Disney and Pixar strike again with their latest collaboration, ‘Up” (in theaters May 29th). ‘Up’ is an adventurous look at the world through the eyes of the optimistic old man, Carl Fredricksen who maintains his childlike ambition of just floating away from it all and eventually achieves his goal with new 8-year old pal Russell. The slapstick humor alongside truly touching moments may very well make this Pixar’s next big hit.
The film’s director, Pete Docter (‘Monster’s Inc.,’ ‘Toy Story’) spoke to The Muse about his high-flying latest project. Docter said Fredricksen’s journey through the air via hundreds of balloons tied to his house is ‘a metaphor for escaping society; the cranky old man made it more humorous. But it really is more about who is this man? Why is he doing this? And where is he going?’
The movie has quite a small cast compared to a company full of monsters and a little boy’s bedroom full of toys. Docter and writer Bob Peterson intentionally created a small. ‘The bigger it is, the more complicated it is. I wanted enough room to enjoy each of the characters and be able to build them up and have significant stories throughout. Each character really gets his time to shine.’
Besides the cast, the animation itself is breath-taking. ‘Up’ takes you up, up and away to South America where Docter and other members of the film spent time hiking, camping and taking pictures to make the scenery in ‘Up’ as accurate as possible. The Muse was privileged to see Docter’s own book full of sketches and photographs that so greatly influenced the look of the film.
Pixar’s repeat hits often have to do with a main character whom the audience cares about. When asked what makes a compelling character, Docter responded, ‘When you show it to coworkers and they say, ‘Wow, that’s a compelling character.” He explained that it is important to be able to relate to the character. For instance, Carl is a crotchety old man but has specific qualities that make him quite likable. ‘The more specific you get with a character, the more generally it applies. Carl has a lot of relatability to adults with the age-old theme of getting older, but kids too can connect to him as a grandparent figure.’ Docter explained that a lot of kids are very close to their grandparents, including his own, so kids will be able to feel connected to Carl.
Some elements of the film suggest that this is Pixar’s most thematically mature movie to date. The background story has elements of dealing with death and divorce. Docter said these themes help keep adults interested in the film. ‘To make a quality film there has to be levels for everything.’ He says that having a bittersweet tone to the film ‘re-defines’ adventure.
When questioned if Pixar and its employees feel pressured to produce one hit after another, Docter said, ‘You half take the compliment and half don’t trust it. You have to be self-critical. The truth is, they all have been disasters at some point.’ He explained that it takes five years to create a Pixar movie from start to finish and 3 and a half to 4 of them are just about writing and editing the story.When it comes to writing for that long, specifics of the movie changes and grows, but ‘it has the heart of where it started.’
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