Drew Turney
One of Pixar’s original inner circle, Andrew Stanton – along with John Lasseter and Ed Catmull – has made some of the most beloved and successful animated movies of the last two decades since the CGI studio rose to prominence.
After co-writing ”Toy Story”, ”A Bug’s Life” and ”Monsters Inc”, ”Finding Nemo” was his first big directing gig, and the 2003 story about a lost fish went straight to the top of the Pixar classics list.
He went on to direct the sublime Wall.E and co-scripted more of the big titles like ”Toy Story 3” before the risk and ultimate failure of John Carter in 2012. To this day Stanton stands behind the film, but returning to the undersea world to bring us the continuing adventures of marlin, Dory, Nemo and a host of new characters in Finding Dory was the cinematic equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel – with the film already breaking records. The 50-year-old director spoke to Moviehole.net in Los Angeles.
What took you so long to do a sequel to Finding Nemo?
We were just sitting on our butts not doing anything.
The first one was so successful it seemed natural to continue the story.
I always take it as a compliment that people want a sequel, but that doesn’t mean we should do it. John Carter is the only movie I made where I had intentions to go on from the beginning. Anything else was just one idea.
I didn’t even want to look at Finding Nemo after we watched it so many times, so I just moved on. Then at the beginning of 2011 we had to watch it because it was put in 3D and we had to approve it.
I found myself sitting in a theatre watching it like an audience member, and maybe it’s because it’s been years since then I just recognised ‘wow, [Dory’s] unresolved. She’s not finished. She still sees herself as somebody that has to apologise for who she is’. It just felt like I didn’t close the door on the character. It wasn’t obvious to me till I watched it again.
We also learnt from Toy Story 3 that there’s actually this weird rubicon where you spend a few years and everybody says ‘you should make a sequel, make a sequel’. Then at some point it’s in this wonderful spot where we’d love to go back because we waited so long. It’s like wine fermenting.
We kind of felt like Nemo has a good chance of doing that because it was such a popular DVD, it’s been in everybody’s home forever, so we probably stand a good chance that people won’t mind coming back after such a long time.
How much did Ellen DeGeneres lobby to make a sequel?
Not behind the scenes. She was always doing it publicly. She even said just yesterday ‘at first I was really trying to get you to do a sequel, then I just sort of gave up, then I thought it was just funny to keep bringing it up’. So I think she was surprised.
Was it nerve wracking to come back to it because a lot of Pixar sequels haven’t been as beloved as some of the greats?
I’ve been experienced with sequels since 1996, so we knew very well what we’d be getting into and what we had to conquer to do this but it didn’t make it any easier. It almost makes it harder because it’s like having child number two. You’re like ‘oh boy, here we go again’.
What do you think made Dory so popular first time around?
I think it’s why we came up with the character in the first place. In the first movie Marlin [Albert Brooks] was this character that was haunted by the past and afraid of the future, he was unable to be in the moment. I needed him to be handcuffed to somebody that could only be present like a child in the moment.
Dory’s so innocently childlike and sees the joy in everything and sees everything half full. It’s hard not to be attracted to and inspired by that. Even if you’re cynical and you act judgemental you’re jealous that you can’t be like that. I think we succeeded in somehow capturing that.
Did Ellen improvise much?
Not as much as you think. I mean she can and she is very good at comedy, that’s her profession so she’ll have no problem working with us to come up with a funnier line.
But even on the first one, I worked with her for years and she was very respectful of the profession of writing.
Did you approach this story different after reports of the impact of the first film on how we think about the environment?
We changed course almost on a monthly basis for a while based on all the research. There’s been some research that was very public, the rest of the world heard about it. But there’s been tons nobody knows about. We just keep adjusting till it all works for the story.
My first, second and third concern is; are you in the story and that’s all you care about? If I can do it with the truth, it’s great. But I will lie the second it helps the story.
Specifically though, how about the way Finding Nemo made certain species more popular in aquariums?
I don’t think like that, I honestly don’t, I just go what’s best for the story. The story just changes all the time because it’s a moving thing, it’s a living thing that’s never correct till the last second.
But everything I learned on the first movie about the concerns of the coral reef, for example, just come in because you do care for them. Again, I was trying to go for the truth of something. I don’t have other agendas.
Where did the idea of Hank the octopus [Ed O’Neill] come from?
That was in our first draft. Dory needed to be attached to somebody, like Marlin was first time. That’s when she’s at her strongest, when she’s around someone that’s pessimistic and a grump and a curmudgeon.
Also, we just knew that practically we were going to be in man-made territory, so how was she going to move around? An octopus is basically an escape artist, any marine biologist will tell you. They study and they’re very clever. They can actually watch you open a jar and mimic it. So it was the perfect solution on both levels.
How do you work with a producer in animation? What does one do?
The best way to explain it is Lindsay [Collins, producer] is laying the track ahead of my train that doesn’t know where it’s going. She’s a little psychic and she’s second-guessing where that’s probably going to be.
A lot of that can be casting the crewmembers I need to work with or who to hold off so I’m not distracted. Then once the production starts up suddenly and you have all these departments, we call it the beast, once you’ve woken up the beast it needs to be fed all the time.
It’s like spinning plates or herding cats, trying to arrange it so I can keep working the way my brain thinks but I’m not causing a big budgetary mess.
Talk about working with [composer] Tom Newsman once more.
I love Tom Newman, to me he’s a cast member. He’s not something that happens at the end. I actually listened to his music as a fan when I was writing Finding Nemo and at the end of writing there were two things I new I needed. Ellen had to be Dory and Thomas Newman had to do the music. So I was so blessed that they both said yes.
Little did I know I’d relate to him artistically so much. We actually speak very different languages and it’s only because of our patience and respect for each other that we spend a lot of time repeating ourselves until we understand each other.
He thinks to that subtle of a shading, that’s why his music is so complex. There’s a great little documentary we did for the DVD that’s going to come out where he breaks down how he thinks about writing music.
You realise there’s just as much complexity in the choices for his little cues than there is in a personality of a character and a writer. You realise that’s why it does so much of a job in the movie. He makes me look like a much better filmmaker than I am.
