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How ‘Elio’ Pays Homage to Classic Sci-Fi Films Like ‘The Thing,’ ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘Alien’
By
Jazz Tangcay
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PIXAR
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Elio,” now playing in theaters.
Disney
Pixar’s latest animated feature, “Elio” centers on a young orphan boy who is desperate to be abducted by aliens.
The premise of the film igave the creatives a perfect opportunity to pay homage to great sci-fi classics, including “Alien” and John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” But the one film directors
Domee Shi (“Turning Red”) and Madeline Sharafian (“Burrow”) referenced a lot was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Shi explains, “We reference that movie a lot because it’s also about a guy who’s in love with space.” She adds, “We loved how that film gave the aliens a big drum roll and with the tone, you didn’t quite know were they friendly? What are their intentions? And we liked that aura of mystery for the Communiverse.”
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Disney Pixar’s 28th feature was also co-written and directed by Adrian Molina (“Coco”) with Shi and Sharafian stepping in to take over directing. The two spoke with
Variety from Annecy, where the film screened for audiences, about Easter eggs and how its theme of loneliness resonates in today’s world.
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Can you talk about coming into this and how you built on what Adrian had already started?
Madeline Sharafian: What helped us a lot was that, as Adrian was making “Elio” and his original pass, he screened it many times as we do at Pixar. Over the years, we have watched the story grow, and we were familiar with the characters and with the world, which I think made it a lot easier for us to jump in. We were aligned with his taste. I’d worked with him on “Coco” and Domee worked with him on “Turning Red.” Once we had the film in our hands, we were given a lot of freedom, and we were allowed to make big shifts. One of the things we did was we changed Elio’s drive. We added the idea that he wants to be abducted by aliens, which was a really fun thing to play with, and that made him this weird, compelling character. Like, why do you want to be abducted?
Domee Shi: We were inspired by our past and our childhoods. Being these lone, nerdy kids in our hometown who like drawing every single day, hoping and praying that we could go to animation school one day and find our people. That was the inspiration for the character of Elio. We always loved Adrian’s concept of the world’s weirdest kid being mistaken for the leader of Earth and getting abducted. But in giving him this kooky drive at the beginning of the movie, it endeared us to him because we were fellow nerds who eventually found our people, not in space, but at Pixar.
You have this story of Elio being a lonely and weird kid, but his aunt Olga is also isolated and lonely, trying to figure him out, can you talk about how you put that all together as a narrative?
Sharafian: Olga, voiced by Zoe Saldaña, is an amazing character because she is representative of Earth for Elio. She’s part of the reason why he’s writing Earth off entirely, because he doesn’t realize at the beginning of the film that she’s just as lonely as he is. She’s right there next to him, but we always talked about how he’s too busy looking at the stars, and he never looks at her. We told the animators to focus on that and the scenes that they have together. He never directs his attention at her until the end of the film, when he finally returns to Earth. We made that scene where they reunite, all about seeing each other and their similarities.
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Shi: It was always the core relationship of the story: Olga and Elio. That was another shift in the story that we brought on when we joined. Writer Julia Cho (“Turning Red”) pitched to us the idea of turning Olga from Elio’s mom to Elio’s aunt. It’s a family dynamic that isn’t as commonly seen in a lot of movies. But there are all kinds of families in real life, and it clicked for us. It made Elio feel like his life on earth was more unstable. It made Olga feel unprepared, put her under pressure, and more prone to making mistakes. It gave them more conflict. Also, it was another way that we were able to relate personally to the character of Olga, too, of this career woman overwhelmed with a sudden and unexpected present that lands on their lap.
Elio does make a connection with Glordon, and finds friendship in him, what was the key to that dynamic?
Shi: We talked to a lot of child psychologists for this film. We even consulted with the U.S Surgeon General at the time, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who talked about the epidemic of loneliness in our current day society, and how a lot of people are finding it harder to connect with others and to make friends. One of the things we discovered with the experts this idea that one of the steps to curing loneliness is to admit that you are lonely and that you need help. But a lot of people don’t do that, because it’s also a feeling that brings about a lot of guilt and shame. The first thing that Elio does, when he really does cement his bond with Glordon in the movie, is that he lets his walls down and reveals that deep, vulnerable part of himself that he’s been burying inside. When he admits to Glordon, “I’m afraid that there’s something wrong with me, that it’s not earth.” That’s a really big step for him. He’s never admitted that to anybody.
So, whose idea was the ‘Alien’ reference?
Shi: Both of us are huge fans of horror, and it was fun to pitch ways that we could include it in the movie.
What were some of your favorite Easter eggs to put in?
Sharafian: The musicality and the way the Communiverse first contacts Elio is totally an homage to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” We reference that movie a lot because it’s also about a guy who’s in love with space. But we loved how that film gave the aliens a big drum roll, and with the tone. You didn’t quite know, are they friendly? What are their intentions? And we liked that aura of mystery for the Communiverse before we reveal it.
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Shi: John Carpenter’s “The Thing” with the clone. And definitely “Alien” (in an exchange between Elio and Glordon).
Sharafian: We were inspired by “Contact” as a movie that uses space as healing for the main character.
Shi: All the classic Pixar Easter eggs are in there, too. We got the Pizza Planet Truck, the Luxo Ball. We even have an Easter egg that hints at our next movie, “Hopper.” It’s hidden in plain sight, and there’s an Easter egg for Maddie’s short film “Burrow” (on the sunscreen bottle).
What’s your hope that audiences take from ‘Elio’?
Shi: In our post-COVID, current world of craziness, I feel like a lot of people are probably feeling how Elio is feeling. They’re struggling with a lot of their issues, silently. But when they watch “Elio,” our hope is that they feel inspired to share their struggle and make a connection with someone.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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