'Elio', Editors, Anna Wolitzky & Steve Bloom

0:00Jawad MirWould you know that if there is a particular reason that when you first saw those storyboards moved you?

0:06Guest 1We all have moments where we feel alienated. I was not a popular kid. There's that to connect to. There's times when I felt lonely. I think everybody has that.

0:14Guest 2It's part of the human condition to wanna connect and to wanna know what's out there. See where Elio started and where he gets to towards the end of the movie is, something I think and I hope resonates with people universally.

0:37Jawad MirGood afternoon, everyone. Welcome back, another episode of Kingdom of Dreams podcast, the making of stories. I'm your host Jawad Mir. Today, my guests are Steve Bloom and Anna Wolitzky. They're the editors on Disney Pixar's most recent film, Elio, which opens today. It was a wonderful conversation with both editors. We talked about the film, the storyboards, the editing, meaning of life, and all the messages that are in the film. I totally enjoyed the film, and I'm sure that you will too. So without further ado, here's my conversation with Anna Wolitzky and Steve Bloom. I'll give you a little bit of context of my, when I first… because the film was supposed to come out last year, I think, if I'm not mistaken. And when I first saw the trailer, which was almost two years back or a year and a half back, it was one of the most interesting experiences because I was telling my sister even just yesterday after I saw the film, and I sent her the image where there's a scene of him lying on the beach and aliens abduct me. I have been waiting for that moment myself for a long time 'cause I would love to be abducted and go up there and see what's out there.

1:44Jawad MirI don't care what happens after that, but that resonated with me so much. I don't know, I don't know there were other people like that out there with me for, other than me, but that was really cool. I just thought I, the whole con story, the plot is amazing.

1:55Guest 2Oh, wow, that's great. That's good to hear.

1:58Guest 1Yes, we hope there are a lot of people that will connect to that.

2:02Jawad MirAmazing. So tell me how and when did this all start? I know you guys both worked as editors, and you've been at Pixar for a long time, and there's always many projects in the process and, you know, people come on and go off and depending on things. How did your, both of your journeys start on this project? Whoever wants to take it first.

2:24Guest 1Anna should start first…

2:25Guest 2Yeah, I can…

2:25Guest 1... 'cause she started first

2:27Guest 2Yeah, I can start. I started working on this film, in October of 2020. I had been working on Turning Red, and, Adrian and Mary Alice, Adrian and Mary Alice asked me to join. And, it was during the pandemic, so it was an interesting time to start a film. And yeah, that's when I started. Steve, did you wanna

3:00Guest 1I was asked to come on in the, in the last year when they were doing the changes.

3:07Guest 2Yeah.

3:07Guest 1Already been three and a half years or something for Anna?

3:12Guest 2Yes.

3:12Guest 1Something like that.

3:14Jawad MirSo, you know, you're, both of you work at Pixar, and is there, is there some sort of obligation to say yes to every project that you're asked for as long as you're not busy with something else? How does that work? Because you're not like freelancers, right, where you have the option of saying yes or no.

3:34Guest 1Right.

3:34Guest 2You know, I don't think there's an obligation. Yeah, no. They're, you know, when shows are starting up, they post for lead positions, and, yeah, this was something, sorry, this was something I was interested in working on just 'cause I had worked with both Adrian and Mary Alice in the past on other shows and, the, it s… seemed intriguing to me. It was an original film, that was interesting to me. So yeah, I applied and met with them, and we, sort of connected there.

4:16Jawad MirSuper. Steve?

4:19Guest 1Yeah, I suppose theoretically there is an option to say no. I never have.

4:25Jawad MirYeah.

4:25Guest 1Yeah, when somebody needs help, I help. I…

4:30Jawad MirYou help

4:30Guest 1... In addition to lead editor gigs, I've done far more, second editor or third or fourth sometimes when they're in a crunch, just to help a project over the line.

4:45Guest 2Also for me the…

4:45Jawad MirWe have a few lines.

4:48Guest 2Also for me there's…

4:48Jawad MirEvery four or five months there's one

4:51Guest 2I'm so sorry, Steve.

4:52Jawad MirGo ahead.

4:53Guest 2There's so many interesting projects to work on at Pixar, so, you know, we have a lot of, wonderful options, kind of, an embarrassment of riches. So, it's, it's exciting when we get to start a new project.

5:08Jawad MirSo has there been, since you mentioned that, has there been ever a time in the last 25 plus years where you started working on a project which you wanted to work on project, and then something else came about that sounded interesting, but you couldn't commit to it, and you're like, eh. Both of you guys.

5:29Guest 2Well, I will say that I was just, since I was mentioning Turning Red, I was really enjoying working on Turning Red, with, Domee Shi and, Lindsey, and it was a great show. I wish I could have stayed and finished that before I moved on to working on Elio, but, they…

5:50Guest 2... Needed to start, so I r… was really enjoying that.

5:55Guest 1That was the last show we worked together on.

5:57Guest 2That's right. And Steve, of course

6:02Jawad MirSteve, what about you? Same?

6:05Guest 1I don't, I don't remember ever leaving a show to go work on another one except in cases where, one show was being rewritten and so there wasn't work to do and they put me on another one, and I did a few of those where I would go back and forth between two projects.

6:28Jawad MirGot it.

6:29Guest 1Between Turning Red and Lightyear and then between Bee Fry and something.

6:36Jawad MirSo both of you guys, since you guys worked on Turning Red, I mean, I've, I know a lot of people who didn't like the film, but I really loved it partially because, it was set in my hometown, Toronto.

6:48Guest 2Oh, great.

6:49Jawad MirSo, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of stuff that I saw in there that kinda just brought back the '90s vibe and all that, so that was really cool. You don't get to see much of Toronto in Hollywood productions, which was, I don't think I ever have, you know, at least Toronto being shown as Toronto.

7:04Guest 1Right, yes.

7:05Jawad MirBut that was really, that was…

7:07Guest 1And New York a lot.

7:08Jawad MirYeah. That was really cool. Jumping back to El…

7:11Guest 1You know Domee from there, right?

7:13Jawad MirSorry?

7:14Guest 1You know Domee Shi is from there.

7:15Jawad MirYeah. Yeah.

7:16Guest 1Yeah. She…

7:17Jawad MirObviously it's, it was her, it was her story, right?

7:19Guest 1Yes.

7:19Jawad MirHer childhood and everything. But, going back to Elio, what were some of the challenges, for both of you guys in terms of, you know, putting scenes together or the flow of the story or the arc? Obviously there's a script. Everything is in the process, but it's, animation's a little bit different. There's always... A film is being rewritten, editing anyway, but in animation it's far beyond that. So if you guys can talk about that, some of that'd be really cool to hear.

7:52Guest 2Sure. Do you want me to start, Steve, or…

7:55Guest 1Sure, go ahead.

7:57Guest 2One of the challenges of working on the film, that we... Sort of story-wise or?

8:04Jawad MirYeah, like editing-wise, and because editing you're composing story anyways, right?

8:08Guest 2Yes.

8:09Guest 1Yeah.

8:09Jawad MirSo what was that where you guys kinda got stuck and kinda had to go around it and figure a way out?

8:17Guest 2Well, it, you know, it's interesting. I guess I would say the film is about, a boy who, is lonely. He's had, you know, an experience in his childhood that has affected him greatly and he wants to be abducted by aliens. He has an aunt who he's, they're trying to figure out their relationship. She's a loving aunt. But, so he obviously, he wants to get abducted and go to space. And then, this may be a little bit of a spoiler, but also when we were working towards the ending, sort of, resolving the relationship between Elio and his aunt and really, kind of sealing their bond, we both wanted him to n… need and want to go to space, but also by the end we wanted him to wanna come back and be on Earth with his aunt.

9:21Guest 2So that was a bit tricky sort of in act one to try to both, you know, see, what, you know, what on earth would make him wanna leave, but also maybe make him wanna come back, and that's something we sort of had to build throughout making the film and hopefully we did that.

9:50Jawad MirI certainly saw that, but Steve, go ahead.

9:53Guest 1These m… movies are kind of like a marathon, meaning we spend literally years trying to work the story. And in that case we had an ending that we wanted to earn, and in previous versions, six or eight previous versions of the movie, we do one like every three, four months, we weren't earning it. And we had to tweak a little bit at the beginning, had to add a scene at the beginning, had to, tweak stuff all the way through so that hopefully when you see the final movie you feel like, "Oh, well, that's the way it should always have been." But it's really hard to get there, and we did have some trouble. Well, the, one of the later things that we put on was the first scene, because people were asking, "Why is this kid so sad? Why does he wanna leave? What is the deal with, where did his parents go? Why is he with his aunt?" And we had been resisting that 'cause we thought it was a little too obvious or a little too on the nose or it l… it would make the movie a little too much about grief.

11:01Guest 1We didn't want it to be about grief. But once we put that in there and did a few versions of it works great and you really are with this kid from the beginning, and that, you know, is one of those moments where, oh, okay, that's how it should've been all along.

11:22Guest 2Yeah, it really helped to sort of solidify his behavior. Why is he doing this? Why is he rejecting, not rejecting, but why is he having trouble interacting with these other kids on the beach

11:33Guest 1Where does his fascination with space come from?

11:36Guest 2Yeah. Why space? And so, yeah, the adding of the prologue, which was something we had in a previous version of the f… of the film in our reels, it made sense to, eventually we realized it made sense to bring it back.

11:52Jawad MirAnd…

11:52Guest 1That's another thing, 'cause a lot of times we'll, we'll have pieces that don't fit, and they can be good scenes but they don't work for the movie so we cut them out…

12:02Jawad MirYeah

12:02Guest 1... Set them aside, and then maybe a year later things have changed enough so that piece fits now. And you can bring it back…

12:11Jawad MirYeah

12:11Guest 1... In some form.

12:13Jawad MirWhich I'm glad you mentioned that because, you know, the film, I even told this, one of the Disney executive, not executive, the d… Disney marketing person when I walked out of the screening that, she asked me how was the film, and I was like, "I was pleasantly surprised because it wasn't what I was expecting because the trailers don't give away too much," right? Which I thought was amazing. And the prologue was awesome because here I was ready, as I said, "It's a story about a guy who wants to be abducted. That's me." And then when it start, the f… whole tone of the film completely changed, not in a bad way, but more about, it was about this kid that we're gonna now follow, and we're gonna be with him from beginning to end. And that was lovely. I thought it was wonderfully executed, and it lasted, like, less than a minute or so maybe, that entire s… part, maybe a minute and a half, I would say.

13:01Guest 1Yeah. It's, it's economical storytelling. And…

13:07Jawad MirAnd that's, those are the ones that connect with people always. Amazing. Let's go back to your careers, then we'll come back to Ellie in a second. Steve, you mentioned briefly, but I would like to go into it a little bit more, not necessarily when you guys started at Pixar, but, you know, your journey leading up to Pixar. What…

13:30Guest 1How far back do you wanna go?

13:32Jawad MirWell, h… what I'm always fascinated about what is the moment in everyone's lives, that leads them to where they are. There's that sometimes it's an accident, sometimes there's a moment that, you know, you watch something, you read something, it connects with you, and just like, "Oh, this is what I wanna get into." So if you can just sort of talk about both of you guys, you know, in whatever capacity briefly or more than that'd be really cool to hear.

13:56Guest 1For me, it was accidental. I never intended to go into animation. When I moved into the San Francisco Bay Area to San Francisco following my then-girlfriend, who is now my wife, so that worked out, but career-wise not so much. It was in the early '90s, and I, read about this new computer editing system called Avid Media Composer.

14:23Guest 1And I went back to LA and I took a class, and I started getting jobs with people that were, using this new machine, and these were assistant editing jobs on documentaries primarily. And I remember getting calls from this place called Pixar, and they were working on a movie, an animated movie, and they were using the Avid, and they wanted somebody who knew this machine. And the word around town was that they were going through a lot of editors, and they didn't really know what they were doing, and I was committed to these documentaries anyway, so that never worked out, which is kind of a interesting what if to me. But then I was hired on James and the Giant Peach.

15:17Guest 1They were looking for an Avid editor, and that's how I got into animation with, the editor, Stan Webb. And he asked me to come with him to DreamWorks after that, and I said no 'cause I wanted to be an editor, and I did a documentary by myself, and then he later hired me as a second editor on Antz.

15:38Jawad MirOh, you worked on Antz, one of my favorite films.

15:41Guest 1At DreamWorks.

15:42Jawad MirYeah.

15:42Guest 1I don't hear that very much.

15:45Jawad MirI s… I've spoken to Tim Johnson quite a bit

15:47Guest 1huh. Yeah, I worked with him

15:49Jawad Mir... Yeah, so, yeah. But, before I come to Anna, before you even got into accidentally animation, was there always a journey of being into films? Like, was there always a plan, or was it just like whatever, I w… you didn't know what you were doing and you just figured out this…

16:02Guest 1Oh no, I wanted to be a f… a film editor, definitely. Yeah.

16:06Jawad MirBut what was that one film that made you or inspired you to go in that, on that route?

16:11Guest 1For me, it was, I w… was going to be a scientist. I was going to be a biochemist. I was always a math, science guy all through school, and for me, it was a film that I made in a class with classmates for a class project in my senior year of high school, and that was so much fun, and I think I did another one the next semester, and I did some editing on, of it myself. The guy who knew how to do it showed me how to do it with tape and super eight film.

16:44Jawad MirYeah. Absolutely.

16:45Guest 1That was mind-blowing, and so I went to the col… the only college of the ones I'd been admitted to that had a film school, and I tried to get into there, and that was, that was the journey, was not something I was expecting, not something I was, I was aiming for, but definitely the right decision. That's become clear.

17:12Guest 1You know, this is what I'm good at, and I would not have been good as a biochemist.

17:17Jawad MirBut not only good at, you enjoy it, which is awesome.

17:20Guest 1Yes.

17:20Jawad MirAnna, what about you? Let's hear your story.

17:23Guest 2Sure. I also came up into, filmmaking and Pixar in a not quite a straightforward way. I went, studied liberal arts in college. I was working, doing some nonprofit legal work. You know, I had s… I had studied, you know, other stuff. And, I, but I had always loved photography, still photography, since I was in high school, and, I had a good friend from college who was starting to get into the film business in LA, and she was in post-production, and she was talking about editing and… Sort of the idea of being able to take something like, photography, visual arts, and combine that with storytelling really appealed to me.

18:24Guest 2So, I took some film classes, kinda on the side while I was working, and then I did some freelance work in live action film and production. And I was in the right, sort of in the right place at the right time when Pixar was

18:43Jawad MirTaking off

18:44Guest 2... Was taking off, yes. And I had an opportunity to come in as a production assistant on Toy Story 2, through a friend of mine who was a freelancer. Put me in touch with Edie Ichioka, who, was one of the lead editors, and she hired me onto Toy Story 2, and I never left. I was an assistant editor for a long time. I've held just about every, I've held every position in the edit department. Yeah. And I… it's just been a place where I've really enjoyed working. Kind of like Steve, I live in the Bay Area. So, you know, it seemed, felt like the best opportunity in the Bay Area, and, I still feel that way.

19:38Jawad MirThat's lovely. That's really nice. Thank you for sharing that, I appreciate it. With Elio, what were some of the moments in the script or in the story or in the film in its final, version that, forget about editing, forget about storytelling, just as a human being, as an audience, what resonated with you guys the most that was more relatable, that really made you laugh because it was relatable or really moved you in a deep way because it was re… relatable? Steve, you wanna start that?

20:18Guest 1Trying to remember the movie. I've been working hard on another movie since then, so the, I've only got so much room in my brain. One's gotta go out and the other things goes in, goes in. I always tear up at the very end, and this is, this is after the goodbyes, but the part where the Communiverse comes to Earth and they come down, and all of the other people are experiencing that I find really moving. A lot of it has to do with the music, but the, just the idea of, that contact that, you know, irrefutable idea of the aliens are here and, the majesty and the beauty of that, of the Communiverse. We had previous versions where, everybody's memory was erased at the very end…

21:17Guest 1... And this is completely the opposite of that. What else? There's a great scene, where, Elio and Glordon are just talking softly about their lives to each other.

21:32Jawad MirThat's a nice moment.

21:34Guest 1And that feel, that feels really, human, even though one of them's not a human, but the connection there is really obvious and not... It's obvious that they're connected, but it's not obvious that we're manipulating, right? It doesn't feel…

21:53Jawad MirYeah

21:53Guest 1... Manipulated, it feels real. It feels natural that these two…

21:56Jawad MirYeah

21:56Guest 1... Just talk to each other and bond in that way. So those are two that get to me.

22:04Jawad MirWhat about you, Anne?

22:06Guest 2Yeah, that's a great answer, Steve. I would also agree with all of that, and also just to say, you know, Elio starts off, he's lonely, he's looking for connection. He's looking up at the stars and, you know, I, yeah, I feel something there when he's sitting on his roof and he's kind of at a low, really low moment with his aunt, and he really has a lot of yearning for something to connect, someone or something to connect with. And, for me also, when he, when Questa, when he gets thrown out of the Communiverse, when he's sort of exposed and is not the leader of Earth, he lands in the water and he's sitting on the beach. It's, it's like a quiet moment. He's, he's just, looking up at the stars again, and it's quiet, and he's, he's kind of been expelled from, everything he thought he wished for, and it's sort of a moment of s… sitting with him and, then when he reconnects with his aunt also on the beach there, it's sort of the beginning of them coming together and, I always find that to be sort of emotional, the sort of the beginning of their, bond, bonding again.

23:43Jawad MirThat's lovely.

23:44Guest 1Yeah, when the lights come on and it says, "Aliens, bring him back." And that was a thing that when they first did it in storyboards, I thought was really powerful.

23:55Guest 2Yes.

23:55Guest 1And it was just a matter of keeping that feeling.

24:02Jawad MirYeah. No, that's re… that's, that's really cool. Sorry, Anne, what were you gonna say?

24:06Guest 2Well, I just was gonna say, yeah, it was, it was emotional already when it was storyboarded, and then between the layout and the animation, they really, I think they really nailed, really nailed that moment. And lighting, of course. It was beautiful.

24:23Jawad MirSo, and you guys don't have to answer this because this is not something I n… I do occasionally, but because you're talking about these very powerful scenes, you know, we connect to powerful scenes because sometimes without... We don't know why we connect to it. It could be something that we're experiencing in that moment, and it somehow it connects. Would you be willing to, and feel free to say no, is n… willing to and would you know that if there is a particular reason that when you first saw those storyboards or when you first read it or when… whenever that first experience with that moved you, why would that be? Was it something that you connected a deeper level in your own personal life when you were g… when you were kids, or even now at the time?

25:11Guest 1I mean, we all have moments where we feel alienated. I was not a popular kid, you know, so that there's, there's that to connect to. There's times when I felt lonely. I think everybody has that.

25:27Jawad MirYeah.

25:28Guest 1Y… you don't have to have gone through the same trauma that Elio has to want to feel wanted, to want to feel included, to find your people, and he finds his people in space, and then comes back and discovers that he's wanted there as well. So that's the payoff for him, and that feels, it feels good. That part of me that was, you know, felt unwanted and felt alienated feels, rewarded at, in those times.

26:06Jawad MirI loved how you put that. Thank you so much. Anna?

26:09Guest 2Yeah, just to, build on what Steve was saying, I think it's part of the human condition to wanna want to connect and to wanna know what's out there. And, I think... Yeah, I think it's, it's part of the, you know, everybody, as Steve was saying, everybody feels lonely at s… at some point in their life, and to just see where he started, where Elio started and where he gets to towards the end of the movie is, something I think and I hope resonates with people universally, the idea of finding connection with your family, finding connection, with community.

26:56Jawad MirAmazing. Thank you for sharing that, guys. I don't know if y… if you guys, maybe I'm, I'm looking into it too much, but I found, Lord, Grigon, is it how you pronounce it, Lord Grigon?

27:09Guest 1Grigon.

27:10Guest 2Grigon.

27:10Jawad MirGrigon, his persona, his voice, the s… the character design reminded me of a lot of Emperor Zurg from Toy Story, that I just felt like when I was watching him, like this could be an interesting story of them being distant cousins in the galaxy far away. And I don't know if there was any talk about that in your, in your s… in your meetings with the production team. Did you guys feel anything like that, or was it just, is it just me looking into it way too much?

27:40Guest 2I don't recall ever discussing i… if Grigon was related to Zurg. I know…

27:48Jawad MirNo, I know. That's just me saying.

27:49Guest 2Oh, yeah. Yeah, I don't, I don't recall that, but that's an interesting, observation. Yeah, and then, what is it there? People have theories that every Pixar movie is connected. There's the whole Pixar universe, so I think some people would like that. I don't...

28:11Guest 1Do you wanna talk about the, Grigon's journey through the story? 'Cause he was a…

28:17Guest 2Oh

28:18Guest 1... It was a different…

28:19Guest 2Yeah

28:19Guest 1... Character a little bit.

28:20Jawad MirI would love to know.

28:22Guest 2Yeah, sure. In earlier versions of the film, Grigon was actually one of the ambassadors, and you know, he was, he was always an antagonist in the film, but, I'm not... You know, I don't know if I can remember exactly everything that transpired, but at some point we realized he would be a better antagonist if it, he was trying to…

28:53Guest 1Become one of them

28:54Guest 2... Become ambassador…

28:55Guest 1Yeah

28:55Guest 2... Instead of already being one, and someone who's making decisions, about Elio. So yeah, we,... Steve, do you remember exactly how that came to be? I don't remember exactly, but in one of our early…

29:09Guest 1It was, it was difficult for him to make the turn from being Elio's friend to…

29:15Guest 2Right

29:15Guest 1... Being the bad guy, and it was, once we made him just the bad guy from the beginning, it was a lot simpler, and there…

29:24Jawad MirYeah

29:24Guest 1... There were, there was... You didn't have to do that, those story gymnastics to give him a reason to, turn on Elio. And there wa… the question of why is this guy in the Communiverse to, in the first place? 'Cause he never seemed to fit.

29:41Guest 2That's right, 'cause the Communiverse is, sort of a, like a intergalactic UN, more peaceful and sort of,... We were questioning, now I'm remembering we were questioning why did they let this guy who is interested in fighting and war be part of this intergalactic, community. So it was a little easier to have him removed.

30:12Jawad MirAnd I think it works in the film because the very moment that you see him, he has this aggressive tone, and he's, you know, just standing and talking to this whole… g… group of people in the u… universe, and you know right off the... I mean, you can assume that he's a villain right off the bat, or you can assume that he's trying to become part, like he's trying to be accepted, too, which is what Elio's journey is. He wants to be part of this thing, for whatever right or wrong reason, but that's what I liked about that moment, is that acceptance that he's trying to do the same thing that Elio is trying to do, but on completely different spectrums.

30:52Guest 1And he screws it up worse than Elio does.

30:55Jawad MirYes. Yes, 100%. 100%. Since this film is about aliens, going into this film or in general, what are your thoughts about that? And considering what's been in the news for the last four or five years, I'm not trying to generate any theories or anything, I'm just curious about people's interest in this subject, because we always believe that. You know, there's a line in the film Contact, I don't know if you've ever seen that, the Jodie Foster one.

31:20Guest 1Oh, yeah.

31:21Jawad MirYeah. There's a line in that film, "If it's just us, that's a lot of, awful lot of waste of space," right? Just your thoughts on a, at a personal level, if you're willing to share that, both of you.

31:37Guest 2I mean, it's hard to imagine in such a vast universe that w… we are the only intelligent forms of life. I do think that's, that there are probably other life forms out there, whether we can make contact with them. I know there are groups like SETI, search for

32:01Guest 1For extrater…

32:01Guest 2... Extraterrestrial intelligence

32:03Guest 1... Terrestrial intelligence, yes.

32:06Guest 2Yeah. People, you know, really smart scientists, you know, people are looking. But, yeah, I mean, that would be pretty amazing if it were true.

32:15Guest 1Yeah, the vast distances of space make it less likely because of, just because of the amount of time it would take even for a signal to reach… ... Or close by. So I don't believe it's impossible. I believe it's likely, but whether we'll ever have evidence of that, I don't know.

32:41Jawad MirWell, you did

32:41Guest 1... That they're so intelligent that they don't wanna have anything to do with us.

32:47Jawad MirYeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's a, it's a very fascinating thing that, you know, you, there have been so many movies, Close Encounter, Third Kind, Contact.

32:57Guest 1Yeah.

32:57Jawad MirYou know, and, obviously the…

33:00Guest 1ET

33:00Jawad Mir... ET, Independence Day, which is the quite the contrary. And War of the Worlds.

33:05Guest 1War of the Worlds, yes.

33:07Jawad MirYeah. But, I always wonder about that, too, because and I think sometimes it, which goes back to this film, Elio, is that are we looking for something out there because we are completely missing what's here on Earth, or people around us?

33:22Guest 1I think that's the message right there. Yeah, you said it. Let's hire this guy.

33:27Guest 2Yeah.

33:29Guest 1No, that, I mean, yes, Elio is literally looking for some, for friends off of Earth because he's, he's written off planet Earth entirely. He's, there's no hope for him, he's decided. His family do… his family's gone. His, what's left of his family, he rejects or he thinks rejects him, and he's, he's finding, trying to find his tribe somewhere else. And he does. Initially.

34:01Jawad MirYeah. Amazing. I know there's always, projects that are not announced, which I'm not willing, I'm not looking into yet, but anything that you guys, that's been announced that you guys are working on, that's coming next year or the year after, if that's something that's openly known, I would love to hear that.

34:25Guest 1Well, I'm helping a little bit on Toy Story 5.

34:29Jawad MirOkay.

34:30Guest 1And, before I was on Elio, I helped on Hoppers. That was years ago, though. I haven't worked on it in its current version.

34:42Jawad MirOkay. What…

34:43Guest 1And Linda is taking a well-deserved vacation.

34:45Guest 2Yes, I'm not working on anything new yet, but I will be, when I get back from vacation. Not sure what yet.

34:54Jawad MirToy Story 5 comes out next year?

34:56Guest 1Yes, about a year from now.

35:00Jawad MirWow. That's what started everything. That's, that's really cool that it's... I mean, I was really happy with the first three. I wasn't really too keen to watch the fourth one, but I did enjoy the fourth one a lot. I'm, I'll be honest, I don't want to see Toy Story 5, but I do wanna see Toy Story 5, so it'd be interesting how that ha… what you guys have come up with in terms of the story. I'm really looking forward to that.

35:23Guest 2Well, yeah, Toy Story's our flagship franchise. It's what started Pixar…

35:29Jawad MirYeah

35:29Guest 2... Feature films, and they're our beloved films. I have a lot of faith in the team that's working on it. They're working on making great film for everyone and, I'm excited to see it.

35:44Jawad MirOf course. You know, Slinky, Rex.

35:46Guest 2And someone…

35:46Jawad MirTrigun.

35:47Guest 2Yeah, I work, I worked on Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, so, it's a franchise that's, near and dear to my heart, so I'm, I'm looking forward to it.

35:59Jawad MirI think it's, it's close to a lot of people's heart because, I mean, obviously the timing of that time, you know, people who grew up, like, in their teen years and it was the first computer animation film, and Woody, Buzz, Slinky, Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head, I mean, Rex, all these characters are just so ingrained in our memory, kinda like how Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny did it in the '70s and '80s, you know…

36:22Guest 1Right

36:22Jawad Mir... For people of that generation. So like I said, I want to continue seeing Toy Story films But bec… as a storyteller I don't want to, because I don't want it to ruin it, but I know you guys would probably have something really amazing to tell, which is why it's happening, so really anticipating that.

36:41Guest 1Well, we'll talk about this in a year.

36:43Guest 2Yes.

36:44Jawad MirWe will. We will. Anything else you guys wanna add on about your experiences on Elio? Any fun stories behind the scenes, working with people or just the story itself?

36:56Guest 2Well, I'll just say we were, you know, we're really fortunate to have, really great talented directors. They were, made it fun to work on. I had worked with Maddy before on, her short film Burrow, and on some other projects. And, Domee, of course, on Turning Red. I, was really pleased with how the score came out. I thought Rob did an amazing job with the score. I think it really lends itself to supporting the movie. Yeah.

37:37Guest 1And the sound effects by Jeremy Bowker…

37:40Guest 2Yes

37:40Guest 1... Really, distinct. The Earth sound effects and then the Communiverse sound effects, building that sort of sound world where the sounds are alien but they feel of a, of a single world, I think is something that doesn't get noticed very often. And intentionally, we don't wanna call attention to that stuff, but it has to, that's part of world-building, is to make a sound for that place. I thought that…

38:09Jawad MirYeah

38:09Guest 1... Was great. Yeah, and Domee and Maddy, one of the things that they brought to it, were the, sort of horror movie elements that are in it that are kind of surprising. And sort of the comic relief with the, other Elio, and those were some of the most fun sequences to work on and some of the ones that worked right out of the box....

38:41Jawad MirI'm glad you talked about that because I was gonna, I was thinking about talking about that originally, this morning and I forgot. But you brought it up. The whole part about the other Elio and how the aunt gets suspicious that there's something up, it really resonated because, as a parent myself, when my, when there's silence in the house, I'm like, "Okay, what's going on? Something is off."

39:04Guest 1Yeah.

39:05Jawad MirRight? And that pretty much, I don't, I don't know if there was an intention of that in the writing, but that resonated, and I'm sure it's gonna resonate with a lot of parents, that something is off if the kid is just being super nice or there's silence and all that, so, which was really nice.

39:18Guest 1And that's echoed with Grigon.

39:21Jawad MirYeah. Yeah.

39:22Guest 1He notices right away as well.

39:23Jawad MirYeah, 100%. 100%, right off the bat. Awesome. Awesome. Great, guys. Thank you so much for your time, for your work. I…

39:32Guest 1Sure. Sure

39:32Jawad Mir... Re… really enjoyed the film. My nieces, my nephew, my kids, they are, they were wondering what I thought, and I told them, "You have to go see it." So people would love it. People would definitely love this film.

39:45Guest 1Go see it in a theater, because there's…

39:46Jawad MirIn a theater, yes

39:47Guest 1... So much eye candy, that the Communiverse is one of the most beautiful sets that we have ever built.

39:53Guest 2Agreed.

39:53Guest 1And you really need to see it on a big screen.

39:56Jawad MirAll right, guys.

39:56Guest 2Great. Thank you so much.

39:58Jawad MirAll right.

39:58Guest 1Yeah.

39:58Jawad MirHave a great weekend. Thank you. Bye-bye.