It looks like Pixar doesn’t plan to follow in Disney’s footsteps when it comes to live-action remakes.
Disney has been on a whirlwind of live-action films like Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid with many more including Moana and Mufasa: The Lion King slated to arrive. But unlike its parent company, Pixar Animation Studios, especially Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter, isn’t keen on going down that road.
Sure, there have been some successful live-action reimaginings in the past and Jon Favreau’s remake of The Lion King stands testament to the same. But Docter has a rather stellar reason for steering clear of live-action adaptations and maybe, it’s precisely what Disney needs to hear.
Live-action Remakes Are A No-go for Pixar CCO
After being stuck in a critical and commercial limbo, Pixar is counting on the much-anticipated Inside Out sequel to get the Disney subsidiary back in the game. And while studio exec Pete Docter is willing to change tactics for the sake of the studio – that involves shifting from idiosyncratic fables to material that appeases mass audiences – he draws the line at live-action movies.
In a new interview with Time, the Monsters, Inc. director expressed his distaste for live-action adaptations, making it crystal clear that the studio won’t be exploring that option anytime soon. That means no live-action version of Ratatouille, despite fan campaigns to cast Challengers star Josh O’Connor in a remake of the animated gem.
No, and this might bite me in the butt for saying it, but it [live-action adaptations] sort of bothers me. I like making movies that are original and unique to themselves. To remake it, it’s not very interesting to me personally.
Brad Bird’s Ratatouille was a critical hit and a box-office supernova, garnering a little over $623 million from around the world and bagged an Oscar win out of four other nominations (via Box Office Mojo). Despite the film’s success, however, Docter isn’t willing to greenlight a live-action remake and he has a solid argument or two for that.
Pete Docter Explains the Predicament of Live-action Films
An animated Remi was cute but would a rat still look adorable in a live-action remake? Yeah, not so much. This is one of the biggest reasons why Docter doesn’t prefer to meddle with this aspect of filmmaking because “translating” the world of animation into reality is by no means, a simple task.
The Academy Award-winning animator explained this concept with the help of Up, a film directed by Docter himself that depicts the beautiful and moving friendship between an old widower and a bubbly boy scout.
It would be tough. So much of what we create only works because of the rules of the [animated] world. So if you have a human walk into a house that floats, your mind goes, “Wait a second. Hold on. Houses are super heavy. How are balloons lifting the house?” But if you have a cartoon guy and he stands there in the house, you go, “Okay, I’ll buy it.” The worlds that we’ve built just don’t translate very easily.
Maybe it’s time for Disney to inculcate the same perspective instead of jumping on the next live-action remake.
