After 38 years, the end for Dick Cook came in less than 10 minutes.
The chairman of Walt Disney Studios, who began his career as a Monorail operator at Disneyland and went on to launch billion-dollar franchises like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and woo filmmaker Steven Spielberg to the studio, didn't know what was in store when his boss casually mentioned Tuesday that he wanted to see him for a few minutes later in the day.
Cook had back-to-back meetings that afternoon but was finally free to see Bob Iger at 5:30. He left his office on the sixth floor of the Team Disney Building in Burbank and walked down the hall to the chief executive's suite.
Iger got directly to the point. He told Cook that after a "lot of thought," he wanted to "make a change" at the studio that would affect Cook's job, according to accounts of the meeting. "We need to go in a different direction," said Iger, offering little explanation other than to say that people were complaining that the studio was overly secretive, uncooperative and isolated from the other divisions. When Cook pressed for examples, Iger demurred. The two executives shook hands, and Cook left Iger's office.
Cook, who has more than three years remaining on his contract, afterward told colleagues that he was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
He shouldn't have been.
It had been clear for some time that Cook and Iger were traveling different paths. The 59-year-old Cook knew he didn't fit Iger's mold, and they differed in both style and substance. The movie chief had steadily climbed the Disney corporate ladder over a nearly four-decade career but is not the prototypical Hollywood executive. The Bakersfield native wasn't embarrassed to wear Mickey Mouse ties and say "gosh," and he could be equally comfortable among ego-driven movie stars and small-town theater operators. His folksy nature stood in contrast to Iger, who is controlled, contained and cerebral. Iger, a onetime TV weatherman, oversaw the ABC network and ultimately assumed the helm of Walt Disney Co.
Iger has limited his comments about Cook's departure to the prepared statement he released last week, saying, "On behalf of everyone at Disney, we wish him the best."
The most recent moment of tension between the two executives came just four days before their Tuesday meeting. The studio had deliberately withheld the names of the big stars and filmmakers whom Cook was going to present at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, the inaugural convention for Disney fans that the company hoped would attract tens of thousands of attendees, a perfect opportunity for the entertainment giant to promote its movies, TV shows and theme parks.
