Last month, I had the amazing opportunity to interview two of the creative minds behind many of Pixar’s biggest movies. Pete Docter was a writer on movies like “Toy Story”, “Up”, “Monsters, Inc.” and of course, “Inside Out”, which he also directed. Inside Out’s producer, Jonas Rivera, is no stranger to Pixar either, as he worked in the art department for “Monsters, Inc.” and “A Bug’s Life” and also produced “Up”.
What I’m trying to say here is that these two are a couple of genuises.
When we spoke to them about Inside Out {which Pete co-wrote and directed, and Jonas produced}, we got just a glimpse into what it’s like to bring a whole world to life on the big screen. They talked about everything from their first ideas about the movie, some ideas that didn’t make the final film, and even whether there’s a sequel in the works.
Did you have an idea of how you wanted to depict the inside of the brain?
Pete Docter: Well, the first concept that I had just in the very first pitch was like a control room, and I guess I sort of thought of it a little bit like a spaceship. We ultimately tried to move away from that because we didn’t want to do something that people have seen before. So headquarters was kind of the first thing and then we extrapolate it out from there as we came up with the journey that Joy and Sadness would go on. We made a big list of places they could go- some of which ended up ended up in the movie.We also had things like Stream of Consciousness, Brainwashing and things like that.
Jonas Rivera: It was fun thinking about the geography of the mind and how we might make that little. We’re big fans of Disneyland and I remember even when we pitched to John Lasseter for the first time, above the monitor there’s a 1959 framed map of Disneyland that I have in our room. I couldn’t help but think it’s kind of like that, where there’s different regions.
From start to finish was the layout pretty well centered?
Pete Docter: Don’t get our production designer Ralph Edelson in here because he will strangle me even at the thought of that question because every time we changed the story the entire universe would change inside. Initially we had the whole layout where headquarters was on top and they had to descend into spiral-like layers {like layers of a cake or something} down to the subconscious to get a memory. That didn’t really work, so we tried these pillars rising up out of the fog, things hanging from a biosphere dome, all sorts of things.
Finally we realized: what’s really at stake in this film is Riley’s personality. That’s the thing that we as parents value- we don’t want our kids to change because we love who they are. So we needed some way to physicalize that, so then the islands came in. Even then we had six or seven or five, so that shifted around in the order of them because the outside story- like if you have her hang up on her friend later, then that island needs to shift later. So it was just very back-and-forth, the story and the environment were so connected that it was frustratingly fluid for production.
Do you have a character that you most resonate with?
Pete Docter: Depends on the day, because some days, Fear for sure. As we were going along, we were like, “I don’t know if this is going to work. Are we going to be able to pull this off?” But most of the time, Joy, I think. Once in a while Anger.
Jonas Rivera: I would say Joy. I mean, we’re generally pretty positive people and Pixar’s such a great place. Every now and then I pinch myself- we have the greatest jobs in the world. I never dreamed I’d be doing this and talking about movies that we get to make. What I love about Joy- and this is personal- Joy is someone that is always positive but she’s always looking backwards a little bit. She’s very much into her memories and I guess she’s a nostalgist and I’m a little bit that way, too. She’s my favorite.
Pete Docter: That’s the polite way of saying she’s in denial.
Were there any characters that you really want it didn’t make the cut?
Pete Docter: There were a number.
Jonas Rivera: That’s a good question. We had friends of Bing Bong.
Pete Docter: We did. We had Miss Scribbles, who is a drawing that Riley did a lot when she was three and she was funny. Then we had other emotion characters that we tried out for a while like Pride.
What was the more challenging part?
Pete Docter: It’s always the story- and specifically on this film, Joy. She was really hard to crack because she kind of came off either cloying or annoying and it was kind of off-putting through a lot of the pre-production.
Jonas Rivera: Yeah, you can imagine- her name’s Joy and her whole job is to be happy 100% of the time. Watching a movie about someone that is, like Pete said, it’s almost jokingly in denial. But it’s hard to invest deeply in that and we found that with Joy. It was really hard to figure out. Amy Poehler was a big reason why that worked. She could find that very narrow lane of delivering a line with just enough self-doubt that showed maybe it’s not effortless for Joy. I think that was a big part of unlocking it.
Did you ever imagine that this movie would enable parents and children alike to be able to talk more freely about their emotions?
Pete Docter: We work with a lot of different experts but two in particular were very close, Paul Eckman and Dekard Keltner. I think it was him that brought that idea forward. I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, we’re just trying to make a funny film. Let’s not put too much expectation on it.”
But I will say we’ve had a couple of experiences, people talking about kids {especially with autism} have really been able to use this film. Somebody was talking to me yesterday. I was in Minnesota and they said they lay out all the emotions and the kid will come in and pick up the ones he’s feeling as a way of expressing for the first time really, which is pretty powerful.
Do you see Inside Out fitting into a theme park?
Pete Docter: Absolutely.
Jonas Rivera: The idea was about 45 minutes old and we’re already like, ‘We should call Epcot!” Yes, we dream of that. I mean there’s a Train of Thought and we could bring back the old Stream of Consciousness. There’s a bunch of things that would make it fit.
So, yeah, we hope so. It’s really an honor for us, if you’ve ever been to Cars Land it’s almost surreal for us to see our movies live in the park. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but they have the characters already, Joy and Sadness and they’re beautiful. Just seeing them there is really a treat for us. So we help so.
Is there going to be a sequel?
Jonas Rivera: We have spent five years of our life on this film. We’re so proud of it. We’re proud of all the characters and the world and all that. Before we did that, we finished the movie Up together. We made that movie together, and when we were done with that one we kind of put our heads together and said, you know, you can imagine a world where there’s more adventures.
But what wakes us up in the morning and kind of gets us fired up is something completely new. And it was that conversation that led to Inside Out. And we’re kind of having that same conversation now. We love inside Out and it could be a fun world and it definitely has some open endedness to the end, but I think we lean towards, “Let’s go back and come up with something totally new.” So we never say never but we kind of lean towards wanting to do something totally different.
Inside Out is available now on digital! You can pick it up on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack November 3rd at your favorite retailer. Love Inside Out? Don’t miss this deleted scene, these Inside Out party ideas or these free Inside Out coloring pages!
Have you seen Inside Out? Who is your favorite character?
Interview has been condensed and edited for clarity and length.
Robin (Masshole Mommy) says
My kids LOVED Inside Out. We saw it in the theater 4 times.
Cat Davis | Mom by the Beach Blog says
My kids are still begging to see this. We don’t usually go to the theater so I’m just waiting for it to rent on cable for a family movie night.
Alicia says
I can’t wait to see this movie!! It’s going to be for my kids for Christmas. This is a neat interview.
Crystal says
I appreciate Joy’s character so much. There’s joy in so many things, but there’s a lot of other emotions in joy also. It was so well represented in the movie.
Kimberly Grabinski says
We haven’t seen it but it’s on my daughter’s wish list for her birthday or Christmas. It looks really cute and fun!
Melissa says
What a fun interview. I loved the movie so much and love learning some behind the scenes info.
Robin Gagnon says
I just saw this is available on demand already. I am thinking of renting it this weekend.