Pete Docter: The Inside Out of Pixar's Process

Pete Docter (0:00)

My wife said, You think anybody ever asks Steve Jobs to go to lunch?

Mike Birbiglia (0:05)

I don't know.

Pete Docter (0:06)

So I tried it. And so he and I had lunch a number of times, a dozen or so. And one time he told me he hopes that he'll be reincarnated as a Pixar director. So that was interesting.

Mike Birbiglia (0:24)

Hey everybody, it's Mike Birbiglia. This is Working It Out. That is the voice of the great Pete Docter. We are re-airing this episode from last year, one of our favorites of all time and one of the most unique episodes. Pete Docter is the chief creative officer of Pixar. Of course, he directed Inside Out, Up, Soul, Monsters, Inc. Pete is an endless well of creative advice and inspiration. In fact, we just highlighted this in our chat in our recent Creativity Supercut that we put out for Labor Day weekend. We're re-airing this today because we love it and we think you will too. Meanwhile, I am deep in production of my third film. It is called Old Friends, New Friends. I'm super excited. I can't wait to share it with you.

You can read there's articles about it.

It's with focus features. It has Lucas Hedges, and Dylan Galula, and Geraldine Vizwanathan, and Patrick Schwarzenegger, and it's just a really interesting group of actors and crew members. It's my same cinematographer, Joe Anderson from Don't Think Twice, my producer from my first movie, Jacob Schaffke, Sleepwalk With Me.

It's just a bunch of really fun people making a dream project. I can't wait for you to see it. Once this all wraps up, I'll be back on the road next year with a new hour of comedy and I will keep you updated about that. This is a great chat today with Pete Docter. He's given a lot of notes on my shows and I've given a few notes on some Pixar films in development through the years. We talk about the arduous creative process of storytelling, of making films, of making animations. It is a very special chat. Enjoy my conversation with the great Pete Docter.

Your movie Up was the first time where I felt like an extreme emotion in an animated movie. Like I wasn't an animated movie person before that. And then that movie broke me.

Pete Docter (2:29)

We turned you.

Mike Birbiglia (2:30)

You turned me.

Pete Docter (2:30)

Oh, cool.

Mike Birbiglia (2:31)

So the idea, did you have the kernel of the idea of the house flying away?

Pete Docter (2:35)

Yeah, I think if I remember, it was a long time ago, I had the kind of concept of us, and this really came out of Monsters, Inc., the first film I directed. Nobody told me, if they told you, as a director, you don't actually do anything. You walk around and talk to people all day. Right, right, right.

Mike Birbiglia (2:52)

I describe it sometimes as a camp counselor.

Pete Docter (2:54)

Yeah, and that was overwhelming. So I wanted, I literally would at the end of the day hide under my desk. I have to this day a stack of books about people marooned on tropical islands. So that was what I was driven by just like, I just want to get away from everything. It was just float the house away. Yeah.

And then from there came all the hard work after that.

Mike Birbiglia (3:14)

Right. So the ending of Up was a dream come true for you in a fantastical way.

Pete Docter (3:22)

Yeah.

Mike Birbiglia (3:23)

What if I just got away?

Pete Docter (3:25)

Because of course the answer is that would be awful. And what you need is community and connection with other people.

Mike Birbiglia (3:32)

Right.

Pete Docter (3:32)

And that's what the movie's about.

Mike Birbiglia (3:34)

That's what the movie's about, right.

Okay. Yeah. So my experience of it was, yeah, the first 10 minutes were, I think first 10 minutes is when that prologue happens.

Pete Docter (3:44)

Yeah.

Mike Birbiglia (3:45)

It's very emotional, really like sucker punched me in this way that I did not see coming.

And then here's what I'll say about it. Oddly, I think part of it is that it's people in the animation, as opposed to animals, robots, fish, robots. And I think like, was that a choice? Because I feel like in animation, the conventional wisdom is like, we're gonna do things that you can't do in live action film.

Pete Docter (4:16)

I have wondered like, if you made a shot by shot remake of Up with real people, would you get away with it? I mean, for one, I think you'd be like, really, house flying, whatever. But more than that, I wonder if some of the stuff that was sort of appealing and likable for a grouchy old man to do in an animated film would actually be like, I hate him in live action. I don't know.