Pete Docter on 'Up'

The Good 5¢ Cigar, a student newspaper at the University of Rhode Island, has a great interview with Up director, Pete Docter. read the interview here (after loading the page a few times, it requires registration to view any more articles--so read all you can right away!).


During the interview, Docter discussed how "Carl was fun because he could be a jerk and likable at the same time. He could slam the door in the kid's face and you're like, 'eh, well, he's earned that.'"

Another interesting part of the interview is when Pete Docter was asked if, since Up's main characters are human (a 1st for Pixar), the characters of Up are more easy to relate to. "Even though this might be a bug or a monster or a fish," Docter replied, "there has to be something about what they're going through that I can relate to on some level." Docter also talked about character development in Carl, and in general: "There's this weird thing where the more specific you get, the more generally it applies. If you're foggy about a character's situation then you're always looking at it at arm's length. There's something about Carl's situation that I think appeals to people in some way and that's what we're looking for in any character."


I really like that description of character development by Docter. What he says is very true, but the concept he discusses would never occur to you. Brilliant.


Pete Docter also describes several of the Pixarian's trips to Venezuela: "This one we actually got to go to South America and, right where Venezuela meets Brazil and Guyana, there's this place called Triple Point, and right on that point is this amazing, weird tabletop mountain. It's full of these weird rock shapes and it's very wind swept...It's as close as I'll ever get to going to Mars. It just felt really alien. I kind of think people are going to watch the movie and go, 'Boy you guys have an active imagination. But this is all real, it's actually there."

What a place! I can't wait to see Up to see this gorgeous, exotic place he is talking about. It sounds absolutely incredible.


There's plenty more wonderful stories and tidbits by Pete Docter, director of Up, in the interview.

Up comes out on May 29 of this year! Only 28 more days!