877 · Disney Worldbuilders Interview with Leslie Iwerks

877 · Disney Worldbuilders Interview with Leslie Iwerks

Disney Worldbuilders asks a question most of us have never thought to ask... where does a Disney world actually begin?

Not the land. Not the ride. The moment before any of it existed, when it was still just a feeling inside one person's head.

This week I sit down with Leslie Iwerks, director of The Imagineering Story and Disneyland Handcrafted, to talk about her ambitious new documentary. Disney Worldbuilders brings together Bob Iger, Josh D'Amaro, James Cameron, Kevin Feige, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Pete Docter, Jennifer Lee, and Jared Bush for a series of remarkably candid conversations about how deeply personal ideas become stories, characters, and physical worlds that millions of people can walk into.

I had the privilege of screening the film before its release, and it is even better than I hoped.

In our conversation, Leslie shares:

• Why so many of today's most influential creators were Disney fans first, and what that says about the parks
• How personal struggles and childhood memories shaped stories like Frozen, Inside Out, and Zootopia
• The brutal note Jared Bush received on an early version of Zootopia, and what pulled it back from the edge
• Why Kevin Feige's favorite detail in any Disney land is a construction wall
• Why story and technology have always worked together at Disney, going back to Walt and Ub
• What creative failure, uncertainty, and rejection can teach the rest of us
• How great leadership protects storytellers and creative risk
• Why honoring Disney's history cannot mean being afraid to evolve it
• The moment Leslie filmed that became the emotional heart of the film

Leslie also reflects on her grandfather, Disney Legend Ub Iwerks, and her father, Disney Legend Don Iwerks, and how their legacy of combining storytelling and technology continues through Disney's worldbuilders today. She does not just study world builders. She comes from them.

Disney Worldbuilders premieres at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event on August 16 and begins streaming on Disney+ on August 20.

Subscribe to WDW Radio so you never miss an episode. Then tell me this: What Disney story, character, attraction, or world first made you believe that something impossible could become real? Share your answer in the WDW Radio Clubhouse at WDWRadio.com/Clubhouse, or leave me a voicemail at 407-900-9391.

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