TWENTY-TWOTOY STORY

玩具总动员

Buzz and Woody to the Rescue

巴斯和胡迪救场

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.

“挑战不可能完成的任务，其乐无穷。”沃尔特·迪士尼曾经这样说。这种处事态度很合乔布斯的口味。他赞赏迪士尼对细节和设计的执著，感觉皮克斯跟迪士尼创建的电影制片厂是天生的一对。

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.”

沃尔特·迪士尼公司已经获得了皮克斯计算机动画制作系统的使用授杈，并由此成为皮克斯公司计算机的最大用户。有一天，迪士尼电影部的负责人杰夫·卡曾伯格邀请乔布斯到伯班克的工作室观看制作技术。当迪士尼的一行人陪同参观时，乔布斯突然转身问卡曾伯格，“迪士尼对皮克斯满意吗？”卡曾伯格兴髙采烈地说满意。接着乔布斯又问，“那你认为我们皮克斯对迪士尼满意吗？”

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.”

卡曾伯格说他觉得应该满意吧。“错，我们不满意。”乔布斯说，“我们想跟你们合作一部电影，那样我们才会满意。”卡曾伯格很愿意。他很欣赏约翰·拉塞特制作的动画短片，也曾经想诱惑他回迪士尼，但没有成功。于是，卡曾伯格邀请皮克斯团队来讨论合拍电影。卡特穆尔、乔布斯和拉塞特在会议室一落座，卡曾伯格就看着拉塞特，开门见山地说：“约翰·，既然你不愿意来为我工作，我们就用这样的方式来合作吧。”

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.

不仅迪士尼公司跟皮克斯彼此之间有一些共同点，卡曾伯格跟乔布斯也是如此。两人都善于施展魅力，当兴之所至或情绪高涨时也都富有攻击性（甚至更糟）。即将离开皮克斯的阿尔维·雷·史密斯当时也参加了这次会议。“卡曾伯格跟乔布斯的相像给我留下了深刻印象，”他回忆说，“都是具有惊人口才的暴君。”卡曾伯格对此自鸣得意。“所有人都认为我是个暴君，”他告诉皮克斯团队，“我也确实是个暴君。但我通常是正确的。”可以想象，乔布斯也会这么说。

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.

同样富有激情的卡曾伯格和乔布斯，两人之间光是谈判就用了好几个月。卡曾伯格坚持要皮克斯授杈迪士尼使用其专利技术制作3D动画。乔布斯说不行，最终他胜利了。乔布斯也有他自己的要求：皮克斯要对制作的电影及其角色拥有部分所有杈，并共同控制影片版权和续集。“如果那是你想要的，”卡曾伯格说，“我们就不用谈了，你现在就可以走。”乔布斯没走，在这个问题上作出了让步。

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.

两位同样痩削的公司首脑剑拔弩张、针锋相对，这给拉塞特留下了极为深刻的印象。“单单看着史蒂夫和杰弗里那个架势，我就佩服得五体投地，”他回忆说，“那就像一场击剑比赛，他们都是高手。”但在当时，卡曾伯格拿的是重剑，而乔布斯拿的只是把花剑。当时皮克斯濒临破产，远远比迪士尼更需要这次合作。另外，迪士尼资金雄厚，可以负担整个项目，而皮克斯不能。1991年5月达成的协议是，迪士尼将完全拥有影片及其角色的版杈，给皮克斯大约12.5%的票房分成，迪士尼控制创作杈，可以在任何时候以很少的违约金为代价停掉这部影片，有杈利（而无义务）制作皮克斯接下来的两部电影，也有权（不一定跟皮克斯一起）用该影片的角色制作续集。