Pixar’s “Elio” has gone through some pretty big changes.
The outer space adventure, which was announced in 2022 at D23, was initially directed by Adrian Molina, the co-writer and co-director of “Coco.” But the project is now being steered by Domee Shi, director of “Turning Red,” and Madeline Sharafian, who made the 2020 short film “Burrow” (it was meant to play ahead of “Soul” when “Soul” had a theatrical release, when that got shelved they both premiered on Disney+). TheWrap spoke to Pete Docter, chief creative officer of Pixar, about what happened on the road to “Elio.”
Docter said that Molina is still at Pixar and, what’s more, he “was taken on to a priority project that we’re not ready to talk about yet, but it’s very exciting and he’s excited about it as well,” even though he’s no longer involved with “Elio.”
“We worked together to find other directors to help carry it across,” Docter said. They found who they were looking for in Shi and Sharafian. “The two of them are really doing a fantastic job,” Docter said. Shi and Sharafian will both be directors on the project, “which is new for us.” (In the past, usually there is a main director and a co-director, with both filmmakers covering different aspects of the production.) “I think it’s really working out well in their case,” Docter said. “It’s been tricky in past films, but in this case, they have both such respect for each other and a great working style that is working out really well.”
The film is about a little boy named Elio (still voiced by Yonas Kibreab) who is beamed up into a space ship filled with countless alien species. While there, the aliens mistake him for the ambassador to earth, and he has to figure out a way to explain himself (and stay alive).
“Elio” was originally scheduled to be released on March 1, 2024, but “got scooted out” (in Docter’s words) to June 13, 2025. Docter said this shuffle was largely due to the actors’ strike. Docter confirmed that all the character designs, including the aliens that we saw in the first trailer, remain in the new version of the film.
When we asked if there was an aspect of the film that maybe earlier incarnations got stuck on that Shi and Sharafian have helped overcome, Docter said, “The character of Elio. And I can’t really even talk about it without giving away plot points, but I think they’ve made some major discoveries on him that really helped the audience to connect and to move forward with the character into the second act, which is, course, where all the meat happens.”
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Docter continued: “Adrian had done such great work, finding the emotional core to the thing.”
One other big change to the movie is in the cast – initially America Ferrera voiced Elio’s mom. “Due to scheduling conflicts, America Ferrera is stepping out,” Docter said. Now Zoe Saldaña is voicing Elio’s aunt. Saldaña was on stage at the D23 presentation Friday night.
Docter also pointed out the crucial way that “Elio” connects to “Inside Out 2,” the current Pixar blockbuster that is breaking records as the highest grossing animated feature of all time.
“I do feel like ‘Inside Out 2’ really hit because we were able to talk about anxiety in a way that really resonated with audiences. And I think the core of this film that Maddie and Domee have really found has to do with the feelings we all sensed a lot of times, that we’re in this big world full of people, but we’re alone. But we don’t have to be,” Docter said. “And that’s really the core of the film, and it’s what makes me really excited about it, because I think it has a potential to really speak to audiences in a way that they’re going through a lot of this, as we all are in the world right now.”
