Published Monday, February 25, 2013

'Brave' nets Oscar for Chapman family

From Staff and Wire Reports

news@newnan.com

The Academy Awards, also affectionately known as the 'Oscars,' touched Coweta County last night.

"Brave", the story of a rebellious, red-headed princess, took home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. The fairy tale from Disney's Pixar studio was co-directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman.

It was Chapman, whose brother Don Chapman is a Coweta County resident, that delivered the local connection as she and Andrews both accepted Oscars.

Chapman, who also wrote the award-winning 'Brave,'  was the first woman to direct a Pixar feature.

"I'm incredibly proud of my sister and what she thought up," Don Chapman said in a pre-Oscar interview with The Newnan Times-Herald last week. "It's amazing to know that she did all of that – and that she is my sister."

"The story is about a girl who is growing up and the relationship she has with her mother. When I was watching it, I saw a lot of my mother in the film. The relationship in the movie is based off the relationship my sister had with her mother."

The end credits for "Brave" include a special credit to Ruby Chapman Brown, Don and Brenda's mother.

Brenda is a native of Carmi, Ill., and presently resides in Mill Valley, Calif. She studied at the California Institute of the Arts and is married to director Kevin Lima.