Pixar and Disney Animation Studios are gearing up to premiere their first-ever “rom-com”, Elemental! So, I had the opportunity to check out 30 minutes of footage, as well as talk to creators about the story, as well as the behind-the-scenes of creating this world and characters!

At the helm of the story are Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) and Denise Ream (Up). The two have created a world that is personal to them. During the junket, Sohn talked about how the world and fire family story was inspired by his own. The story follows a family of immigrants and their first-generation child. Growing up in New York City, this life was all Sohn ever knew. However, this upbringing of multiple, but distinct cultures inspired Element City in a way he didn’t know would ever happen.

ELEMENTAL, Disney and Pixar’s all-new, original feature film releasing June 16, 2023, features the voices of Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie as Ember and Wade, respectively. In a city where fire-, water-, land-, and air residents live together, this fiery young woman and go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common. “Elemental” is directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream. © 2022 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

“My parents had come from another country. The shop where they started, and a couple of shops that my father had started building after that, we’re all in immigrant neighborhoods, and so that’s all I had known. All sort of poor families, but they were all from another place, and so you were just in this very rich, diverse community. That really affected me growing up. And then moving away from it I start thinking about it in a different way.

…that was the emotional hook for me, was that my parents had come here from another place, a foreign place, to make a better life for us. And it’s something that I grew up not really understanding until I became an adult, where I really began to appreciate that, and so it was all tied from a personal experience.”

Peter Sohn

CREATING THE ELEMENTAL CHARACTERS

The elements making up our character come in Earth, Air, Fire, and Water – no Heart (as far as I know) so it’s not quite the full Captain Planet quad. When deciding to follow Fire and Water as the main characters wasn’t an easy decision. All the elements affect each other in different ways. However, when doodling the initial ideas putting a fire person next to a water person gave immediate tension in a way the other elements couldn’t.

When it came to giving the Elemental characters their personalities, Sohn may or may not have based them on him and his wife.

“[When it came to ] the personality types of my wife and me. She’s half Italian and I’m Korean. And not to say that Italians are fire, but my wife particularly is very passionate about things and I’m much more of a sap. So, that’s how that started. Then raising a daughter and what that means as a father. And then, you know, my understanding of my own relationship with my parents. And so that all started fueling into to those reasons.”

Peter Sohn

Personally, I think astrology also had to have had something to do with character development because Ember and Wade are pure Aries and Cancer energy. When asked which elements represented the creators best they both had very different answers. Denise Ream chose water because she likes swimming. However, Peter very much wishes he was fire (me too), but knows he’s a water person. If he’s not a Cancer or a Pisces I’d be shocked.

DIFFICULTIES OF CREATING THE CHARACTERS

In a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: How much they actually have in common. Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream, Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” releases June 16, 2023. Concept art by Sohn. © 2022 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

While working on the film for the past 7 years, creating fire characters was a bit of a challenge for the animation team. They had to make the element appealing to the eye, while also keeping true to its danger and strength. Some of the options looked terrifying and that’s not what they were going for with Elemental. “We could make a good horror movie from that footage, honestly.” Peter Sohn said. “But some of our artists found this balance between the two that I’m very proud of what they had accomplished to get to that, absolutely. That was a really hard challenge and I thought they found a great balance.”

Water was not without its challenges. Visually, it’s reflective, colorful, and moves in a very specific way. So, lighting the Water Characters was extremely difficult. Trying to anthropomorphize air was also something they couldn’t have done years ago. I love these little puffy characters!

However, throughout all the struggles the fun never left the process. 

The fun [came from] how do we Element-ize all this? How do we make something feel like an earth building versus an air building? And boy, that stuff was hilarious to do.”

I wish I could see all the options that hit the cutting room floor! I don’t know about you, but after this even I’m even more excited to check out Elemental when it hits theaters. What out you? Comment below and let me know!