In recent years there has been much discussion about the relationship between Pixar studios and women. Some have pointed out that none of the films have female lead characters (they are generally sidekicks like Dory in Finding Nemo or love interests like Eve in Wall-E), and none of the writers or directors are women. A few weeks ago this was all going to change when it was announced that Brenda Chapman would direct Brave, a film about a Scottish princess who decides to take up archery and ends up putting her father's entire kingdom into jeopardy. Unfortunately, things don't always work out as planned.

Cartoon Brew is reporting a rumor that Chapman has decided to leave the studio and vacate the director's chair on the project. According to the story, Chapman, who has actually held the position for two years, was being pushed out of "full director duties" and now Mark Andrews, who co-directed the short One Man Band, will step in. This all occurred that week, but has "been inevitable for some time."

There are two ways to look at this story. Either the studio is full of misogynistic bastards who didn't want to see a woman in charge, or they weren't happy with what Chapman was doing and decided to replace her. Because the story still stands at the "rumor" stage, there isn't even a way to tell if any of this actually went down. Should the story be factual, however, Pixar is going to have to play the PR game and play it well.