Interview With “UP” Writers And Directors Part 4

Disney Pixar’s “UP” is out on Blu-ray and DVD TODAY, November 10th! To celebrate we are posting the fourth section of an interview with the co-writers and directors of “UP,” Peter Docter and Bob Peterson. You can check out the third section of the interview here.

Q: How did Tom McCarthy get involved in the writing of “Up”?

Pete Docter: We had referenced Tom’s film “The Station Agent” as we worked out the structure of Up.” It’s very similar — a guy who isn’t really living, he’s just walking through life, trying to stay removed and alone. Then he reluctantly gets drawn into this surrogate family. It’s a great film, really well written and directed. We got Tom to come here to Pixar to screen it and talk about it, so we’d meet him. Bob and I were working together at the time, but then Bob was drafted on to “Ratatouille” for a while and I was left all alone. I needed someone to spark off creatively, and so I asked Tom if he could recommend any writers he knew that might want to work on the film. He fell for it and said, “How about me?” He was on for three months, and it was in his draft that we added the character of Russell, which of course we kept once Bob came back on.

Q: Bob – You said Dug is a mentor for Carl. Could you explain how?

Bob Peterson: Russell is a bit easier to pinpoint as a mentor. His line “it’s the boring things that I remember most” is meant to work at Carl and move him toward an appreciation of the small adventures in life. Dug’s undying and immediate canine love “I have just met you and I love you,” and “I was under your porch because I love you” is an indirect lesson for Carl that love is always around him, if he will only accept it.

Q: Who or what was the inspiration for Charles Muntz?

Bob Peterson: Charles Muntz in story terms is “Carl Fredriksen at the end of the line.” In other words, if Carl had made it to Paradise Falls without accepting others into his life, then he would have gone crazy, wallowing in his unfinished quest. Carl is represented by a square shape. So as far as shape language, Muntz is a “collapsed square.” He ended up having more diamond shapes as if a square has collapsed upon itself. From real reference, we looked at the grand adventurers of the last century including Lindbergh. We looked at Howard Hughes, being a sort of inventor/adventurer. We also looked at photos of Errol Flynn and even the dapper photos of Walt Disney in the 1930s with his pencil thin mustache.

Q: Do you remember the first time you drew something and thought, “Wow, this is something I want to do for a living.” Do you remember what you drew?

Pete Docter: You know how there are always those kids in your elementary school class that are really good at drawing? They sit there and “wow” everyone by drawing horses and tanks and battles and stuff? That was NOT me. I was lousy at drawing. But as soon as I figured out I could make something look like it was moving — and thinking — I was hooked. My parents are musicians, as are my sisters, so I was dragged to a lot of concerts growing up. I would always steal everyone’s programs and draw all over them, thinking up jokes like, “What would happen if all the strings on his violin broke?” or “What if someone fell in the tuba?” Comic gold, I’m telling you!

Bob Peterson: I remember my teacher in 4th grade commenting on the hands that I drew on a surfer surfing a wave. That was the first time I was conscious of my drawings. But more than my own drawings, I was truly inspired by the cartoons of Charles Schulz as a kid, and I wanted to emulate him – my cartoon strips in college strived to have the Schulzian mix of surrealism and Charlie Brown angst. A bit of that combo shows up in “Up.”

Q: As far as the animation style of “Up” goes, instead of going for “as close to realism as possible” kind of visuals, “Up” has an almost caricatured style, especially with the facial features highlighting big points, rather than looking like a human head. What influenced the style of “Up,” and why did you decide to go this route?

Pete Docter: The story called for Carl to float his house into the air buoyed by balloons. For that to be believable, we felt it would be necessary to caricature the world — and therefore the characters as well. I think if we made it look photo-real, you wouldn’t believe it as readily. We work in animation, so we can do things that can’t be done in any other medium. So the idea of simplifying and caricature is always exciting to me.

Q: How do the visuals of “Up” compare with other Pixar films?

Bob Peterson: This movie hits a nice balance of caricature in the shape of the characters, and realism in the lighting, atmospheres. I especially like that many of the textures in the film are “hand made” created with single brush strokes of paint and then used as textures. Computer Graphics can now almost do anything – fur in “Monster’s Inc.,” oceans in “Finding Nemo,” realistic trash heaps in “WALL•E,” but the nice thing is that now we can all relax and just do movies where the look is appropriate for the emotional journey in the story.

Q: Was the choice of presenting the film in 3D a conscious decision from the beginning? How does it affect the production process?

Pete Docter: We started the process for “Up” in 2D, with the focus just on the story and the characters. It was about three years in that John Lasseter came to us and said, “Hey, there are some really cool new developments that have happened with 3D,” and of course Pixar had a long history of interest in 3D, John being one of the prime cheerleaders. He shot pictures of his own wedding in 3D, as well as “Knick Knack,” which is in 3D as well. So we did a ton of research, watching other 3D films, and made a list of things we liked and things we didn’t. I wanted to use 3D in a more subtle way. We used 3D as another tool to communicate the emotion of the scene, like you would use color, lighting, or cinematography. In the end, we didn’t let it affect the way we approached the story at all. I didn’t want to compromise the 2D version, which is the way it will be seen most often, considering DVD and Blu-ray.