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SALT LAKE CITY — It's not unusual for the folks at Pixar to look at their own life experiences for movie ideas, but their soon to be released "Inside Out" may prove to be the most challenging one yet. The film attempts to dissect and explain the thoughts and emotions of a pre-teen girl.
Director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera, who last worked together in the same capacity for the movie "UP," told KSL's Mike Anderson during a recent visit to Utah that they drew upon some of their own experiences for ideas.
"Pete would come in and say, 'I don't know what my daughter's thinking anymore,’” Rivera explained. "And my kids are little, so I'm like, 'Oh no, I'm going to be there someday.' And so we thought, that's a worthy question. Maybe we could crack it with a movie."
The movie draws more personal ties from Docter's life than others he's worked on before. Aside from part of the film being set in Minnesota, where Docter grew up, the basic idea comes from inside his daughter's mind.
"Right at the time we started, she turned 11," Docter said. "She was like a really spirited and spunky kid, and then she was kind of getting more quiet and reclusive, and we were thinking, 'what's going on inside her head, you know?’”
Pete would come in and say, 'I don't know what my daughter's thinking anymore. And my kids are little, so I'm like, 'Oh no, I'm going to be there someday.' And so we thought, that's a worthy question. Maybe we could crack it with a movie.
–Jonas Rivera, producer
"Inside Out" centers on the mind of Riley, an 11-year-old girl who struggles with a family move. Docter and Rivera consulted with psychological experts to better understand what adolescents go through emotionally and mentally.
"We learned from talking to psychologists that that's the time in your life when you are now forming your long-term family," Docter explained. "You've grown up with a family that's sort of given to you, but now it's your job to find your new group that is going to be the people that you spend the rest of your life with."
Docter and Rivera also put a lot of effort into finding just the right cast to play the basic emotions: joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust. Some of the choices, like Louis Black playing anger, were easier than others.
"He even mocked us when we called him," Rivera said, laughing "He said like, 'yeah, great stretch-casting thing, geesh!"
But while the movie tackles some tough topics, Docter and Rivera say it still entertains and will likely take viewers on an emotional ride.
"When we started making this, we thought, 'well, we made 'UP,' and now we're going to make a movie about emotions,' so it better be emotional, right?" Docter said.
"It's getting a lot of laughs," Rivera added.
"Inside Out" will open June 19. Early reviews coming in so far have been positive.
