Last week while on The Good Dinosaur press event with Disney, we had the opportunity to meet with The Good Dinosaur Director Peter Sohn and Producer Denise Ream. Hearing about the development and all the work that went into creating The Good Dinosaur endeared me to the movie even more. I think you will agree after hearing what they said. And you’ll be ready to see The Good Dinosaur when it opens in theaters nationwide on Wednesday, November 25, 2015.
Developing the The Good Dinosaur Story
Another one of the masterpieces to come out of Disney Pixar, The Good Dinosaur is a great movie for all to see this upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. But what you see as the final product is not necessarily the vision that creator Bob Peterson had in 2009 when the idea was originally pitched. Director Peter Sohn talked about the difficulty in developing the story, “A lot of these Pixar films go through that kind of place where you put out every answer and you go in every direction. We had the boy and dog story. We had a father/son story. We had a trying to change community story and then we just got it.”
When Sohn was asked to take over from Peterson as Director, he simplified it to Peterson’s original pitch. And from there, it took awhile to develop a story that wasn’t cartoony and one that was really true to the American West. As the story is all about what would have happened if no meteor crashed into earth millions of years ago. Who would rule the earth?
THE GOOD DINOSAUR ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
It took a visit to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming for Sohn and his teams to dream big and develop a story where the landscape & nature are an integral part of it. The team also visited a working ranch in Oregon that helped the story come together. The McKay family showed Sohn how to live on a ranch and how tough it was to work the land, but Sohn walked away with much more than this. “They would change my life. The way that family lived in love really blew me away. Their dad was just like you know, like ‘I’m going to tell you this once and you’re going to learn to do it, all right.‘ I’ve never been out there and he would do the same thing with me. He treated us like he would treat his children and I was so blown away by it and it was all love. ”
From there Sohn knew The Good Dinosaur had to be about love and family and working the tough land together. “Everyone has to do something for the survival of the family.”
THE GOOD DINOSAUR Director Peter Sohn & Producer Denise Ream Photo Credit: Louise Bishop from MomStart.com
Landscape of The Good Dinosaur
Visually, The Good Dinosaur was one of the most beautiful Pixar movies I have ever seen. It seems like every Pixar movie looks more and more real, and less and less animated, but this movie was unbelievably good. I am in love with the landscape of the American West and the Pixar animators were able to capture that amazing depth and richness – those awe-inspiring views of the mountains and valleys. It was as if the landscape was a character in itself.
So how did they do that?
“When we restarted this project, she {Producer Denise Ream} took us out. She said ‘let’s go get lost.’ We would go into the wilderness and the Rockies, places I had never been before. And so going out there it was just so dang gorgeous, it was so awe inspiring that you could go from there and see 500 miles down that way and see the other 500 miles down that way.” – Sohn.
Sohn mentioned that the movie Shane inspired another location expedition – The Grand Tetons National Park. And when they got there and saw the Snake River, they knew that they had found their landscape for the movie. From there, the team used Google Maps and USGS topological survey maps to fill in the surrounding landscape.
THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Pictured: Arlo. ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Producer Denise Ream told us how they developed a new technology to create the billowing clouds in the movie. “This was the first time we used 3-D clouds, what we call volumetric clouds, throughout the entire film. Usually we map paint our clouds.” They also had a great deal more water shots than they typically do in a Pixar film. And they tried a new workflow with the animators to help create a consistent landscape.
And it all came together beautifully 3 weeks ago. What? Yes, the movie was completed just 3 short weeks ago. Wow.
Directing the Actors of The Good Dinosaur
Before we met with Sohn and Ream, we had the opportunity to meet with 3 of the actors who play Arlo, Spot, and Buck in the movie. All 3 of them were so complimentary of working with Sohn – you could tell how much they admired him and put complete trust in him. With Sohn’s background in voiceover work, he had a great deal of experience and delighted us when he showed us a few ways he would direct the boys on the film. “It’s always just try to find a secure place where you can be vulnerable.” Sohn said.
THE GOOD DINOSAUR – SEEING THE LIGHT ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Sohn on directing Jack Bright as Spot:
“We really wanted to stay in this kind of canine world. I would just say, I would like you to come as a character that’s brave, strong and tenacious and you know, Jack, I already know you are like that. But, as we grow, we’re going to kind of take some of the layers away and find you know, the little boy that Spot is and then he would understand that.”
“And then it would be basically like okay, we’re in the woods. It’s raining. You’ve just pulled some animal out of the woods and I need some breathing down so let’s get into it. And so it’s just about painting a picture with Spot until we got to the emotional places. ”
Sohn on directing Raymond Ochoa as Arlo:
“Raymond can get into emotions so fast. I’ll start painting the picture again and then feel where Raymond’s at but Raymond would go okay, I’ve got it. Let’s do it. I’m like, okay, are you sure you’re in this thing right now? You’re talking about loss here — I mean your father just disappeared in front of you. You’re sure you’re okay? And he would just like jump into this performance and was incredible.”
THE GOOD DINOSAUR Director Peter Sohn & Producer Denise Ream Photo Credit: Louise Bishop from MomStart.com
The Collector in The Good Dinosaur
THE GOOD DINOSAUR – Pictured (L-R): Arlo, Forrest Woodbush (aka: The Pet Collector). ©2015 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
One of my favorite characters in The Good Dinosaur is The Collector. And when you see the movie, you will see why. During our interviews, we learned the history behind this guy. The inspiration for The Collector came from a silly character Sohn created when he attended Cal Arts. He made a fake moosehead that would randomly talk to people. But when it came to doing the scratch voice for The Collector for the film pitch, Ream had to coerce Sohn into doing it.
John Lasseter was the one who decided Pete Sohn had to be the voice of The Collector in the movie, which turned out to be an amazing experience for Sohn as Lasseter agreed to direct that scene.
THE GOOD DINOSAUR Director Peter Sohn & Producer Denise Ream Photo Credit: Louise Bishop from MomStart.com
When you go to a movie, you don’t typically put a lot of thought as to how it was developed or made. But when you hear the stories and see the amount of passion that goes into a project, you can’t help but think of it a little differently. To me, The Good Dinosaur is not just a “kid’s movie”, but a work of art that pays homage to the American Frontier. Yes, we are talking about a group of dinosaurs that are roaming this beautiful landscape, but at the core of it, they are nurturing and loving, like any family should be.
The Good Dinosaur does an excellent job of portraying the family on the American frontier, exactly what Sohn & Ream desired to do. Take your family this week to see it. It’s a wonderful reminder of what we should all be thankful for – family.
The Good Dinosaur Opens Nationwide November 25, 2015
The Good Dinosaur opens in theaters on November 25 and it’s the perfect movie to see with the entire family over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Website: http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarTheGoodDinosaur
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheGoodDinosaur
Instagram: https://instagram.com/TheGoodDinosaur
Check out more of the fun we had on the #GoodDinoEvent press trip:
Making of Disney Junior’s The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
LIVE Taping of Dancing with the Stars
Creation of The Good Dinosaur with Director Peter Sohn
The Good Dinosaur Red Carpet Movie Premiere
The Good Dinosaur Toys & Disney Infinity 3.0
4 Things You Will Learn from Disney Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur
Disclaimer: Disney sent me to Los Angeles on an all-expenses paid press trip, in exchange for my coverage of the red carpet premiere of The Good Dinosaur. All opinions are my own.
