Loading summary
Transcript105 lines
- [00:00]
Holly Fry
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human Wouldn't it be great to never buy gas again? EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and they are a perfect addition to your everyday life. Most people are only driving about 40 miles a day and most EVs can handle 200 to 400 miles of range on a charge. And there are hundreds of EV models available today, so there's something perfect for every lifestyle and budget. I drive an ev. I've had it for a couple of years. It's my favorite car I've ever owned. It is so fun to drive. The pickup is incredible. It's super agile and it is easy to maintain. The way forward is electric. Learn more@electricforall.org brought to you by Apple
- [00:41]
Leslie Iwerks
Card hey, you could be earning 2% daily cash back on that purchase and that one and even that one.
- [00:48]
Tracy V. Wilson
That's because Apple card users earn 2%
- [00:51]
Leslie Iwerks
daily cash back on every purchase, including
- [00:53]
Tracy V. Wilson
everyday items they buy online or in store when using their Apple Card.
- [00:57]
Leslie Iwerks
With Apple Pay, not an Apple Card
- [00:59]
Tracy V. Wilson
customer, you can apply in the Wallet
- [01:01]
Leslie Iwerks
app on iPhone subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs bank
- [01:05]
Tracy V. Wilson
usa, Salt Lake City Branch Terms and
- [01:08]
Leslie Iwerks
more at Apple Co Benefits the Old
- [01:11]
Tracy V. Wilson
Gays are back with Silver Linings, their lovable podcast from iHeart's Ruby Studio in partnership with Veiv Healthcare. Robert, Mick, Bill and Jesse strut back down memory lane for season two, sharing lessons on life, love and loss. These are the kind of insights that only come from experience, so tune in to Silver Linings with the old gays on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Work can be a little weird. And I know when I first started working, networking for work was even weirder. Sometimes it can feel hard to thrive and move forward in your career, and that is where LinkedIn comes in. LinkedIn helps you get ideas and insights from experts in your field, connect with people professionally, grow your network, and access tools designed to help you find the right fit for your next role. Whether you're just getting started, figuring out your next move or looking to accelerate your career, LinkedIn is built to support you at every stage because LinkedIn is the network that works for you. Visit LinkedIn.com class to learn more.
- [02:12]
Holly Fry
Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.
- [02:25]
Tracy V. Wilson
And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.
- [02:27]
Holly Fry
Tracy, we have an interview today that I have been wanting to do for a very long time. At this point, you've been talking about
- [02:36]
Tracy V. Wilson
it for a while.
- [02:37]
Holly Fry
I know you're probably like, this is never going to happen. But it did. Because several months back, Leslie Iwerks team reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in talking to Leslie on the show. And the answer was a resounding yes. I would have wanted to talk to her before that. I think she's amazing. Our schedules, though, just did not wanna cooperate. It became comedic where it was like, well, I'm getting back from California on this day. I could do any time after that in the following week. And it would be like, no. Then Leslie starts her travel that night. And it would be like, okay, well, Leslie's gonna be back this day. And I'm like, I will be on a flight to Italy. Like, it just. Nothing was working. But we finally wrestled those schedules to the ground.
- [03:25]
Tracy V. Wilson
Yeah, I like how it finally worked when I was on vacation. Perfect timing.
- [03:30]
Holly Fry
The timing actually was perfect. Yeah, it was during a week when we were not doing our regular record. We did some recording before you went on vacation. So I had like some freed up time in there. And it just. Everything came together as it should.
- [03:47]
Tracy V. Wilson
Hooray. If the name Iwerks sounds familiar, it's because it's come up on the show before, although it's been quite a while. Ub Iwerks, Leslie's grandfather, was an animator and cartoonist and director and special effects artist and many other things. And also famously, Walt Disney's partner from his earliest years in Kansas City, Don Iwerks, Leslie's father, spent 30 years at the Disney company, pushing the boundaries of film's more technical side, inventing, among other things, the first 360 degree camera.
- [04:21]
Holly Fry
So Leslie's pedigree is really quite impressive. And Leslie herself is very impressive. She is a filmmaker. Her latest latest project is a documentary titled Disneyland Handcrafted. And it shares the story of Disneyland's construction, something we talked about in our Haunted Mansion episodes, which were quite a while back now, although we have rerun them as classics. I think when the pandemic first popped off and everyone was at home, we did a list of our favorite episodes that we republished. And that was on there. Cause I love that place. But this is a really beautiful look and also terrifying, as we'll discuss in the course of the interview, look at how Disneyland went from an empty, massive lot to the place, the amusement park that we all know today. And Leslie very graciously spent time talking to me about making this film. So here is our conversation. I am so beyond delighted to get to be here today with Leslie Iwerks, someone whose work I have admired a great deal. And we're gonna jump right in. So, Leslie, your grandfather's story was of course incredibly instrumental in your decision to become a documentary filmmaker rather than what you initially went to film school for, which was narrative film, I believe. Will you talk about that and how that resulted in your first film, the Hand behind the Mouse? Sure.
- [05:51]
Leslie Iwerks
First of all, thanks for having me on the show. Nice to be here. Yeah, I, you know, I went to usc, had a great time, and when I graduated, you know, everyone's always trying to look for what are they going to do next, what's their next project and what's, what are they passionate about? And I think for me it was to tell the story of my grandfather who, who I never got to know because he, he died when I was just one. So I thought, you know what? I now armed with a film degree and I want to tell his story in a documentary. And so I got the support of Roy Disney, Roy E. Disney, to do it in the, in Michael Eisner. And you know, I think they probably thought it was going to be like a small little doc and, you know, no big deal. And then it ended up being, they said, well, we'll fund you for 60 minutes. And I really wanted it to be a 90. And I just had a great time and made best film I could. And when they saw the 60, they said, well, actually it's so good, we'll fund you for an additional 30 to make it what you really wanted. So that was great. And ultimately became this project of fulfillment in a way to get to know my grandfather that I never got to know. And I traveled all the way through and walked in the footsteps of Walton and my grandfather back in Kansas City. For those that don't know, his name was Ub Iwerks and he was Walt's original business business partner and collaborator for the majority of his life as an animator and also as an Academy Award winning visual effects and engineer. He developed all sorts of camera systems, projection systems and all sorts of things for the park. So it was a multi part story that I was able to tell and really get into all the facets of his life. And so that was a lot of fun for me.
- [07:40]
Holly Fry
And you have subsequently made a lot more documentaries, both in standalone form and as series like Recycled the Pixar Story, one of my very favorites, Industrial Light and Magic, Creating the Impossible and on and On. If somebody just wants to spend like a great weekend on the couch, where they learn a lot and have fun. Your library is like, where it's at.
- [08:00]
Leslie Iwerks
Aw, thank you.
- [08:01]
Holly Fry
Oh, it's. Listen, researching for this, like, doing my reviews, I was very delighted to call it work. Not all of those films are about creative people and endeavors, but a lot of them are. And I have heard you speak before about growing up around the work of your father, Don Iwerks, who was also groundbreaking in filmmaking and as an inventor and technology. How has being immersed in that world of filmmaking from the time you were very young informed the way that you tell stories, and particularly stories of creative people?
- [08:37]
Leslie Iwerks
It's a good question. I've often wondered that myself. I mean, basically what I really think happened is that I was given the opportunity to go behind the scenes with my dad as a kid, whether that be the Disney Studio backlot, when it was still a working set, you know, backlot with movies happening and in production, and also to the parks, Backstage Disneyland and Walt Disney World and Epcot. And I got to see is a little kid is a, you know, young adult. Little kid, young adult, how things are done. And he would always be very generous in sharing with me how things are done. And it just, I think, created this inquisitiveness in me to want to know, you know, how do movies get made? How do, you know, how do these animatronic figures get made? And he would show me how cameras get built and how he comes up with optics and lenses and all sorts of things. So it was not only technologically, it was also moviemaking as well. And I think that early interest fueled my interest to go to film school. And ultimately, ironically or not, that the fact that I've told stories about how things do get made, whether it be industrial light and magic and the visual effects, or whether it be, you know, Pixar and how they make their films, or whether it be imagineering and how they make the parks and the rides and the attractions. It's all kind of interesting to me. But I think what really was interesting to me also at a young, young age was business. Business and business opportunities and how people find something and find a niche that needs to be, you know, a hole that needs to be filled out there in the world. And. And they figure out a way to create it and build it and bring it into fruition, and also innovation. And so innovation, business and creativity, I think, are the three pillars of a lot of my work. And I really enjoy all those stories, even independently, but when they come together, it's really exciting.
- [10:42]
Holly Fry
Speaking of exciting ways they have Come together. Your most recent project, Handcrafted, delves into the creation of Disneyland, which hits all of those pillars. There is some amazing footage in this documentary because, as you mentioned in it, Walt Disney hired photographers and cinematographers to basically have the construction documented throughout. And you ended up with a lot of footage that no one had ever seen before that you got to work with. How do you begin to sort through all of that when you realize you have to turn that into a film?
- [11:20]
Leslie Iwerks
Well, it. How do I even begin? I think what happened was we found these binders that were in the film archives and we borrowed them and looked through them. And they were from like the 50s, right. 60s. And they were the list of film reels that were. That were taken, captured during the making of the Disneyland park and film reels post Disneyland opening over the next decade. Right. So we started going through all this for the Imagineering Story. And we used quite a bit of it in the Imagineering Stories episode one. But my editor, Mo Stobee had said one day, he's like, what if we tried to do something that's just using this footage by itself, all verited? And I said, well, that's a great idea. I said, you know, you need to find a structure for it and figure out, you know, how much is there and find the audio bites to support that. Right. I didn't want to do talking heads, typical talking heads. I didn't want to do still photos. I think what really intrigued me and intrigued us as a team was the fact that this footage was shot by the photographers who were some of the true life adventure photographers that Disney hired to go shoot animals in Africa and, you know, groundhogs on the prairie and things like that. And so these guys were so used to documenting real life as it happens for hours. So that was intriguing to me that they shot these scenes as scenes. But when you look at the reels and the way we received them, they were. They were all over the map. They were all disorganized. And we'd have to basically find the one shot that was on reel 32 and then another shot, part of that scene that was on 65. And we finally had to organize what became probably 60 to 70 hours of material just for the pre opening. And so taking all that information, all that, and figuring out an archeological dig, what was this mound of dirt and what direction was it facing? What direction is the camera facing? And what is that going to be down the road? Is that Tomorrowland? Is that eventually land? So all that stuff became a major feat for my editor Mo and my producer, Mark Kettle and myself to really go through it all and figure out, okay, well, what is what? But then now it was about how do we tell the story? Because construction footage by itself can be a bit boring. So we need a story. So then we started going through all these transcripts of people figuring out who was there at the time through photographs that we've seen and research that we found through the Disney archives. Who was there and who were the key people involved in the making of the park. I mean, there's a lot of people, but there were some, obviously, people that were kind of right front and center in the major parts of it. The finance, the engineering, the story, the construction, the leadership of all that. So we found. We started going through all these transcripts of people and then realizing that so much that was there that was interesting was about the drama happening behind the scenes. And it was the fact that Walt was crazy and Walt was insane. And, you know, how's he ever gonna do this? And he's gonna run the company into the ground? And, you know, there was so much doubt and fear in some cases of just, can this get done? And then ultimately, the Disneyland TV show with ABC promised to have this park done in a year. So he set himself up for what should have been total failure to make that park. In today's world, that would never happen. And the fact that he did, I think, is the ultimate feat of this film. And I think what's also unique in this film is that it's never been told in this way before. Just straightforward footage that allows you to sit in it and immerse yourself in it. And that's really what we wanted to do, is take you back in time into this time capsule of that plot of dirt that that would become the happiest place on Earth and see how they did it.
- [15:21]
Holly Fry
I imagine there are a number of times when you are going through all of those hours of archival footage and notes and information where you get some surprises along the way. Did any of those happen in this project? And what were they?
- [15:34]
Leslie Iwerks
Well, I think, you know, to me, what stood out was so much of the detail in building the. Like, the brick and the. You know, just crafting things by hand. You know, you kind of take it for granted now, when you walk through the park that this park was. You always think it was always here, you know, and. And. But this was the very origin story of it and how they. The level of detail that they went with to create it. It could have been any other amusement park. That's kind of just off the shelf stuff. But they, they literally crafted so much of this by hand and so much artistry to it that you really gain a whole new appreciation for it. And I think the fact that they only had about 10% of the plans built when they started the making of Disneyland, that's incredible to me. And I had never known that. And so I think those were little surprises along the way as we started to read the transcripts.
- [16:33]
Holly Fry
Yeah, yeah. That's the kind of thing that if a person in a leadership position did today, like, I only have 10% of this planned out, but we're going to go ahead and get guys on the ground, they'd get fired. It's not anything that's really tenable in most people's eyes.
- [16:50]
Leslie Iwerks
Yeah. And I think also what's interesting is to see those guys walking on those beams, smoking, you know, and going up and down, sliding down this beam. And it's just like the sheer fearlessness at that time of just getting this done and not caring about. I mean, OSHA was not even a thing then, so it was just like, let's just do it. And I think that's so refreshing for so many people to just have that ability to just go do it. There weren't a lot of rules and stuff.
- [17:20]
Holly Fry
Yeah. Wouldn't it be great to never buy gas again? EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and they are a perfect addition to your everyday life. Most people are only driving about 40 miles a day, and most EVs can handle 200 to 400 miles of range on a charge. And there are hundreds of EV models available today, so there's some. Something perfect for every lifestyle and budget. I drive an ev. I've had it for a couple of years. It's my favorite car I've ever owned. It is so fun to drive. The pickup is incredible. It's super agile and it is easy to maintain. The way forward is electric. Learn more@electricforall.org Amazon Health AI presents painful thoughts I. I can't stop scratching my downtown. Yeah, but I'm not itching to go
- [18:09]
Leslie Iwerks
downtown and tell a receptionist I'm here
- [18:12]
Holly Fry
to talk about my downtown. Some things you'd rather type than say out loud. There's no question too embarrassing for Amazon Health AI. Chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24. 7 Healthcare just got less painful.
- [18:29]
Britbox Announcer
Britbox has the best of British tv, period.
- [18:32]
Holly Fry
Let's get started.
- [18:34]
Britbox Announcer
The best mystery period.
- [18:36]
Tracy V. Wilson
I like a good detective story.
- [18:37]
Britbox Announcer
The best, best romance period.
- [18:39]
Holly Fry
This is the book that will open
- [18:41]
Bombas Announcer
the heart of Ms. Mary Bennett.
- [18:43]
Britbox Announcer
The best drama period. Welcome to the grown up world. Stream the best British period dramas including the Lady Inspired by a True Story of Murder and Scandal and From the World of Jane Austen, the other Bennett sister. Only on Britbox. Start your free trial@britbox.com you're a pro
- [18:59]
Bombas Announcer
at running your life, at committing to your workout, at showing up every day. At Bombas, we're pros too. Pros at making socks. Our sport assortment has specialized socks for whatever sport you're committed to. Running, hiking, golf, Pilates and so much more. Made with sweat, wicking yarns, blister fighting details and targeted arch support. Bombas sport is pro level socks from the pros of socks. For another pro, you go to bombas.com audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's bombus.com and use code audio.
- [19:35]
Holly Fry
It's so easy for people to think of Disney as this very money flush juggernaut of a company. But your documentary really shows how tight money was in those early days and how stressful this project was for everyone involved. But of course, for Walt Disney in particular. How much of that heavier side of this project were you aware of before you started making the film?
- [20:01]
Leslie Iwerks
Well, I certainly knew about it because I've done a lot of research on Disneyland and read a ton of the books and whatnot. And I also have having told Imagineering Story episode one, I was aware of a lot of those stories. And I think for me, I just, I didn't want to tell that story the same way again. There's a book called Disney's Land that I really appreciated. And I think that that book was very inspirational too, in that it really does get into the kind of the hardship of behind the scenes of what it took to make the park, to build it, you know, to put it together. And so I took that very seriously and really wanted you to feel it. And I think with the choice of music that we used, and it's not your typical happy Disney, you know, cues, it's actually a little more grounded and making you feel more of the weight, I think, of what they were all going through.
- [20:58]
Holly Fry
We have talked on this show before about the timeline of Disneyland's construction. And so even being aware of it, seeing just how much, like getting the visual of how much was still undone even a few months before opening is a very different thing.
- [21:15]
Leslie Iwerks
Yeah.
- [21:17]
Holly Fry
Did seeing that footage give you as much anxiety as it did me? Like, I know it's gonna turn out I know we're gonna land the ship, but it still was like, this is very stressful.
- [21:27]
Leslie Iwerks
Yeah, it is. And it so many people have said to me, my heart was racing towards the end there. It's like, are they gonna, you know, how are they gonna do it? And I think that's. I think when you finally get to the rehearsals a few days before and everyone's all over themselves, all over the place, on top of each other in the park, trying to rehearse for the TV show that's live across the country and also finish the park at the same time, I mean, that's conflict. And I think that once we started seeing all that come together and knowing that you still got wet cement and you still have Tomorrowland that's not finished yet, and you start to feel the pressure. And the editing style, I think, also started to get a little bit quicker and you start to really feel the tension as we go. We start to edit a little bit faster in pacing. And so that's a subliminal way to kind of know, okay, well, they were acting faster and we need to edit faster, create that frenetic energy.
- [22:29]
Holly Fry
Yeah. There were two quotes that really stood out to me in it. One was from Harper Goff where he says, I didn't understand what worry was until he was talking to Walt about, you know, just Walt's day to day concerns. And then the other one being art link letter saying, it was a great big panic all the time.
- [22:49]
Leslie Iwerks
Yeah.
- [22:50]
Holly Fry
And when you think about those two things in conjunction, it sounds like it's a marvel everyone didn't have a heart attack.
- [22:58]
Leslie Iwerks
It's true. Especially Walt. You know, I agree. It seemed like maybe at the beginning when they were making, you know, doing gag shots and gag scenes and having fun in the. In the field. Yeah, you didn't see so much of that. As it got closer to the finish,
- [23:19]
Holly Fry
did you have any difficulty reconciling all of this information about just how stressed Walt actually was every single day with that very cool, smooth, assured Persona that he was always showing the public on television and in interview appearances?
- [23:36]
Leslie Iwerks
Well, yeah, I mean, it's funny because he had to put on that Persona. Obviously, he's Uncle Walt to so many people around the country, and he had to show that sort of real confidence and sureness. But what I thought was actually pretty brilliant was in the TV show, they made fun of themselves. You know, they. They acknowledged that they're in the final race and it's, you know, all hands on deck and it's the final push and you know, even when the guy was falling over in the tractor and jumps out that scene, they said, oh, nobody got hurt, you know, and, you know, we can. We continue to have a good time. I mean, it's. They kind of make light of a lot of it, but then they're also acknowledging that they're in that final stretch, and it's harried. Right. So I think by just being open about it, not denying that and sharing that with the audience, I think that was really smart. They brought the audience in to the whole process and shared it with them.
- [24:37]
Holly Fry
Yeah. Oh, the gasp. I gasped when that big tractor goes over. I was like, oh. Oh, he's fine. Okay.
- [24:43]
Leslie Iwerks
It's fine.
- [24:43]
Holly Fry
It's fine. I know you talked a little bit about this already and approaching this with a very verite style in mind, but to be clear to any of our listeners or viewers who haven't seen it, this film includes voice recordings of people who were working on the Disneyland project. But you never cut away to those interviews, like, to show the person speaking. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, you enhanced some of the sound of the original footage so that those. Those kind of immersive sounds of like hammers hitting things and, you know, trowels scraping against stone, et cetera, are there. And the footage is always the building and the construction, and it becomes really, really powerful. Were there any. Was that always. Did you already always have this vision that we're never cutting away from this construction, or did that kind of congeal in the process of laying out what you had?
- [25:44]
Leslie Iwerks
No, we. Early on, it was like, we're staying all in. In this footage. We're not gonna cut away to somewhere else. Right. Or a flashback to something. It was always about staying in the moment as if you were there and living in it. And then the sound effects were really something that I. That was important to me because I knew that all this footage was mos. It was. There was no sound to this raw footage that we got right. And they didn't record sound when they were in the field, so it was all silent. And so when it came together, we had to do a temp audio track to build in all these sound effects. And that's when it really started to come alive as a proof of concept that we did. And then we added some voiceovers to it and just to kind of see, get a feel for it. And that's when Disney said, okay, this is great. And then the project kind of went on hold for a bit, and then kind of sat on A shelf for a number of reasons, not due to the project itself. It was just, you know, what have you. And then Jason Recker with Disney Experiences saw it. I showed him a copy. I'm like, by the way, your 70th anniversary of Disneyland's coming up. And I got this project, if you're interested. It's sitting on a shelf. And he was like, oh, my God, this is amazing. So they. They funded the completion of it. And I think what was great was that once we got the real. The finishing funds to do that, it was like all hands on deck. We got to get all the sound bites, we got to get all the audio clips, all the audio effects, sound effects to go with it. And I said, it has to be authentic. Every single thing you see has to feel authentic, and it has to be from that era. So tractors have to be from the 54, you know, the hammers or whatever, you know, whatever saws they use. At that time, obviously you can't. They didn't have electric, I don't think, to that. So it had to be really authentic to the time of what they were doing. And so we did that to the best of our ability in the offline edit. But then once we got to Skywalker, Bonnie Wilde and I had a conversation, and I told her that. I said, look it, let's just make this as authentic as it can be, go the extra mile to get the period effects, and then work with Disney to get the sounds from the park at that time as well, because Disney has a library of sounds. And it was harder than we thought to try to get some of those authentic Disneyland sounds from that first year, but we were able to get some, so it was fun. And then. And then, like the Mark Twain in that scene, and, you know, you got, you. You got water and you got the sound of the engine and the paddle wheeler, and you've got, you know, voices of people in the distance. And we didn't want to ever fabricate what somebody might be saying. So it's really just more muffly general ambiance because we could have. We could have made some stuff up, and there's no way we would ever do that. Like, I was so protective of this footage and wanted to make sure that it lived up to what it could have, what it must have been like at that time. Right.
- [28:46]
Holly Fry
It sounds incredible. I know. I've seen footage of you in the Stag Theater at Skywalker Sound, which is an incredible place, and I have been lucky enough to visit once. I can only imagine what this sounded like in that setting, because for our listeners, this is like a theater that is optimized to sound incredible and deliver the best possible audio. I feel like the Hammers alone would be, like, oddly joyous in that theater.
- [29:10]
Leslie Iwerks
Yeah, it was incredible. That's the theater. And I sat in George Lucas's seat in the center, the optimal seat for sound. And we mixed it in Atmos and. And it was really fun because, you know, the idea was. Was that if you're in there in the park in 1954 during construction, then you are hearing stuff all around you. You're hearing hammers back there. You're hearing trucks over here. You're doing. You know, so you're hearing voices here and there. You're seeing it. You're hearing a helicopter fly over. And so, to me, it was exciting to build that. That 360 audioscape soundscape, you know, and that was. We put a lot of effort into that, and it was fun to do that. And I hope there's more opportunities to show this film theatrically so we can. That Atmos, the work we did in Atmos pays. You know, people can experience more.
- [30:05]
Holly Fry
So. Good. This is a good example of something that you've done a few times in your career as a director. Where you are immersing yourself so deeply in these projects that are about people doing incredibly creative and impressive things. But they're often perceived by others as being completely impossible before they are accomplished. What lessons have you learned or taken away from researching and studying all of these people?
- [30:31]
Leslie Iwerks
Well, I think I'm constantly inspired. And of course, just like, well, what have I done? It's like, these people are amazing, brilliant minds. And I'm always inspired and always like, okay, I gotta do my next thing bigger and better and greater. And, you know, continue to be an entrepreneur. And I think what I find that's a thread through all of it is this fearlessness and this ability to just take a leap. And that in Walt especially, saying, I've been broke five times, one more is not going to matter. You know, that sort of. Of ultimate fearlessness. And I guess the fact that he doesn't fear financial collapse even with his studio. I'm sure he did. Of course he did. But to say that and somebody to repeat it. He wouldn't have said it if he didn't mean it. Right. And so I think that that is amazing. And I think when people. What inspires me, I suppose, is that the stories I've told are about people that had a vision and they trusted their instincts to follow that vision. And they also got amazing support around them to make that vision happen. And that vision now, whether it be Pixar or whether it be the theme parks or creating a restaurant, these things that I've told have lasted. And I'm always wondering why something lasts 100 years or 125 years. What is the DNA in that? And I did the Hearst documentary and that's 125 years of Hearst. And you know, and it's, it's just amazing to me what, because there's so many businesses that don't, don't survive across the world. Some last one year, some last 10 years, some last longer, but very few last a hundred or longer. And when you really distill it down and so what is it that, what is the baton pass from leadership to leadership that keeps it going? And how does that creative DNA, that origin story, continue to grow and shape and perpetuate basically years beyond the founder's death? So I find these stories very interesting.
- [32:57]
Holly Fry
Wouldn't it be great to never buy gas again? EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and they are a perfect addition to your everyday, everyday life. Most people are only driving about 40 miles a day and most EVs can handle 200 to 400 miles of range on a charge. And there are hundreds of EV models available today, so there's something perfect for every lifestyle and budget. I drive an ev. I've had it for a couple of years. It's my favorite car I've ever owned. It is so fun to drive. The pickup is incredible. It's super agile and it is easy to maintain. The way forward is electric. Learn more@electricforall.org Amazon Health AI presents painful
- [33:35]
Leslie Iwerks
thoughts why did I search the Internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores
- [33:46]
Tracy V. Wilson
in various stages of ooze.
- [33:49]
Leslie Iwerks
I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that.
- [33:54]
Holly Fry
Don't go down the rabbit hole. Amazon Health AI gets you the right care fast. Health care just got less painful.
- [34:02]
Britbox Announcer
She was the sister who went unnoticed. A daffodil might look plain next to a lily, but on its own, there is much to be admired. Now her greatest chapter is yet to come. The most important thing is to be yourself. From the world of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice comes a new Brit Box original drama, Mary you will Florence, based on the best selling novel the Other Bennett Sister. Now streaming only on Britbox. Watch with a free trial@britbox.com support for
- [34:33]
Bombas Announcer
the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high frequencies cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
- [35:39]
Holly Fry
I'm glad you mentioned things that have incredible longevity because I wanted to ask you about something like this project like Handcrafted is very much a historical documentary versus others that you've done that are a little more contemporary. Do you take a different approach when you're looking at historical things or is it all just about the truth at the end of the day for you?
- [36:01]
Leslie Iwerks
I think I'm trying with, with archival stuff. It's hard. They're both, they're all hard, obviously documentaries, but because you're, you're crafting a story, sometimes people already know that story. So the key is if people know a story already, how do you tell it differently and how do you bring in fresh information and tell it from a fresh perspective? And so that's the challenge. That's what I always try to do. But if it's a subject like the verite, like my film selling Lies or Recycled Life back in the day, those are stories that, that have some story to them already. They've been in the newspaper or, or stories have been done around them or whatever a little bit. But now I want to get in there and tell my own version of that. I want to get in and really understand what is going on and how is it affecting. And I would say that Recycled Life, which was my first short film that was also Oscar nominated back in 1997 was. It was a while ago, or 2007. Sorry. The thing about Recycled Life was that it was unfolding before my eyes. And this is about people living in the largest landfill in Central America and who had families born and raised in the garbage dump for 60 years. Right. And so to me, this was a very, very hard and difficult film to produce and direct and shoot myself, but it was happening. Things were happening around you and you just had to find the story. And it takes a while to find your characters and follow them and get to know them and then what are their goals and what are their troubles and then who's meeting who. So that was a really great lesson for me, to take an unfolding story, film it in every way I could think of, and then have probably, oh, I don't know how many hours to edit that together, you know, And I think what happens in the making of documentaries as well is that you start to get, after a certain point, very comfortable with the footage and very comfortable with the subject. And sometimes that's not good. Meaning you kind of take for granted that you're looking at something that's so weird and so amazing or so compelling, you just kind of go, yeah, I'm in a garbage dump again, and I'm just shooting stuff. Stuff. But when, when I come back and I edit something together and people watch it who've never experienced that, they're blown away. Right. And so. And I think that's. That's in a way, a good thing and a bad thing. Meaning you, you can get too comfortable with your own stuff for after a while when you're in it.
- [38:41]
Holly Fry
Yeah.
- [38:41]
Leslie Iwerks
But then it's also good to. To also remind yourself that this is actually really special and trust that. Trust that, that people will enjoy watching it in one way or another. Hopefully, yes.
- [38:58]
Holly Fry
Knowing that your audience for a film like Handcrafted is going to be a mix of people who are those hardcore folks that already know a lot about Disney history and people who are learning it for the first time. I wonder, when you're making this film or even just when you're thinking about it after it's completed, what is the one thing that you hope that people take away from watching it?
- [39:20]
Leslie Iwerks
Well, I think to me it's a renewed appreciation for Walt Disney and for Disneyland and that it was not inevitable. Like, it was just. This was something. This was something that was willed into existence by sheer determination and sheer die hard. Just giving everything he had to this, his financial resources, his physical ability to get it done. And Marshall, hundreds of people to rally behind this incredible dream that a lot of people were like, this is nuts. And so I think that sheer leadership and drive is what I hope will inspire people the most and say, you know, what? If he could do that, I can do this. What am I doing? And I think that's kind of the takeaway. I was joking about it before. It's like, well, what are we all doing? When are we living up to our full potential? When you see something like that being achieved, you know, and what's inspiring to me is that that was the DNA that has inspired all these parks around the world. And when I travel to these parks and I see people in China, people in Paris and, you know, people in Hong Kong and, you know, at some point in the future, Abu Dhabi, like, there's people all over the world that have a. Have a great time at these parks, and they pilgrimage to these parks generation after generation. And that's very rare. Yeah, you know, I mean, maybe. Maybe in religious shrines and things like that, you have pilgrimages, but this is like an entertainment pilgrimage. And the fact that people do this and have this excitement to bring their young kid at a certain point to experience Disneyland for the first time, that's a gift that Walt gave to humanity. And that, to me, is very, very inspiring. And so I just hope that people come away with that renewed appreciation of that anything is possible.
- [41:24]
Holly Fry
It did make me feel that way. It made me want to delete all of the apps off my phone that are not doing anything but killing my time. Leslie, thank you so much for this. I so appreciate you spending this time with me today.
- [41:37]
Leslie Iwerks
Well, thank you.
- [41:38]
Holly Fry
I cannot wait to see what you do next, because I will be watching it as soon as I possibly can because I've loved your work for a long time.
- [41:45]
Leslie Iwerks
Thanks.
- [41:46]
Holly Fry
Is there anything else you would want people to know before I free you from this conversation?
- [41:53]
Leslie Iwerks
I mean, I, you know, I don't think so. I appreciate so much your interest in the subject and just having watched the other projects and understanding the thread of my filmmaking interest and style, and it's just a blast to be able to tell stories like this. And to work with Disney is obviously a gift to me as well, with my family history. So it's fun. I like the variation between Disney and real life and all sorts of different subjects. So it's fun.
- [42:28]
Holly Fry
We love it. Thank you again so much.
- [42:31]
Leslie Iwerks
Thank you. Appreciate it.
- [42:34]
Holly Fry
Again, I want to absolutely share my deepest thanks to Leslie for sharing her thoughts on filmmaking and history and the intersection of the Two. I also want to make sure I shout out her entire team who worked really, really hard to get this schedule nailed down.
- [42:49]
Tracy V. Wilson
Disneyland Handcrafted is available now on YouTube and Disney.
- [42:54]
Holly Fry
I also have a bit of listener mail for this one. Okay, this is from our listener Pamela and I love it for a number of reasons which will become immediately apparent. Pamela writes Dear Holly and Tracy, first, thank you for the work you both do to share educational and and entertaining podcasts. Yours is the show I have listened to the longest, as I'm sure is the case for many listeners. I often find a connection between your podcast and something in my daily life. It's always a great reminder that we are small part of a larger picture that existed before we were born and will continue after we are gone. Second, my husband and I recently tried a New to US restaurant and the drinks menu made me chuckle and think of you both when I saw Orange Cat Behavior. This is the name of a drink and it's spectacular. I may try it next time. I went with Moonsong for the rosemary in it since the Smash burger I ordered featured a seasoning blend with rosemary. Attached for Pet Tax is a picture of Dixie, our three year old border collie, Pittie Mix Rescue and the sidewalk chalk portrait made by my 8 year old son. Okay, Dixie is so cute. And Dixie is curled up with a bunch of Bluey toys. So this is like a multi hit dopamine situation for me.
- [44:11]
Tracy V. Wilson
Yeah,
- [44:13]
Holly Fry
and I had a dog named Dixie growing up so this is the sweetest, sweetest. Don't think that I don't notice that there is one bluey and two bingos in that picture. Which is correct because Bingo is my preferred character. This cocktail sounds amazing. Orange Cat Behavior is red wine, orange juice, ginger beer and then delish. I know this sounds wild, but I bet it's really yummy. Again, it's like Calimoto, right?
- [44:41]
Tracy V. Wilson
I went through a process as you read off the ingredients. I was like red wine, cool. And then oh, intriguing. And then okay, that sounds like it might be really good.
- [44:52]
Holly Fry
Yeah, I think, I think that could actually work because I, I did the same process when I first read this email and I was like, I don't. Oh no. It's probably a lot like Kalimoto or Tinta de Verano, which we talked about before. Those being drinks that we had in Spain that mix wine and a soda of some sort. Or lemonade. Very delicious. Sounds good. This entire cocktail menu is so fascinating to me and so creative that I'm like, do I need to go to this do I need to literally book a flight to go visit this thing? And then the chalk drawing is so cute because it is a a picture of Dixie in chalk by their little and it's so sweet. I love it so much. Pamela, thank you for sharing this with me. I do love the idea that an orange cat behavior is a drink that seems like a variety of disparate ingredients that makes something pretty terrific. Cause that does sum up the way orange cats behave pretty beautifully. If you would like to write to us and share any interesting cocktails you find on menus, any pet pictures, any thoughts on episodes, any anything, you can do that@history podcastheartradio.com if you would like to see the show, notes to today's episode and any of our episodes, you can find them on our website mistinhistory.com if you have not yet subscribed to the show and you would like to that's the easiest thing in the world to do. It is easier than sipping a delicious cocktail. You can do that on the IR Radio app or anywhere you listen to your favorite shows.
- [46:36]
Tracy V. Wilson
Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
- [46:50]
Holly Fry
Wouldn't it be great to never buy gas again? EVs are as easy to charge as your phone, and they are a perfect addition to your everyday life. Most people are only driving about 40 miles a day, and most EVs can handle 200 to 400 miles of range on a charge. And there are hundreds of EV models available today, so there's something perfect for every lifestyle and budget. I drive an ev. I've had it for a couple of years. It's my favorite car I've ever owned. It is so fun to drive. The pickup is incredible, it's super agile and it is easy to maintain. The way forward is electric. Learn more@electricforall.org brought to you in part by Vital Farms.
- [47:28]
Tracy V. Wilson
I love eggs. I turn to them all the time as a quick and easy way to start a meal. And Vital Farms eggs are brought to you by hens that have access to fresh air and sunshine and you can actually look up on the carton and see the farm that those eggs came from. Vital Farms is also a certified bee corporation with a purpose to improve the lives of people, animals and the planet through food. Look for the black egg carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. VitalFarms Good eggs, no shortcuts.
- [47:58]
Britbox Announcer
She was the sister who went unnoticed. A daffodil might look plain next to a lily, but on its own, there is much to be admired. Now her greatest chapter is yet to come. The most important thing is to be yourself. From the world of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice comes a new Brit Box original drama, Mary, you will Flourish. Based on the best bestselling novel the Other Bennett Sister, now streaming only on Britbox. Watch with a free trial@britbox.com Here's a
- [48:28]
Leslie Iwerks
life hack for waking up the whole
- [48:30]
Tracy V. Wilson
house without an alarm. Step one, place the skillet over medium heat.
- [48:35]
Britbox Announcer
Step two, add some Land o' Lakes
- [48:38]
Holly Fry
butter for a mouth watering sizzle.
- [48:41]
Tracy V. Wilson
And now that everyone's up, you might
- [48:43]
Leslie Iwerks
as well make breakfast sandwiches topped with Land O' Lakes cheese.
- [48:49]
Britbox Announcer
Here's another hack by buying Land O' Lakes products, It benefits over 1,000 farmer
- [48:53]
Tracy V. Wilson
owners and their communities.
- [48:55]
Britbox Announcer
Find it in the dairy aisle.
- [48:56]
Holly Fry
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.