Visiting Pixar headquarters was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I’m so excited to be able to share many of the behind-the-scenes details of INSIDE OUT, which officially opens in theaters June 19.
During my short trip I able to meet and interview many of the minds behind the movie, including production designer Ralph Eggleston.
Ralph showed usรย what it took to create the look of the world and characters inside Rileyรขโฌโขs mind, which turned out to be the hardest film he’s ever worked on at Pixar (and he’s worked on a lot!). Here’s a few more fun facts and tidbits that I picked up during our interview.
Fun Facts about INSIDE OUT with Ralph Eggleston
- The biggest challenge was what the mind looked like, not the brain – what you see in the movie is a well-educated guess.
- Another challenge was how they made a film about the “mind” interesting for families.
- In INSIDE OUT, the mind is where memories are stored.
- Real world was de-saturated/mind world glows highly saturated and contrasted.
- The world’s are visually different to distinguish where weรขโฌโขre at in the movie.
- The mind characters have a translucent light quality, like a sparkle or champagne bubbles.
- Originally Joy was the only character with this quality, but John Lasseter wanted all characters in the mind to have this effervescence.
- They fought for the idea of Riley being born, along with her childhood.
- Joy was born first รขโฌโ then each character is introduced.
- Headquarters is the sun of the mind.
- The world inside the mind reflects how Riley is feeling.
- Worked on Inside Out for 5 รยฝ years
- INSIDE OUT is tells 2 stories at once– it was almost likeรย making 2 movies.
- The storyline was complicated to replicate on storyboards.
- Lasseter called the hypothalamus in the brain รขโฌลtoastรขโฌย.
- Characters are key/foundational elements of Rileyรขโฌโขs personality.
- Looked at Disneyland for inspiration รขโฌลimagination-landรขโฌย as well as Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas.
- There were 284 designs for ‘train of thought’.
- Lasseter wanted an electric train for รขโฌลtrain of thoughtรขโฌย- but used cantantary train.
- The idea of brain production came from Hollywood Studios.
- INSIDE OUT has more background characters than any other Pixar film.
- Spider webs and dew drops were the first inspiration for film.
INSIDE OUT opens in theaters June 19th!
Based in Headquarters, the control center inside 11-year-old Rileyรขโฌโขs mind, five Emotions are hard at work, led by lighthearted optimist Joy (voice of Amy Poehler), whose mission is to make sure Riley stays happy. Fear (voice of Bill Hader) heads up safety, Anger (voice of Lewis Black) ensures all is fair and Disgust (voice of Mindy Kaling) prevents Riley from getting poisonedรขโฌโboth physically and socially. Sadness (voice of Phyllis Smith) isnรขโฌโขt exactly sure what her role is, and frankly, neither is anyone else.
When Riley’s family relocates to a scary new city, the Emotions are on the job, eager to help guide her through the difficult transition. But when Joy and Sadness are inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Rileyรขโฌโขs mindรขโฌโ taking some of her core memories with themรขโฌโFear, Anger and Disgust are left reluctantly in charge. Joy and Sadness must venture through unfamiliar placesรขโฌโLong Term Memory, Imagination Land, Abstract Thought and Dream Productionsรขโฌโin a desperate effort to get back to Headquarters, and Riley.
Special thanks to Disney-Pixar for hosting me. All opinions are my own.
