Pixar Director Mr. Andrew Stanton

Like many of you, I have spent the past 10-15 years enjoying the animated movies that have taken the film world by storm. Mind you, even as a child, I didn’t like “cartoons”, but as an adult I love animation. Some of my favorites have been: Toy Story I & II, Monsters Inc., Cars, Ratatouille, A Bug’s Life to name a few. Now added to the list is WALL*E. WALL*E is an adorable robot that has been left on earth, alone, to clean up such a huge mess left by humans that they had to be relocated. Going about his dedicated life’s work, WALL*E will soon discover his true purpose and at the same time fall in love. New story line? No. Brilliant? Yes.

Now added to the list is WALL*E. WALL*E is an adorable robot that has been left on earth, alone, to clean up such a huge mess left by humans that they had to be relocated. Each movie listed above has tugged at my heartstrings and made me cry. Little did I know that the connection all of these movies had was this wonderful director. Mr. Stanton and I recently got a chance to speak about his latest masterpiece

RR: Hello Andrew, How are You?
AS: Great, thank you.
RR: We have a few minutes, so I’m gong to just jump right in.
AS: OK
RR: Andrew, you have so many titles now, you are a director, producer, animator, and a voice-over actor. What is it like wearing all those hats?

AS: Well, I don’t get them mixed up, they all have their moments. The big titles, I use to help others when they need it and give advice on their projects when they ask. Most of my day is spent being a director and the other half is spent being a writer. Because, their usually on the same project, they go hand in hand. So, it doesn’t get too confusing.

RR: Did you ever envision, when you were in college studying to become an animator, that your resume would be this extensive and you’d be this busy?

AS: Not at all, I never planned for any of this. All I wanted to do was to get a chance to work in animation and I barely got a chance to do that before Pixar hired me. I was really struggling trying to get a foothold anywhere because business wasn’t what it is now. So, to even possibly think about directing a film or writing a movie or even any of the stuff that’s happen to me was never ever planned for.
RR: My husband and I are not parents yet, but we’ve gotten the opportunity to see each of your movies, except Ratatouille , but I’ll be sure to put that on our list. What I’ve loved about your films is that fact that they’re great stories of humanity. You always feel very intimate and very close to each one of the animation in the film. Explain to me why, if I am feeling what your intending as the director for me to feel, what exactly is that. Why am I so captivated and in love with the characters. Why do I cry and why am I so excited about seeing WALL*E tonight?

AS: Well, I think all you ever try to do is discover what the truth is at the moment. What’s most honest about it. How to convey what’s honestly happening. And a lot of the time you’re looking at life and it’s an equation, “somebody does this a couple of times and it makes me feel like that”, and you try to learn from the equation and then you weigh them. It’s all about human observation even though you may be using a fish, or a rat to tell it, you’re basing it on observations that you’ve made in your own life of other people and relationships you’ve had, so when it’s cemented in truth then I think that stuff just comes through.

RR: I think you’re absolutely right. I never thought that I’d be able to watch animation film and be so drawn to it and be so excited by it. All of us that have grown up with animation know that there is both an adult and youthful message.

AS: Absolutely!

RR: When I began my research for the film, the tagline “ A robot..” When I think of a line like that, I think of everyday human beings having dreams of their own-- but somewhere along the line they find that that’s not what they were supposed to be doing and then they end up finding out what they were meant to do. Has that happened to you and if so when did ?

AS: Well, I think, you couldn’t have worded it better. That’s exactly what I was tapping into with this little guy. The minute I heard that we came up with this idea in 1994, “the last robot on earth, doing the same thing forever.” It made me feel like, Wow, there are people that feel like that. You can certainly reach that time in your life or miss that point you feel your life was supposed to be about. I think this is where you could relate to this little guy and you hope that he’ll break out of it in time before he shuts down. I think we all want to hope that for ourselves, that we’ll live our lives knowing that we’ve fulfilled our purpose.

RR: Absolutely, When I read that it actually warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes, because I know, myself and other personal  friends who have just felt like they’ve wasted their lives doing something they were not meant to do. Then they discover their calling and finally conclude, “Maybe I didn’t waste my life, maybe this was a period in which I was supposed to figure out what it is I am supposed to do and now that I’m doing it, I’m fulfilled.  I’m excited about seeing it because the humanity of this robot has already to drawn me in.

AS: Good, hopefully that’s what people will get out of it because that’s what attracted me to this little machine; to understand that it’s more about the point of living than the fact that the rest of humanity had to die.
RR: I read in the production notes a line that said that you were “seduced by the idea of a machine falling in love with another machine.” Tell us about the hidden romantic that’s in Andrew Stanton because I think there’s one there

AS: (Laughing) Well, you can ask my wife, it’s not hidden very well. What was nice was that I never had a story that allowed me to completely show it. To indulge it.. I’m quite a sucker for unrequited love and a really good romance story, which frankly, don’t happen that often. But you know, I am a boy and I also like the action, I also like the comedy and all that stuff. But, I’ve always been a sucker for the really good emotional story that hit it right and I’m very honest and truthful and this was finally a story that let me sort of indulge in that.

RR: I thought that was so gentle of you. I said to myself, “there was something to this man that he’s trying to hold back from us, but it’s coming thorough in the film, so I’m going to look for it in there.

AS: Laughing

RR: How do you go about choosing the perfect voice that will make the animation come alive in the way you really desire? For instance, how do you know Sigourney
 Weaver is great or that a Fred Willard will be great, how do you know that?

AS: Well, it’s no different than casting, I mean, you’d have someone come in and audition because we can get bodies of their work from movies or radio or whatever they’ve done before and we actually try it out. We can take a picture of the character we’re designing and then with editing and video we can put the sound of someone else’s voice from something else they’ve done on top of it  and we literally just sort of audition it until something fits just right. So, a lot of trial and error. Other times, you’ve heard somebody’s voice and you just love it and you go, “Aw man, they’d be great.”
In the movie business there’s a term, “the camera loves them”, well, there’s also a term, “the microphone loves them.” there are some people that have voices that just draw you in and you’re dying to animate. So, you put them on a list and you’re just waiting for the right character to come along to match them to. So, it comes from both sides.

RR: Well, Andrew, that concludes our interview. I truly appreciate you sharing your time, energy and expertise. It was great.

AS: Thank so much. It was really great speaking with you Rhonda.