I'm not trying to brag here, but -
I've seen Joe Rhode hanging out in a parking lot.
I've seen Bob Iger and Bob Chapek walking out of a Starbucks
I've seen Bob Weiss eating a hot dog
Scott Trowbrige sits near me - he does a great TIE fighter impersonation.
If you're a big Disney parks fan, you would probably know all these people. Hell, some other blogs treat some of these guys like the second coming of Walt himself. The times I encounter someone who society treats as celebrity or demigod, there's this weird moment of disconnection, like, "That one guy from that one movie is right there - I could touch him!" or "I thought he'd be more crazy," or, as someone not entirely sarcastically remarked, "Oh my gosh, Bob Iger drinks coffee - he's just like the rest of us!"
The thing about Disney, especially the area I'm in, is that they are an entertainment company that does construction. That leads to some surreal discussions, when you learn that hiring actor X for Y minutes of content on ride Z is just another contract, that some impossible illusion actually works like this and is really easy to make, that [pie-in-the-sky really futuristic technology] is just another couple of months of development on the schedule. And that there's always the argument of "better show" to justify that extra [fill-in-the-blank].
And yet, it takes demigods among us to make it happen. I mean, how do you make a Star Wars land with out [redacted], [censored], and [withheld], right? How do you make that work without [blocked] technology? And how would it hold together without [excised]? Also, [cut],[--------], and ◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️!
Those people on the press videos that you see energetically pointing and talking about how amazing it all is are actually real - and they actually do stuff! The characters in the marketing material are not only characters, but real people, and some I actually get to work with, to argue with, to be mentored by, and to consume donuts they bring on occasion - and yet they also get thousands of hits on Disney YouTube teasers that I watched voraciously in the months leading up to working there.
Also not to brag, but the powers that be were able to get one of the producers of Black Panther to come and give a talk. He emphasized that you really buy into a place when you see food being eaten - thus, there is a deliberate two second shot of sizzling chicken at a food cart in Wakanda.
I think that also works in real life - seeing people eat and drink and converse and tell stories helps bridge the disconnect between who we think people really are and who they really are - and it reminds us that those we hold up as gods are just as human as the rest of us.
