John Lasseter recently sat down with Charlie Rose for an extensive interview about Pixar, Steve Jobs, and Disney. He speaks at length about the beginnings of Pixar and how George Lucas sold the company to Steve Jobs, how important it is for the studio to focus on quality, and how animation is simply a medium for telling stories (just like in live-action films). Towards the end of the interview, Lasseter briefly describes Pixar’s upcoming slate – Brave, Monsters University, The Untitled Dinosaur Movie, and The Untitled Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind. The most mind-bending of those is easily the Pete Docter-directed Mind film and now we have a few more details on how the film will work.
The official premise, as given by Disney/Pixar is:
Pixar takes audiences on incredible journeys into extraordinary worlds: from the darkest depths of the ocean to the top of the tepui mountains in South America; from the fictional metropolis of Monstropolis to a futuristic fantasy of outer space. From director Pete Docter (“Up,” “Monsters, Inc.”) and producer Jonas Rivera (“Up”), the inventive new film will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind.
When Pete Docter first announced the project at the D23 Expo in August, he said the driving force of the film was the question, “What is going on in people’s heads?”. In the interview with Charlie Rose, John Lasseter elaborates on that (the video can be seen here, with the following quote starting at 52:29):
Pete Docter, from Monsters, Inc. and Up, is doing a new film that takes place inside of a girl’s mind and it is about her emotions as characters, and that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
So now we know that the character whose thoughts we will be privy to is a girl (if she is a main character she would be another big female protagonist for Pixar!) and her emotions will have roles in the film. It sounds like her emotions will be embodied by fully-realized characters and will help to visually and creatively explain how the mind works through acting out their personalities. Still having a difficult time figuring out how this film will function? You’re not alone, but I continue to be fascinated by the premise.
Pete Docter is my favorite director at the studio, and seeing his genius at work in Up, I simply cannot wait for this one to hit the screen. We have a bit of a wait, though, as the film is not scheduled to hit theatres until May 30, 2014.
Source: Charlie Rose
