The Fabulous Disney Babe
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"When Somebody Loved Me" is the sequence that John is most proud of. They had Jessie tell the story, and it just didn't work. John met with Randy Newman, the composer of the film, and explained the situation to him: there's no happy ending. Randy suggested Sarah McLaughlin, and John said that the day in the studio in Vancouver, with Sarah accompanied by Randy on piano, was one of the best days of his life. He was in tears. Walt Disney said that for every laugh, there should be a tear. There was heart in it, and in the film, you could see the characters grow and change.
Tom Schumacher said: "John, what you did with the sequel was a completely different genre." He was right. Where the first film was a Buddy Movie, the second was a Coming of Age story. Woody had to decide: did he want to be pristine forever, and never be loved by a child again, or be loved, and take the chance of being broken or outgrown?
Peter Schneider, former head of Feature Animation, had, at the time of the film, two teenaged daughters. When he saw the Jessie sequence in storyboard form, he turned to John in tears: "How do you know how I feel as the parent of daughters?" "Yeah, they're animated," John told us, "but the adult audience is so important."
John set a goal for Pixar: a new film every 12-18 months. At this point, he introduced Pete Docter: "What I love about Toy Story," he said, "is that we all knew toys were alive. The other truth we know as kids is that there are monsters in the closet." He worked on the story for 3 years, and they played with different reasons why monsters scare kids: entertainment? Nah. "Hey, we have kids. We know they're highly unstable energy sources." The monsters must capture energy, they come out of the closet, the kids scream, they collect them and refine them into fuel. Therefore, there's a refinery, workers clock in, there's a union, they have lunch, all of the everyday work things.
Some ideas that worked: Laughter is stronger than tears. Monsters are afraid of children, because they are toxic. In the film, Boo overcomes her fear of Randall, Sulley changes - fundamentally changes - his life.
"Set up this clip." John tells Pete. "What clip?" John whispers loudly in Pete's ear and Pete sets up the clip from Monsters, Inc. Joel Siegel joins them and asks if he's ever been with so many people who "get" the Harryhausen's joke. At this point, John takes a few questions: why is Al's car parked backwards? "Because he's a lousy driver."
John then described A Bug's Land for Disney's California Adventure, and how he chooses voice talent (they have real, believable character voices). He then described how Buzz Lightyear was, without his knowledge, modeled exactly after him. Jim, sitting next to me, who laughs at almost NOTHING, went into a fit of giggles at John standing up and striking a Buzz-like pose: he looks, with the exception of the chin curlicue, (which he said he had removed) exactly, exactly, exactly like Buzz Lightyear.
The audience gave John a well-deserved standing ovation, and were informed that there was a surprise for us in the lobby. Mike and Sulley greeted us and posed for pictures as we left. I'm looking forward to what other treats LACMA has in store for us this year.
-- Fab
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-- Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith can be reached using the Talkback form below or by emailing her at [email protected].
The Fabulous Disney Babe's column is posted every Friday and when ever else she has something to say. For more on Michelle's background, see her first column. She also offers The Fabulous Tour: Disneyland Secrets and Stories. Click here for more information.
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-- Posted January 23, 2002