Interview, text: Maggie_in_LA
Where did the child come from? Why are some people born with a certain talent? Is our destiny doomed? Many times parents do not know how to answer these questions. The annual anticipated work Soul, launched by Disney's famous animation studio Pixar, presents the audience with another interpretation of destiny in an imaginative and interesting way. At the same time, through the nostalgia and reflection of a jazz musician's life after his "death", people can understand the true meaning of life. This film not only has unique ideas and designs, but also has profound and moving meanings. It has greatly exceeded the simple entertainment purpose of a cartoon, and has successfully become a popular work in the Oscar awards season.
The hero in the film, Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), is a middle school music teacher, but his real dream is to have the opportunity to perform on stage and become a real jazz musician. When he finally got a chance to perform, he unfortunately fell into a deep well in the street on the way to the performance. When he wakes up, he finds himself a lonely soul on his way to heaven. Unwilling to die, he tried his best to find an exit in this soul world, trying to return to the human world.
At this time, he discovered that there was actually a reincarnation training school in the soul world. Here, each little soul baby will be filled with unique personality and talents, and then wait to be reborn. Joe hopes to take this opportunity to be reincarnated into the world, but things are not as easy as he imagined. Contrary to him, a soul baby codenamed No. 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), although he has received long-term training, does not want to be reincarnated, preferring to stay in the soul world. Joe tries to bring the soul baby No. 22 to the world, and uses his past life experience to tell others what is good in the world. And this process also made him realize that his life was not as bad as he thought before, and he didn't cherish many people and things, and he didn't regret it until he left the world.
This is not the first time Pixar has launched a meaningful animation. The film's director and screenwriter Pete Docter's previous work "Inside Out" (Inside Out) takes the audience into the human brain and uses simple animation The characters show complex human emotional changes and explore the inner thoughts of adolescent children. They not only won the Academy Award for Best Animation, but also was shortlisted for the Best Screenplay Award for their vivid portrayal of characters. And this time, Peter Docter also presented an intuitive and imaginative soul world to the audience with a brief animation language.
The director and cast of the story recently attended an online interview to further interpret the film.
source of ideas for soul world
Q: What was the inspiration for creating this story in the first place?
Peter Docter: The idea at first was to explore the relationship between what people are born with and what they do later. For example, parents often find that their two children, even when raised in the same environment, end up on very different trajectories. Some children are born with their own unique talents and personalities, of course, this is scientifically due to genes. But even genes have a hard time explaining the path a person takes in life, sometimes referred to as "destiny." In this film, we hope that we can explain it in an easy-to-understand way, so this "Soul Training School" was born. Here, soul babies are given certain qualities before being reborn.
In addition, we took and chatted with many talented people from all walks of life and found that many of them do feel that they are born with some kind of talent, but some people have been successful in this field, and some people have unfortunately failed , only to find other means of making a living. But the key point is to realize that not everyone's ideals can be realized and their talents can be brought into play, but everyone can find their own place in this society and have their own brilliance. Even those who don't achieve their early dreams can shine in other areas. So slowly, this became what we wanted to discuss. Not just explaining how everyone is different, but also making people aware of how to realize their worth. And the film happened to be released during the new crown epidemic, which reminds people of the value of life, and hopes that it can also make everyone cherish what they have more.
Q: How is the soul world in the film constructed?
Peter Docter: There are three types of characters in the soul world: soul babies waiting for training; their soul mentors;
The soul babies in the film are round and cute, and they float and have no feet. Because there is no gravity in this world, they cannot taste the delicious food.
The animators have tried a lot of possibilities for the look of the Soul Master, and we want them to look different from other souls, with human characteristics but not exactly human. Later, someone used simple wire folds to outline their shape, only simple lines, the middle is empty, giving people a three-dimensional feeling, and each angle changes slightly. It made us feel very special and innovative. We also found a lot of actors from all over the world to voice these mentor characters, making them sound more exotic, reflecting the difference between the male lead and other soul characters.
The various buildings in the soul world are actually derived from some ancient Roman-style buildings that we have seen in our lives, such as large auditoriums, museums, libraries, etc. Here, there is a museum of human souls, where the dead souls review their own lives. In the soul school, the soul babies will be classified and given their own life characteristics, a bit like the schools in Harry Potter. According to the results of the training, someone will see what kind of person they are more suitable for, and then be given reincarnation. license.
It is worth mentioning that Baby Soul No. 22 seems to represent an unborn life, but in the film it actually represents many depressed patients who want to give up their lives. Some people will gradually become "lost souls" because they feel that they are worthless, aimless, and do not want to live. But the film tries to tell people that if you can't find your way for a while, it doesn't mean you lose the meaning of life. There are many small things that can bring happiness to people. The film also mentioned that some bullies (whether in life or on the Internet) may be the cause of people's depression-depression. These people always like to belittle and attack others to cover up their emptiness. Of course, the animators also let such people People get a little "punishment".
First Pixar animation focuses on African-American culture
Q: Why did you choose a jazz musician as the male protagonist's career?
Peter Docter: At the beginning we also thought about creating a filmmaker or other artist, but musicians can present more attractive content in the film, and the music performance makes people more fascinating and magical. . In particular we took inspiration from the story of jazz musician Herbie Hancock. Hancock once made a mistake in his performance, but instead of blaming him, the other musicians who worked with him used the mistake to make other beautiful music, which is a great story. An important aspect to be explored in this film is that everyone's talents are different, and even if there is no way to achieve their own expectations, using these talents can also achieve other values.
But because the protagonist’s occupation is jazz, and the origin of jazz was founded by African Americans, we decided to set this role as African American, and we needed to let people familiar with African American culture join the creative team as a consultant. We found African-American screenwriter Kemp Powers to join in the creation of the script. He was instrumental in shaping the film's characters' family and friends, as well as the behavior of civilians in his community. We also brought in Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to create the jazz in the film, and tried to make the jazz scene in the middle of the film have a real sense of presence. These musical performance scenes add a strong appeal to the film. At the same time, the male protagonist of this film was dubbed by Jamie Foxx, a well-known African-American film and music star, and his own charm was well integrated into the role. We also get a lot of inspiration from his performances, and his energy is always high, and as long as he's around, all of us become more energized, it's our caffeine, and it injects a lot of energy into the film.
Q: Camp Powers, how did it feel to work with Pixar for the first time?
Kemp Powers: When Pixar first approached me, I asked Peter Docter what he had seen of my work, and he said he had seen the play, One Night in Miami, which I wrote earlier. was made into a movie this year). I just said, you know my style is very African-American, and I need to bring the original African-American cultural elements into the film, not synthetic ones. I looked at their original Psychopath script and thought there were a few things that needed to be revised.
For example, before the actor goes to the show, it is not enough to just put on a good-looking suit. He also needs to get a haircut, because African Americans attach great importance to hairstyle. If I go to Pixar for an interview, I will definitely have a haircut first. . So I joined the scene of going to the barbershop. The barber shop in the film is built according to the one I often go to, and the dialogues of the characters in it must also maintain the characteristics of the African-American community, because the African-American barber shop is actually a small microcosm of the African-American community, and there are basically no other Ethnic people go. It's something I'm very proud of to be able to present in a Disney/Pixar production.
In addition, in this scene, I also joined a barber, he is the best barber in the area, others think he is born with this talent, but in fact his original dream is not to be a barber, but also to live forced. But after a long period of hard work, he found that he was actually very suitable for this job, and he also got a lot of fun from chatting with customers, thinking that he had realized his value.
The character Joe feels that he has the talent to become a pianist, but in pursuit of this goal, he ignores more people and things in life that are worth caring about. It was not until the end of the story, when he re-examined his life, that Joe realized that even if he could not become a star, as a teacher, he brought a lot of value, helped many young people, and also made his life meaningful and proud.
In the face of the epidemic, this film just reminds people to cherish the moment
Q: Jamie Foxx, what excites you the most in the film?
Jamie Foxx: I resonated so much with this film. Like the actor, I originally wanted to be a musician, but later found out that maybe in addition to singing, I have more potential, such as acting. And I'm actually very social, and I like to invite many musicians to my home, and slowly turn my home into a music exchange place. A lot of musicians who were not yet famous, including Ed Sheeran, slept on my sofa because I had a big sofa and a recording studio at the time, and I would take them to some concerts. I feel that I can do my best to do something for young musicians and discover potential musicians, which has also become the meaning of my existence.
At the same time, this story has always made me want to go to my sister who just passed away. Her passing made me suddenly realize that life is short, and it may be over in the blink of an eye, so people really have to cherish every moment, cherish your family and friends, cherish everything you love, don't keep it for yourself any regrets.
Camp Powers: That's right, this movie didn't expect to encounter the new crown epidemic at the beginning of its creation. Now because of the epidemic, it was changed to Christmas, which is really appropriate. After experiencing various challenges this year, this film will make people feel the hope and the beauty of the world again. We have no chance to live again, so we must cherish the moment, see the good and memorable content in life, and live every day seriously.
Q: Tina, you voiced Soul Baby No. 22 in the film. Why does this character seem so world-weary?
TinaFey: Don't look at this as an unincarnated soul, but it looks like a 40-year-old cynical middle-aged man because it's actually timid, afraid of taking risks, afraid of trying, afraid of change, and right Some things are full of prejudice and very stubborn. But she's funny, she talks sarcastically, and she does look a lot like me. Many people are stagnant and self-sufficient in life, in fact, it is because of fear. But when the soul baby No. 22 really got the chance to come to the world, he realized that the plants, trees and even the pizza here are so beautiful and worth a visit. The audience will feel and miss some small and subtle things in life with it, such as a fallen leaf, a lunch, a piece of wonderful music, and even a rant and complaint from a loved one. . . Because they are commonplace, these are often ignored and no longer cherished, but they will be missed only after they are lost.
Q: Tina, what would be the most worthwhile for you to recommend to others? What would you recommend?
Tina Fey: Food, views, and loved ones around. I'm from Chicago, just like the character in the film, if I only recommend it to others, I'll choose pizza! I think the audience should order pizza and watch this film while the whole family eats, so appropriate!
Q: Tina, what do you think is the definition of success? Is your current job your dream job?
Tina Fey: Actually, my original dream was to be an actor, but I tried writing for the first time when I was in school, and I didn't do the play I wrote. When I was sitting in the audience watching other people laugh at the script I wrote, I suddenly felt that maybe I could write and be a screenwriter even if I couldn't be a successful actor. I think the so-called success is actually getting fun, even a little bit of fun, from your work, and feeling that your contribution is meaningful and brings a certain value to others.
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