By Ruben V. Nepales
LOS ANGELES—“Up,” which made history last Wednesday (May 13) as the first animated and the first digital 3D film to open the Cannes Film Festival, features two Filipinos as key talents: Ronnie Del Carmen (story supervisor) and Ricky Nierva (production designer).
We interviewed Ronnie, who’s our fellow University of Santo Tomas alumnus, and Ricky, who was born in the US to Filipino parents, in the first of our two recent trips to the Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California.
Watch out for a future column on these Pinoy artists and their contributions to the newest Pixar film, which is another triumph. When they showed us the first 45 minutes of “Up” last February at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, we were already hooked on the tale of an old man (voiced by the great Ed Asner), his childhood friendship with a girl who becomes his wife in their adult years, and his adventure with an energetic eight-year-old wilderness scout (Jordan Nagai). When we saw the completed full movie at Pixar two weeks ago, we were impressed at how the filmmakers, who include co-director and co-writer Bob Peterson, managed to take “Up” on a higher level, literally and figuratively.
Historic debut
Before they left for Cannes, executive producer John Lasseter, co-director and co-writer Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera talked to us about the historic debut of their film in the world’s premier film fest. “It just seems crazy to think these animation geeks from Northern California are going to be on the Cannes red carpet,” John, wearing his trademark Hawaiian shirt, said in a separate interview at his home. “That is pretty exciting.”
“You always see that the red carpet at Cannes is one of the most amazing,” added the chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering. “I’ve never been to that festival. I’ve just seen it in the pictures. Everything just seems crazy.”
Asked how “Up” got the prestigious opening slot, John, who directed the groundbreaking “Toy Story” films and “A Bug’s Life,” answered, “It’s one of those rare times that we had a movie that was coming out at the end of May. Most of our movies come out at the end of June. So the timing was really right. We basically offered ‘Up’ to the Festival de Cannes, saying, ‘We have this film.’ We showed it to them. We waited. The Disney folks in France were the ones working with Cannes. The next thing we know, we heard that they wanted to give us the opening night. We were like, ‘Wow!’ We are really excited and honored. It’s one of the greatest honors of our lives. It’s like a once in a lifetime thing.”
Longer life span
“I’ve always believed that animated films, when they’re done right, are as entertaining to all audiences as any other film,” John stressed. “I think animation has a chance to last longer than even live action films, especially when you think that ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was released in 1937. ‘Snow White’ is relevant to today’s audiences.”
Both Pete and Jonas laughed when prompted to recall how they celebrated upon hearing of “Up’s” selection at Cannes. We talked to the two guys in a meeting room overlooking Pixar’s impressive plaza where employees gather and talk over lunch while others scooter to the merchandise store or their toy-filled offices. “We immediately went back to work to finish the movie,” Pete admitted, making the visiting journalists laugh.. “We were still in the middle of mixing when we got the news so we didn’t really stop to celebrate too much. We had to finish our mix.”
Jonas was more detailed in his reply: “We were scoring at Warner Bros. when we got the call. We high- fived, hugged and had a drink with Michael Giacchino (the film’s original music composer). Five minutes later, we went back to work. It was such a surreal moment. Honestly, we didn’t know what to do. Until we actually get to Cannes, we just can’t believe it.”
Passion in animation
Jonas revealed that he, Pete and John were scheduled to attend the ceremonies last Wednesday. “The cast isn’t coming with us to Cannes because we’re coming right back for the US premiere in Los Angeles,” the young producer said. The voice cast includes Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger, Elizabeth Docter (Pete’s daughter) and Delroy Lindo. “They’re all attending that one. We wish we could have all of us there in Cannes.”
“As much as we love animation—that’s our passion—we don’t think of these movies as animated or kids’ films,” Jonas commented about the 10 films that Pixar has made. “We think of them as movies that happen to be animated. That’s our medium. I hope the Cannes Film Festival folks saw that—that this film and our other films are movies, period.”
To drive home his point, Jonas shared, “A friend of mine once asked what my top three favorite movies are. I said, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ He said ‘No, no, real movies.’ I said, ‘No, Snow White’ is a real movie to us.’ People go to the movies—whether it’s animated, black and white, stop motion or special effects—hoping for the same thing. And that is to escape and have a story told to them.”
That “Up” opened this year’s Cannes supremely backed up Jonas’ point.
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