Pete Docter goes UP

[ALIASd]

Pete Docter Goes Up


Bill Desowitz chats with the Pixar director about his upcoming feature, in which a grumpy old man and an irksome boy in a flying house wind up in a South American adventure.

July 29, 2008
By Bill Desowitz
AnimationWorldNetwork

For Pixar's next release, Up, the challenges included making cloth behave on a caricatured body and bringing Venezuela's Tepui Mountains to life. All images © Disney/Pixar.

After debuting with the fantastical Monsters, Inc., Pete Docter follows up with Pixar's next feature, Up (opening May 29 from Disney's Buena Vista): a more grounded but still exotic comedy/adventure involving a 78-year-old grumpy old man named Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) and an eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. The director presented Up at Comic-Con in San Diego last weekend, sneaking some footage of the widower and former balloon salesman using his remaining balloons to lift his house up to the sky -- with Russell as a stowaway -- on a trek to Venezuela, where his late wife, Ellie, always wanted to visit.

Docter explained that they encounter the strange and isolated region of the Tepui Mountains, thanks to inspiration from video provided by Production Designer Ralph Eggleston (WALL-E). The story of Up, written by Docter in collaboration with co-director Bob Peterson, was inspired by Docter's correspondence with Disney legends Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston as a young animator, as well as the fascinating life stories the elderly often provide when you take the opportunity to spend some time with them. Docter spoke with AWN after his presentation about the challenges of making Up. They're still trying to figure out how to apply main animation solutions such as cloth. For instance, Carl's head is three feet wide and he's five feet tall and he has expansive limbs. How does the cloth behave on such a caricatured body? And how do you make the Tepui come to life in a believable yet stylized way?

interview at:
Animation World Magazine

[penguinsoda]

This movie I'm looking forward too. I love the idea behind the story line, and even though I don't see many movies (thats right, I still haven't seen Wall-E), I will make a point to get to the theatre to see this one.

[Rapunzel]

According to a friend who was doing VD for Pixar... THIS is a film too look out for!

Should be awesome!

[sir clinksalot]

I'm glad Docter is getting another chance to direct. I was wondering why he hadn't been at the helm since Monsters Inc.

[Aladdin]

I wonder if the House lands on the Wicked Witch of the East?!?

[larasound]

Anything Pixar does is worth looking forward to IMO.

[alexhopes]

HI
This is alexhopes,This is avery interesting movie for which iam looking forward too. I love the idea behind the story line, and even though I don't see many movies , I will make a point to go to the theatre to see this one.
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alexhopes
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[ALIASd]

WOW!

See the trailer at:
Apple - Trailers - UP

[royaldisneyfan]

Originally Posted by larasound

Anything Pixar does is worth looking forward to IMO.

100% agreed. Anything Pixar is worth seeing.

[ALIASd]

Opening May 29, UP is a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell.

[ALIASd]

Pixar's Next Short Also Cloudy?

AnimationWorldNetwork
February 12, 2009

A brief entry on Dave Smith's latest DISNEY A to Z: THE OFFICIAL ENCYCLOPEDIA supplement (Via Upcoming Pixar) says Pixar's next short will be called PARTLY CLOUDY, to play in front of UP.

Peter Sohn will direct. Sohn is a story artist and animator at Pixar who also voiced Emile in RATATOUILLE.

AWN Headline News

[ALIASd]

Docter Goes Halfway Up

Pete Docter previewed the first half of Pixar's Up last night at Disney and AWN has a full report.

February 11, 2009
By Bill Desowitz
AnimationWorldNetwork

In an unprecedented move, Disney/Pixar has been previewing the first half of Up for journalists. Not quite complete, but you know what? It's a brilliant strategy (hearkening back to the incomplete Beauty and the Beast screening at the New York Film Festival back in '91), because this poignant comic adventure about an elderly widower who flies away in his house with balloons on a lifelong trek to South America with a young stowaway has the potential to be Pixar's best film yet. You think The Incredibles, Ratatouille or Wall-E deserved to be nominated for the big Oscar prize? There might even be more ammunition for Up because it's about real people confronting real problems, even if it's whimsical and fantastical ("humor in truth").

Following a presentation last weekend in New York during Comic-Con, director Pete Docter (Monsters, inc.)and producer Jonas Rivera hosted a similar event for Pixar's next animated feature (opening May 29) last night at Disney in Burbank. We sat through 46 minutes and 17 seconds of Up, which Docter and Rivera described as a "partial love letter to the Disney films of the past": a cleverly caricatured world with a different shape language than WALL•E or any other Pixar film, for that matter -- a little softer and a lot more painterly.

Q: Why Venezuela?

PD: Early on, I said we need somewhere where Carl can get physically stuck with this kid... for him to transform. And where else could we go for one of these tropical stories? And the thought of these Tepui [tabletop] mountains is so far out and interesting, and we've never seen it before. We went down there and did research... we camped out for a week and painted and drew and took pictures...

Q: What does 3-D add to the movie?
PD: I think it adds a sort of a depth. One thing that was important to me is to not distract you from the story. Some films... do a lot of ooga-booga, you know, reaching out. And for this type of film, we're trying very hard to make it as subtle [as possible]. It adds to the richness, to the depth of the environments. You walk through the jungle, and you can see all of these layers going back. And the space when you set foot on the edge of that cliff along with Carl, and he sees Paradise Falls, it adds a real richness there.

full interview at:http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=p...rticle_no=3906

[ALIASd]

Oscar Tour Blog: Finding Inspiration at Pixar… and the Toilet

February 13, 2009
AnimationWorldNetwork
written by Barbara Robertson at the Oscar Travelogue blog

Long day, but a good day for the Oscar nominees. We started at Pixar where, first thing, right after taking pictures of each other in front of the giant Luxo lamp outside the front door and the monsters inside the Pixar’s enormous lobby / café / foosball court, they met Pete Docter, director of Pixar’s next feature, UP, matte painter Paul Topolos, and the Presto visual effects supervisor Tony Apodaca. Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, and president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios walked into the lobby to introduce himself and welcome everyone. And then we were swept into Pixar’s huge theater. Doug Sweetland, director of Pixar’s nominated short Presto introduced Ron and Ron introduced all the nominees in our travelling band.

The lights dimmed a little. Everyone in the audience went “oooooh.” The lights went out, the ceiling became a starfield, and everyone said “aaaaaah.” The Pixar person sitting next to me explained, “It’s a tradition.” And the red curtain lifted.

Read the rest at Animation Blogspot

[ALIASd]

UP will be presented at WonderCon in San Francisco on Saturday, February 28th from 3:30 - 4:30pm in the Esplanade of the Moscone Center.

Also, the studio will screen the first 45 minutes!

The screening will be introduced by director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera on Saturday at 7:30pm at the Metreon Theatre [directly across from the Moscone Center at 101 4th St.].

Seating is limited to the first 250 guests and interested attendees are recommended to arrive at the theater early. No cameras, phones, or recording devices will be allowed at the screening, and all must be checked at the door.

more character bus shelter sheets at:
New Character Poster: Pixar’s Up | /Film

[ALIASd]

Pixar Announces Plot, Concept Art for Next Short, Partly Cloudy

AnimationWorldNetwork
March 11, 2009

Pixar's next short, PARTLY CLOUDY (to play proceeding UP) is an up-in-the-skies fable about how storks and cloud people work together to deliver babies of all shapes, sizes and species.

"Everyone knows that the stork delivers babies, but where do the storks get the babies from? The answer lies up in the stratosphere, where cloud people sculpt babies from clouds and bring them to life. Gus, a lonely and insecure grey cloud, is a master at creating "dangerous" babies. Crocodiles, porcupines, rams and more -- Gus's beloved creations are works of art, but more than a handful for his loyal delivery stork partner, Peck. As Gus's creations become more and more rambunctious, Peck's job gets harder and harder. How will Peck manage to handle both his hazardous cargo and his friend's fiery temperament?"

Announced officially along with many other pieces of news at Tuesday's Disney investor's conference, PARTLY CLOUDY is directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Kevin Reher.

UP will debut May 29 in theaters.

AWN Headline News