Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s new book, Behind the Castle Walls, is a shocking tell-everything book that shines a light on his relationship with Bob Iger. The last few years have been difficult ones for Disney. Bob Iger retired as CEO in 2020, replaced by Bob Chape. It wasn’t long till reports suggested Iger believed Chapek was a mistake, and Chapek was eventually forced out. Iger returned for a time, and wound up reversing many decisions that had run all the way back to his first tenure.
Back in 2019, Iger published a celebratory autobiography called The Ride of a Lifetime. It was a fascinating read, giving the inside story on so many decisions made during Iger’s time; readers were particularly enthralled by the true Disney Star Wars story, according to Iger. Now, Chapek has published what feels like a sequel of a kind — albeit one with a very different goal. Iger’s was a triumph, but Chapek’s Behind the Castle Walls is a defense of his time as CEO and an attack on Bob Iger.
Behind the Castle Walls Tells Bob Chapek’s Story
Chapek clearly has two goals with Behind the Castle Walls: to rehabilitate his reputation, damaged after he was let go from Disney, and to cast responsibility for key stumbles upon Bob Iger. Attention is naturally focused on the final part, which tells of his time as CEO, and there’s a strong narrative running through this section; any historian naturally chooses their subject, and Chapek focuses exclusively on his conflict with (and theories about) Iger. Some are a little eyebrow-raising; Chapek suggests Iger only quit because he saw COVID coming, which seems exaggerated.
That said, Chapek is right to be frustrated at the damage his reputation has suffered over the last few years. As he points out, even the press release announcing his role as CEO confirmed Iger would remain in control of all creative endeavors. That’s why Behind the Castle Walls is surprisingly bereft of actual creative information. “Marvel” is only mentioned seven times in the whole book, for example, while Chapek only gives limited discussion of Star Wars; he spends more time discussing Galactic Starcruiser and action figures than anything else.
Behind the Castle Walls essentially feels like a takedown of Iger. Chapek discusses an early encounter with him in which Iger appeared to present himself as “the modern reincarnation of Walt Disney,” and that sums up his view of his predecessor (and successor); he views Iger as defined by ego and ambition, nothing else. The shadow of Iger looms over Chapek’s tenure just as Palpatine’s did over the Star Wars saga, but the rivaly feels absurdly petty. Chapek even recalls moments when the board sent Iger out of the room if they wanted to praise his successor.
Chapek insists Iger leveraged his Rolodex-relationships to undermine him from the start, essentially drawing out a conspiracy that worked to restore Iger; he believes he was just the fall guy for the tough decisions COVID required such as Black Widow‘s move to Disney+. In Chapek’s view, Iger planned to return after five minutes, and he’s to be commended for staving it off for three years. When he was finally fired, Chapek notes that everything connected to him — including the aforementioned Galactic Starcruiser — vanished in short order.
Behind the Castle Walls is a fascinating read. Where The Ride of a Lifetime focused on decisions, it’s much more personal, and it centers more on office politics. Chapek is a solid storyteller, and he draws the narrative out well, but that ironically feels like the book’s greatest weakness; the narrative thrust is too pronounced. One thing’s for sure; Iger and Chapek are most certainly not on good terms. Hopefully, Behind the Castle Walls will help Chapek heal; at one point he implies it was almost therapeutic. That, at least, would make for a very satisfying conclusion here.
Behind the Castle Walls is on sale now from retailers like Amazon.
