How “Elio” pays tribute to classic science fiction films, “The Thing”, “Close encourage” and “Alien”

Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for “Elio”, now playing in theaters.

The last animated function of Disney Pixar, “Elio”, focuses on an orphan young boy who is desperate to be removed by extraterrestrials.

The premise of the film Igave The Creatives is a perfect opportunity to pay tribute to the great science fiction classics, notably “Alien” and “The Thing” by John Carpenter. But the only director Domee Shi (“Turning Red”) and Madeline Sharafian (“Burrow”) have referenced a lot was “close meetings of the third type”. Shi explains: “We refer this film a lot because it is also a guy who is in love with space.” She adds: “We loved the way this film gave the extraterrestrials a big drum roll and with tone, you didn’t know that they were sympathetic? What are their intentions? And we liked this aura of mystery for the communist. ”

The 28th characteristic of Disney Pixar was also co-written and led by Adrian Molina (“Coco”) with Shi and Sharafian working to resume management. The two spoke with Variety d’Annecy, where the film screened for the public, on Easter eggs and how its theme of loneliness resonates in the world of today.

Can you talk about coming to this area and how have you built on what Adrian had already started?

Madeline Sharafian: What helped us a lot was that, while Adrian was doing “Elio” and his original pass, he projected it several times as we do in Pixar. Over the years, we have seen history grow, and we knew the characters and the world, which, I think, made the task for us. We were aligned with his taste. I had worked with him on “Coco” and Domee worked with him on “Turning Red”. Once we had the film in our hands, we were given a lot of freedom and we were allowed to make great changes. One of the things we have done is that we changed Elio’s reader. We added the idea that he wanted to be removed by extraterrestrials, which was really fun to play, and that made him this strange and convincing character. For example, why do you want to be removed?

Half it: We were inspired by our past and our childhood. Being these children alone and cheesy in our hometown who like to draw every day, hoping and praying so that we can go to the animation school one day and find our people. It was the inspiration for Elio’s character. We have always loved the concept of Adrian of the strangest child in the world being wrong with the head of the earth and being removed. But by giving him this spicy conduct at the beginning of the film, it made us attest to him because we were of the Nerds who finally found our people, not in space, but in Pixar.

You have this story of Elio being a lonely and bizarre child, but his aunt Olga is also isolated and lonely, trying to understand it, can you talk about how you put all this together as a story?

Shary: Olga, expressed by Zoe Saldaña, is an incredible character because she is representative of the earth for Elio. She is part of the reason why he fully creates earth, because he does not make at the beginning of the film that she is as alone as him. She is there next to him, but we have always talked about the way he is too busy looking at the stars, and he never looks at her. We have told the animators to focus on this and the scenes they have together. He never draws his attention to him until the end of the film, when he finally returns to Earth. We have made this scene where they meet, everything to see each other and their similarities.

Shi: It was always the main relationship of history: Olga and Elio. It was another change in the story that we caused when we joined. The writer Julia Cho (“Turning Red”) launched the idea of ​​spending Olga from Elio’s mother to Elio’s aunt. It is a family dynamic that is not as common in many films. But there are all kinds of families in real life, and she clicked for us. It made Elio felt like her life on Earth was more unstable. This made Olga without being prepared, put it under pressure and more inclined to make mistakes. This gave them more conflict. Furthermore, it was another way that we could have personally linked to the character of Olga, this career woman overwhelmed by a sudden and unexpected gift that landed on their lap.

Elio establishes a link with Glord and finds friendship in him, what was the key to this dynamic?

Shi: We talked to many children psychologists for this film. We even consulted the American general surgeon at the time, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who spoke of the solitude epidemic in our current society, and how many people have more trouble connecting with others and making friends. One of the things we have discovered with experts this idea that one of the steps to cure loneliness is to admit that you are alone and that you need help. But many people don’t do that, because it is also a feeling that causes a lot of guilt and shame. The first thing Eio does, when he really constitutes his link with GLODON in the film is that he drops his walls and reveals a deep and vulnerable part of himself that he buried inside. When he admits to Glord: “I’m afraid there is something that is wrong with me, that it is not the earth.” It is a very large step for him. He never admitted this to anyone.

So what idea was the “extraterrestrial” reference?

Shi: We are both great horror fans, and it was fun to present means that we could include it in the film.

What were your favorite Easter eggs to do?

Allivary: Musicality and the way in which the Communiverse first contacts Elio is completely a tribute to “the closed meetings of the third type”. We refer to this film a lot because he is also a guy who is in love with space. But we loved the way this film gave the extraterrestrials a big drum roll, and with tone. You didn’t really know, are they sympathetic? What are their intentions? And we liked this aura of mystery for the Communiverse before revealing it.

Shi: John Carpenter’s “The Thing” with the clone. And definitely “extraterrestrial” (in an exchange between Elio and Glord).

Allivary: We were inspired by “contact” as a film that uses space as a healing for the main character.

Shit: All classic Pixar Easter eggs are also there. We had the Pizza Planet truck, the Luxo Ball. We even have an Easter egg that alludes to our next film, “Hopper”. It is hidden at sight, and there is an Easter egg for the short film by Maddie “Burrow” (on the bottle of sunscreen).

What do you hope for the public draws from “Elio”?

Shit: In our world of post-comfortable and current madness, I have the impression that many people probably feel what Elio feels. They have a hard time with a lot of their problems, silently. But when they look at “Elio”, we hope they feel inspired to share their struggle and establish a link with someone.

This interview was published and condensed.