Over the weekend while everyone was busy gearing up for Super Bowl 45, animator/writer/director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles, The Simpsons) was bestowed with the highest honors, the Windsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement in the field of animation.
He now joins the rank of animation greats such as the Fleischer Brothers, Tex Avery, Hanna and Barbera, Mel Blanc, Walt Disney, Bob Clampett, Don Bluth, Genndy Tartakovsky, John Lasseter, and Bruce Timm.
Although I’m sure he would have loved to attend, he was a bit “tied up” being on set with Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg filming the new “Mission: Impossible” film.
To see Bird’s acceptance speech, skip to the 4:30 mark.