's not your fault. Things die. It's part of life. And if you've ever seen the movie, you already know that it has quite an anti-gun message,

which you could obviously tie that back to Brad's situation with losing his sister to gun violence. It's bad to kill. Gunned kill. And you don't have to be a gun. But anyway, years past. and it's now 1999, and Brad he's in his 40s now, but he's still determined to get this movie out to people, to help them to honor his sister. And Warner Brothers, they haven't released the movie yet, but everyone he screened it to absolutely loves it.

The animators love it, the early critics love it. Brad has made several grown men cry by showing them this movie. This could be it. This could become the animated classic that he has always wanted to make. Until the movie premieres and it bombs. And it bombs badly, like really, really badly. Like it costs $50 million to make, but it only made $31 million back. And of course, poor Brad is devastated.

I mean, he put years of his life into this movie, and the message was such a personal one to him. And so he starts to wonder, is this it for me? Will I ever direct again? I mean, all these things are going through his head. But then, a few months later, out of nowhere, Brad gets a phone call. And it's from a guy who used to go to school with him back at Cal Arts. This guy, John Lasseter. And John is like, hey bro, loved your work on the Iron Giant.

Want to come work at the animation studio that I work at? And Brad's like... Alright? Now John just happens to work at a studio that's getting quite a bit of buzz during this time. A studio called Pixar. And so in the year 2000, Brad comes to work at Pixar, and he reunites with John, his buddy from college. Ah! I see ya!

Brad! Brad's here, Pixar! And here at Pixar, Brad gets another chance of making an animated classic. And he starts thinking about all the years of work that he put into the Iron Giant and how much time he spent away from his wife and kids doing the work he loved. And so he ends up being inspired to write a story. about a father who has career ambitions of helping people, but these ambitions create a huge problem for his family.

And that story becomes a little movie called The Incredibles. And again, Brad puts his heart and soul into making this movie. Like the father, Mr. Incredible, is sort of designed to look like Brad himself. Brad even voices one of the characters himself, Edna Mode. If you repress, you depress, darling. To impress, you must express. And so, by 2004, the movie is finally done. But Pixar hasn't released it yet.

But again, everyone Brad has screened it too loves it. The animators love it, the early critics love it. Then, it premieres, finally. And unlike the Iron Giant, this movie blows the fuck up. Right away, and it makes a ton of money for Pixar. In fact, it's one of the highest grossing movies of the year, earning $600 million. Not only that, it gets four Oscar nominations,

and it actually wins one for Best Animated Feature. The Oscar goes to The Incredibles. And so finally, Brad has achieved his dream of creating an animated movie classic. And it even gets a sequel and video game spinoffs, and there's like a third movie being made. Plus, over time, the Iron Giant finally starts to get the recognition that it had deserved all along. And it is now considered an animated classic in its own right.

And if you pay attention at the end of Iron Giant, if you watch the credits, you can actually see that Brad has dedicated the movie to his sister, Susan.