Brave

Brave is an upcoming film that will be Pixar Animation Studios' thirteenth animated feature film. The film will be written by Brenda Chapman and directed by both Chapman and Mark Andrews. It will be produced by Katherine Sarafian. The score will be composed by Patrick Doyle. The film will be released on June 22, 2012.

Plot
Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In Brave, a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts. Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late. Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, and produced by Katherine Sarafian, “Brave” is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and the signature Pixar humor enjoyed by audiences of all ages. The film takes aim at theaters on June 22, 2012, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

Voice cast
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 * Kelly Macdonald: Princess Merida
 * Billy Connolly: King Fergus
 * Emma Thompson: Queen Elinor
 * Julie Walters: Witch
 * Kevin McKidd: Lord MacGuffin / Young MacGuffin
 * Craig Ferguson: Lord Macintosh
 * Robbie Coltrane: Lord Dingwall
 * John Ratzenberger: a guard
 * Unknown: Mordu
 * Unknown: Angus
 * Unknown: The Triplets (Harris, Hubert, and Hamish)

Production
Brave was first announced under the title of The Bear and the Bow. Other titles that had been considered include, among others The Bear King and his Daughter, Brave and the Bow and Bravehair.

The film, Pixar's first fairy tale, is a combination of Brenda Chapman's love of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, as well as a reflection on raising her daughter.

The film departs from the traditional fairy tale storyline, neglecting the romance that has been associated with these stories. It focuses on the relationship between Merida and her mother Queen Elinor, which was inspired to Chapman by her own relation with her daughter.

Chapman was supposed to be the film's sole director - and Pixar’s first female director. But last October, it was reported that Pixar had replaced Chapman with Mark Andrews. Now, although Andrews is presently in charge of guiding Brave across the finish line, both Andrews and Chapman will be credited as the movie’s directors, according to a Disney spokesman.

Following his involvement as director, Mark Andrews did a heavy lifting to the story, to focus down on the core story. Among others, he cleared away many magic elements, which he found affected the environnement.

The film was initially set for release on June 15, 2012 but was later changed to June 22, 2012.

Although the production of the film started in 2008, Brenda Chapman had already began work years earlier. As early as in 2006, several members of the crew made a research trip in Scotland. They made a total of two trips to Scotland for the film. Among others they visited the Eilean Donan and Dunnottar Castles, as well as the Callanish Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis, which inspired the circle of standing stones that appears in the film.

To reproduce the lush and texture look of the landscapes of the Highlands, Pixar animators and designers created around 350 custom brushes in Photoshop, so that they could layer different designs, patterns and shapes in layers other to achieve a realistic and invisible look to all of the environments.

Animators were introduced to the weapons used in the film, in order to understand their working: some went into archery classes, while Mark Andrews taught swordfightning to animators.

Originally, Reese Witherspoon was planned to voice Princess Merida, but she was unable to work on the film due to scheduling issues and was replaced by Kelly Macdonald as a result.

Celtic and Pictish design and patterns have been integrated everywhere throughout the film, on Merida’s bow, on clothing, walls, as well as to natural elements like snowflakes, moss or tree branches.

The original idea had 80 % of the scenes taking place in the snow. In the final movie however, very few snow scenes remain.

Rating
Brave is rated PG by the MPAA for some scary action and rude humor, making it the third Pixar film to recieve this rating.

Attached short film
Attached to Brave is the Academy Award nominated short La Luna, directed by Enrico Casarosa, which was premiered in June 2011 at the Annecy International Film Festival.

Trivia

 * This will be the first Pixar movie to have a main female protagonist.
 * This will be Pixar's first fairytale.
 * Brave is set in the kingdom of DunBroch, during the 10th century.
 * Mark Andrews confirmed that the Pizza Planet truck, as well as Pixar's other traditional easter eggs will appear in Brave : "All the typical things, those little insider jokes are all in the movie." It was reported that Tia Kratter, art director of the film, has hinted during her presentation at the D23 Expo that the truck would be in the Witch's house.
 * On Fridays, the animators had to wear kilts as part of their work routine.
 * During the Brave Press Event (held April 3-5, 2012), it was stated that 111,394 storyboards were created for the film. This compares to 80,000 for Cars 2 and 92,854 for Toy Story 3.
 * There are more than 100 unique hair/facial hair combinations used in “Brave” for human characters and animals. Each variant can appear in any of nine different colors, creating more than 900 hairstyle/color variants.
 * Brave is the third Pixar film to be rated PG, after The Incredibles and Up.

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