Big Changes and New Voices in 'The Good Dinosaur'

Pixar's The Good Dinosaur has gone through countless changes in production. The story was conceived by Pixar veteran Bob Peterson (co-director of Up), and the original release date was scheduled in May of 2014. Since then, Peter Sohn (Partly Cloudy) replaced Peterson as the new director of the movie, and the film will now arrive to theaters this November. Pixar's president Ed Catmull had the following words to say about the changes in The Good Dinosaur.

"Nobody ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the film some more time."

The Good Dinosaur Concept Art

There have also been major story adjustments in The Good Dinosaur. In the original summary of the film, there is a traumatic event that changes Arlo's (the main dino character) community. In the new synopsis, the event changes Arlo's family instead.

The Good Dinosaur asks the generations-old question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In theaters November 25, 2015, the film is a humorous and exciting original story about Arlo, a lively Apatosaurus with a big heart. After a traumatic event unsettles Arlo’s family, he sets out on a remarkable journey, gaining an unlikely companion along the way - a human boy. The Good Dinosaur is an extraordinary journey of self-discovery full of thrilling adventure, hilarious characters and poignant heart.

The Good Dinosaur Teaser Trailer

The cast for the movie has also gone through big revisions. Arlo, who was originally played by Lucas Neff, will now be voiced by Raymond Ochoa. Arlo's human companion who is named Spot will be voiced by Jack Bright. Both Ochoa and Bright are young voice actors and are credited for "additional children's voices" on Monsters University. Jeffery Wright (Beetee from The Hunger Games) has replaced John Lithgow as Poppa, Arlo's father, and Momma will still be played by the original casting choice, Frances McDormand. Child star Marcus Scribner (Black-ish) will play Arlo's brother, Buck. The character Buck was originally named Forrest, and was voiced by Bill Hader (the voice of Fear in Pixar's Inside Out). Arlo's two other siblings Cliff (Neil Patrick Harris) and Ivy (Judy Greer) are now completely cut from the film.

Arlo's Siblings Have Been Either Replaced or Cut

There are some Tyrannosaurus Rex's seen in the teaser trailer as well. A.J Buckley voices a T-Rex named Nash, Anna Paquin plays one called Ramsey, and Sam Elliot is the voice of a tenacious T-Rex named Butch. Another voice cast member is Steve Zahn, and he plays a pterodactyl named Thunderclap. The film's composer, which was initially Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo, WALL-E), has been replaced by Mychael Dynna (Life Of Pi). This is Dynna's first time doing the music for a Pixar movie.

Image From The Good Dinosaur Teaser Trailer

This is not the first time there have been director changes or production troubles at Pixar; all this is part of the creative process of the film until it arrives on the big screen. An example of this is when A Bug's Life was completed in the Fall of 1998, and Toy Story 2 was examined by John Lasseter and other directors. It was decided that it needed to be completely re-written. Pixar turned the production of Toy Story 2 upside-down and got the film done in less than a year. This story illustrates one of the great traits of Pixar, the artists there will always choose to do what's best for the story of the film, even if that means completely re-doing, delaying, or working overtime on the movie.

Image From The Good Dinosaur Teaser Trailer

The Good Dinosaur will hit the big screen this November on the 25th.

Source: Disney Insider

New 'Inside Out' Posters!

Two new posters have been revealed for Pixar's next feature-length movie, Inside Out.

As you can see above, the posters are filled with the five main emotions from the movie. Director Pete Docter describes the characters as their version of the seven dwarfs. "They're really pushed caricatures and have strong personalities." Here's an excerpt from Ed Catmull's book Creativity Inc. on Pete Docter's description of the characters:

"We have our main character, an emotion called Joy (Amy Poehler), who is effervescent. She literally glows when she's excited. Then we have Fear (Bill Hader). He thinks of himself as confident and suave, but he's a little raw nerve and tends to freak out. The other characters are Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith)--her shape is inspired by teardrops--and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), who basically turns up her nose at everything. And all these guys work at what we call Headquarters."

Inside Out arrives to theaters this upcoming year on June 19.

Source: Rotoscopers

Watch the First Teaser Trailer For 'Inside Out'!

The teaser trailer for Pixar's next highly anticipated movie, Inside Out, Is finally here!

The first half of the teaser highlights five different feelings from Pixar's classic films - joy, fear, anger, disgust, and sadness. Then we're introduced to where all these emotions reside, inside the mind of course! We see the memories depicted as glowing glass globes. When the memories are remembered, they roll down a labyrinth of chutes.

Joy retrieving a memory.

We also get a glimpse of Riley and her family, mundanely eating Chinese food. Riley is the eleven-year-old girl who is guided by these five emotions. In the movie, Riley's family moves from the Midwest to San Francisco when her father starts a new job in California.

Riley and her parents.

Pete Docter describes the emotions: "We have our main character, an emotion called Joy (Amy Poehler), who is effervescent. She literally glows when she's excited. Then we have Fear (Bill Hader). He thinks of himself as confident and suave, but he's a little raw nerve and tends to freak out. The other characters are Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith)--her shape is inspired by teardrops--and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), who basically turns up her nose at everything. And all these guys work at what we call Headquarters." (From Ed Catmull's book, Creativity Inc.)

"Come on, group hug! You to Anger!"

You can check out the brand new website for Inside Out on Disney.com to read the complete synopsis for the film. 

The "major emotion picture" is directed by Pete Docter ( director of Monsters, Inc. and Up) and produced by Jonas Rivera (producer of Up). The movie is in theaters next year on June 19th.

'The Good Dinosaur' Has Been "Dismantled and Re-imagined"

The Good Dinosaur has gone through a series of ups and downs in its production. It was originally directed by Bob Peterson (Co-directer of Up), and last year he was replaced by members of the Pixar BrainTrust: John Lasseter (Pixar's Chief Creative Officer), Lee Unkrich (Director of Toy Story 3), and Mark Andrews (Director of Brave). Peter Sohn has always been the co-director for The Good Dinosaur, and he is still working on the movie. Bob Peterson remained positive about him leaving the film and announced that he is on to future projects.

Less than a month later, The Good Dinosaur was pushed back from its original release date. It was going to come out last May, and now it will arrive in theaters on November 25th, 2015. Pixar's President Ed Catmull had this to say about the release date change: "Nobody ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the film some more time."

The official logo for The Good Dinosaur

Collider recently interviewed John Lithgow and threw in a couple questions about The Good Dinosaur. (John voices one of the characters in the film). Here's what he said:

“I recorded the entire role in Good Dinosaur.  They have now dismantled it and completely re-imagined it, and it is a fantastic new story.  So I’m gonna record again on it within the next month.  Don’t worry.  It’s coming and it’s gonna be better than I ever imagined.”

How much has the movie been re-imagined? One wonders if it will be drastically different from the original question that drove the story of the film: What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? The Good Dinosaur's original synopsis pronounced that The Good Dinosaur was about an 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus named Arlo. After a traumatic event rattles Arlo’s tranquil community, he sets out on a quest to restore peace, gaining an unlikely companion along the way—a young human boy named Spot.

The Good Dinosaur concept art featuring Arlo and Spot

John Lithgow went on to say that he was still the voice of Poppa Dinosaur (Arlo's father) and that Frannie McDormand as sill playing Momma Dinosaur. Does this mean that some of the other voice actors have been replaced or changed? At D23 2013 it was announced that Lucas Neff would be the voice of Arlo, and his siblings are going to be played by Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, and Judy Greer.

The Good Dinosaur presentation at D23 last year

This is not the first time there have been director changes or production troubles at Pixar; all this is part of the creative process of the film until it arrives on the big screen. An example of this is when A Bug's Life was completed in the Fall of 1998, and Toy Story 2 was examined by John Lasseter and other directors. It was decided that it needed to be completely re-written. Pixar turned the production of Toy Story 2 upside-down and got the film done in less than a year. This story illustrates one of the great traits of Pixar, the artists there will always choose to do what's best for the story of the film, even if that means completely re-doing, delaying, or working overtime on the movie.

The Good Dinosaur will arrive in theaters next year on November 25th. This is the first time Pixar will have released two movies in the same year, the first one being Inside Out (June 19th, 2015).

'Inside Out' Details

Pixar's next movie, Inside Out, is directed by Pete Docter (Monsters Inc., Up) and is just over 400 days away from being released in theaters! Here's the original synopsis for the film:

From the tepuis of South America to a monster-filled metropolis, Academy Award®-winning director Pete Docter has taken audiences to unique and imaginative places. In 2015, he will take us to the most extraordinary location of all - inside the mind of an 11-year-old named Riley.

Some of the cast for Inside Out was announced at the D23 Expo 2013. Amy Poehler is the voice of Joy, Lewis Black is the voice of Anger, Mindy Kaling is the voice of Disgust, Phyllis Smith is the voice of Sadness, and Bill Hader is the voice of Fear.

Mindy Kaling in the recording booth for Inside Out

About one month ago, Pixar's website updated the synopsis with a lot more details.

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

Inside Out will be co-directed by Ronnie del Carmen, and produced by Jonas Riveras.

Inside Out concept art of Riley's mind

Fast Company has published an excerpt from Ed Catmull's excellent new book, Creativity Inc. In this passage, Ed takes readers inside a Pixar Braintrust meeting, revealing some more information about Inside Out. Here's Pete Docter's explanation of the emotions in the movie.

"We have our main character, an emotion called Joy, who is effervescent. She literally glows when she's excited. Then we have Fear. He thinks of himself as confident and suave, but he's a little raw nerve and tends to freak out. The other characters are Anger, Sadness--her shape is inspired by teardrops--and Disgust, who basically turns up her nose at everything. And all these guys work at what we call Headquarters."

Later on in the chapter Ed explains how the brain works in Inside Out. The memories are depicted as glowing glass globes and are stored in the brain; moving through a maze of chutes into an archive. When the memories are remembered, they would roll down another labyrinth of chutes, like bowling balls being returned to bowlers at the alley. 

Fear, Sadness, Joy, (she's holding a memory!) Disgust, and Anger

Pixar directors also had some things to say in the Braintrust meeting about the film. Here's Brad Bird's (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) praise for Inside Out.

"Pete, I want to give you a huge round of applause: This is a frickin' big idea to try to make a movie about. I've said to you on previous films, ‘You're trying to do a triple backflip into a gale force wind, and you're mad at yourself for not sticking the landing. Like, it's amazing you're alive. This film is the same. So, huge round of applause."

Inside Out comes to theaters on June 19, 2015.

Ed Catmull's 'Creativity Inc.' comes out today!

Pixar's co-founder Ed Catmull has written a book called 'Creativity Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.' Ed Catmull is currently the president of Pixar and Disney Animation. With a Ph.D. in computer science, Catmull has contributed many important advancements in computer science. This is what his book is about: (from the 'Creativity Inc.' website)

"Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights, a manual for anyone who strives for originality, and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about how to build a creative culture—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, “an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.”

 Here are Ed Catmull's "Philosophies that protect creative process and defy convention:"

• Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.
• If you don’t strive to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead.
• It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them.
• The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them.
• A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. 
• Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. Do not assume that general agreement will lead to change—it takes substantial energy to move a group, even when all are on board.

Get your copy of 'Creativity, Inc.' Today!