Pixar’s last animated short film, Piper, was nominated for an Oscar. While that short is enjoying awards season, a first look at the newest short from the studio has been unveiled. Lou , which is being directed by Dave Mullins, a first-time director at Pixar who has served as animator on many of the films in the studio’s catalog, was announced back in September, but now we have our first official look at the short. Take a peek after the break!
USA Today debuted the image above, which gives us a glimpse at what Lou actually looks like. Given Pixar’s love of giving life and a story to usually inanimate objects, one could quickly begin to understand what to expect from this short. According to an interview Mullins had with the newspaper, Lou is “a box filled with toys and other goodies,” an “unseen creature in a school’s lost-and-found bin.” As we saw in the tease a few months ago, we again see how the creature’s name came about – it’s a clever formation from the missing letters in “LOST AND FOUND.”
Mullins also speaks about how the loss of his father influenced the story of the film. The article notes that the film ends with a dedication, “For Dad.” It certainly looks like the short is a deeply personal project for the director, who wanted to make a film that gets a certain idea across – “True happiness comes from giving.”
“Lou” TeaseAnnouncing our next short, “Lou,” directed by Dave Mullins!
Posted by Disney Pixar on Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Lou is scheduled to debut in theaters with Cars 3 on June 16th.
(Updated 2/2 with a higher-resolution image)