Jeffrey Katzenberg: No More Mr. Tough Guy?

It's lunchtime at Walt Disney Co., and Disney Studios Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg has pulled out a long white note card covered in type and emblazoned with the smiling face of Mickey Mouse. Mickey, of course, is everywhere in the corporate dining room. He's grinning from the napkins. He's silhouetted on the chair backs. Reach for a pat of butter, and there he is again: a plateful of little yellow Mickeys, chilled but chipper.

Disney has always been slightly unsettling in this way. After all, the fun and games stop quickly enough when the doors shut on a contract negotiation or a movie deal. In the nine years since Katzenberg and his boss, Disney Chairman Michael D. Eisner, took over the slumbering company, Walt Disney has become notorious for its hardball tactics. As anyone in Hollywood can tell you, there's nothing Mickey Mouse about dealing with Team Disney.