September School Holidays

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“We came up with this image of a floating house held aloft by balloons, and it just seemed to capture what we were after in terms of escaping the world. We quickly realized that the

world is really about relationships, and that’s what Carl comes to discover.” - Pete Docter, Director/Writer

Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios take moviegoers up, up and away on one of the funniest adventures of all time with their latest comedy-fantasy “Up,” from Academy Award nominated director Pete Docter (“Monsters Inc”). Presented in Disney Digital 3D™, “Up” follows the uplifting tale of 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfils his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. Their journey to a lost world, where they encounter some strange, exotic and surprising characters, is filled with hilarity, emotion and wildly imaginative adventure.

“I am so proud that ‘Up’ is Pixar’s 10th film,” says John Lasseter, executive producer and chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. “I think it’s the funniest film that we’ve ever made, and also one of the most beautiful. We have a main character that is an amazing hero. Carl Fredricksen is 78-years-old and he travels the world in a flying machine of his own design and still has dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon. He’s the most unlikely hero you can imagine in an action picture. He is a character who learns that the big adventures in life are all the small things that happen in everyday life. Russell is one of the most appealing and charming characters that we’ve ever created. Together with Carl, these two characters light up the screen.”

The film is directed by Pixar veteran Pete Docter, who joined the studio in 1990 - just the third animator to be brought on board. Along with Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, Docter developed the story and characters for “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first full-length feature film, for which he also served as supervising animator. He was a storyboard artist on “A Bug’s Life” and wrote the initial story treatment for “Toy Story 2.” Docter made his debut as a director on “Monsters Inc,” which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. As one of Pixar Animation Studios’ key creative contributors, Docter garnered another Academy Award nomination for his original story credit on Disney•Pixar’s Oscar-winning “WALL•E.”

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“For me personally, what makes a film worth watching is when you go home and you’re still thinking about it,” says Docter. “You leave the theatre and you’re still thinking about it not only the next day, but the next year. In order to have a film affect you that way, it has to have real true emotion and resonate in some way with your own life. So even though the stars of the film may be monsters or bugs, you identify with those characters on the screen and you understand what they’re going through. It’s important to have that foundation of real truth and an emotional attachment to the characters.”

“Along with the humour, you have to have heart,” says Lasseter. “Walt Disney always said, ‘For every laugh, there should be a tear.’ I believe in that.” Filmmakers found a lot of heart in their latest adventure, exploring the love that Carl and his late wife shared and the friendship that develops between Carl and Russell. In fact, Carl discovers that life’s true adventure can be found not in travel or great accomplishments, but in the everyday relationships that we have with friends and family.”

“Up” is executive produced by Academy Award-winning filmmakers and Pixar pioneers Lasseter (director of “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” and “Cars”) and Stanton (director of “Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”). Pixar veteran Jonas Rivera served as the film’s producer. The co-director is Bob Peterson, and the screenplay is by Peterson and Pete Docter from a story by Docter, Peterson, and Tom McCarthy (“The Station Agent,” “The Visitor”). Oscar nominated composer Michael Giacchino (“Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles”) lends his musical talents to creating the evocative score that accentuates the emotions, humour and spirit of adventure.

The voice cast for “Up” features legendary actor Ed Asner, a multiple Emmy Award winner, as balloon salesman-turned-adventurer Carl Fredricksen. Nine-year-old Jordan Nagai makes his acting debut as the voice of the determined and eager-to-assist Junior Wilderness Explorer, Russell. Acclaimed Emmy Award-winning actor Christopher Plummer gives a rich and textured vocal performance as the voice of Charles Muntz, a faded hero with an obsession to restore his good name. John Ratzenberger, Pixar’s “lucky charm” - the only actor to lend his voice to all of the Studio’s feature films, provides the voice of a construction foreman named Tom, who tries to encourage Carl to sell his home. Muntz’s dog pack includes vocal performances by Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo and Jerome Ranft.

“Up” is the 10th film from Disney•Pixar, which has gone nine for nine with an unprecedented streak of hugely successful films, including “WALL•E,” “Ratatouille,” “Cars,” “The Incredibles,” “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters Inc,” “Toy Story 2,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Toy Story.” Pixar now has nine of the 25 top grossing animated films of all time domestically, and all nine have been #1 at the box office on their opening weekends of wide release. “WALL•E,” “Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles” and “Finding Nemo” all earned Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, an award that was introduced in 2001.

Docter says he’s learned a lot over the course of Pixar’s 10 films. “It never gets easier,” he says. “There are always new ways that the story conspires to trick us, to fool us into thinking we have the right solution. It's only with a lot of reworking - and reworking and reworking - that you get good stuff.

“We still don’t know everything,” he continues. “But we allow ourselves to make mistakes. As Ed Catmull says, ‘if you don’t make mistakes, you’re not taking enough

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risks.’ I hope we never think of ourselves as experts - we learn something new on every film.”

“UP” AND RUNNING

How “Up” Got Off the Ground

Following his directorial debut on the 2001 blockbuster film “Monsters Inc,” Pete Docter began searching for his next project. The notion for his first feature derived from his childhood curiosities and fears about the monsters under his bed. After spending some time developing the story for “WALL•E” and a few other projects, Docter once again turned to lessons from his own life to craft the idea for “Up.” With co-director/writer Bob Peterson on board, the duo began playing with some fantastic new ideas.

“Bob and I started having some fun thinking about an old man character like the ones we love from the George Booth cartoons and all those great Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau

type of guys who are grouchy but you still like them.” - Pete Docter, Director/Writer

“Sometimes, at the end of a tough day at work when you’re just so overwhelmed with people and the chaos of the world, I would have this fantasy of being shipwrecked on a desert island in the Pacific,” says Docter. “Bob and I began playing with that idea and started having some fun thinking about an old man character like the ones we love from the George Booth cartoons in The New Yorker, and all those great Spencer Tracy and Walter Matthau type of guys who are grouchy but you still like them. We came up with this image of a floating house held aloft by balloons, and it just seemed to capture what we were after in terms of escaping the world. We quickly realized that the world is really about relationships, and that’s what Carl comes to discover.”

Peterson explains, “Pete was the first one to put down on paper the idea of a grouchy old man holding a bunch of happy, fun, colourful balloons. We started brainstorming because we both liked the idea of having an older character. It’s something you don’t see very often, and we think that old people have great stories to tell.”

Docter credits much of his creative influences to some real-life “old men” - animators who worked on the Disney classics. Though not one of the legendary “nine old men,” Joe Grant was part of the 1937 team that created “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and has served as a source of inspiration to Docter who names Grant in the film’s dedication to the “real life Carl and Ellie Fredricksens who inspired us to create our own Adventure Books.”

“I got to know Joe when he was in his 90s. He was a friend of mine - this great old wise guy,” says Docter. “Every time I would show him something we were working on he’d say ‘what are you giving the audience to take home?’ That was his way of telling me it’s the emotion - the character-based emotions that people are going to remember.”

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Docter says he finds some of that emotion in personal experiences, such as the family trips he takes annually with his wife and two children. “Every year, we take a road trip,” he says. “For about two weeks, we set out on the road and head off to National Parks and other interesting places to see this amazing country that we live in. It’s great to see the world, but spending time together as a family is equally if not more important.

“A few years ago I went to Europe with my wife and kids,” Docter continues. “We stayed in fancy hotels, ate amazing food, visited castles and had this big adventure. One night we were having hot chocolate at a small department store cafe in Paris, nothing special, and I was laughing and joking with my kids. It was an amazing trip to a fantastic place, and what I remember most is the small stuff.”

WHO’S WHO IN “UP”

The Cast of Characters

CARL FREDRICKSEN (voice of Ed Asner) is not your average hero. He’s a bit of a grouch, but in the great tradition of Walter Matthau and Spencer Tracy: a grouch you can love. He’s a retired balloon salesman who is forced to leave the house he and his late wife, Ellie, built together. But instead of moving into the old folks' home, Carl takes action. He may be a senior citizen, but he’s not ready to give up; he’s going to live the rest of his life on his terms. He ties thousands of balloons to the roof, lifts the house into the air, and sets off toward South America, fulfilling the promise he made to his wife so many years before. Carl’s grand plan is challenged with the discovery of an unexpected stowaway, the optimistic, overly eager Russell. Carl’s journey tests more than his patience when the duo must survive the extreme weather, treacherous terrain and strange inhabitants of a lost world - as well as each other.

RUSSELL (voice of Jordan Nagai) is an enthusiastic and persistent 8-year-old Junior Wilderness Explorer from Tribe 54, Sweat Lodge 12. Armed with a backpack laden with official Wilderness Explorer camping gear, Russell is ready for the wilderness! There’s just one catch: he’s never actually left the city. All his knowledge of the outdoors comes from books, and his sole camping experience was in his living room. Russell proudly shows off his many Wilderness Explorer badges, including First Aid, Second Aid, Zoology and Master of Disguise. He’s just one Assisting-the-Elderly-badge shy of achieving the goal of his lifetime: the coveted rank of Senior Wilderness Explorer. When he targets Carl Fredricksen as the elder he will assist, Russell ends up as an unwitting stowaway on Carl’s porch when the house takes flight, and finds himself on the true outdoor adventure he’s been dreaming about.

DUG (voice of Bob Peterson) is a lovable golden mutt living in the wilds of Paradise Falls as part of the dog pack searching for a rare, flightless bird. Like the rest of his pack, Dug is outfitted with a remarkable high-tech collar that translates his thoughts into speech. But Dug is mocked as the nerd of the pack. Sent into the jungle on a “special” mission, Dug accidentally succeeds when he discovers the bird following Carl and Russell. As they’re pursued through the jungle by his own pack, the sweet, but simple-minded Dug must decide in which pack he actually belongs.

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KEVIN is an extremely rare, 13-foot-tall flightless bird that is hidden from the world in its remote Paradise Falls habitat. With brilliant iridescent coloured feathers and a long, flexible neck, Kevin is exceptionally fast and nimble. In fact, the massive bird often gets into some very curious and seemingly impossible positions. Very few know that this scientifically invaluable creature exists, but Carl and Russell stumble upon the bird, which Russell names Kevin after he discovers they share a sweet tooth. Kevin and Russell bond instantly, and despite the bird’s propensity to swallow Carl’s walker, Kevin joins the jungle’s latest and most unlikely pack, along with Carl, Russell and Dug.

THE PACK refers to Muntz’s compelling pack of dogs, who are sent on a mission to capture the rare bird their master is obsessed with finding. Fun and multifaceted, they are dogs in the truest sense, but just like their rejected comrade Dug, they have high-tech collars that give them unusual abilities specially designed for sinister hunting expeditions, including GPS tracking and translating their thoughts into speech. Alpha (voice of Bob Peterson), the leader of the pack, is a menacing-looking, black-as-night Doberman Pinscher with authority entrusted to him by their master that no one dares question. Beta (voice of Delroy Lindo), a tough Rottweiler, is Alpha’s lieutenant, and Alpha’s hench-dog, Gamma (voice of Jerome Ranft), is a rough-and-tumble Bulldog. Nothing will distract the pack from their mission... except maybe a squirrel.

Years ago, clever and handsome CHARLES F MUNTZ (voice of Christopher Plummer) was a beacon of hope for a down-and-out American public. He inspired his biggest fans, youngsters Carl and Ellie, to parrot his famous mantra, “Adventure is out there!” Travelling the globe many times over in his massive self-designed airship, he discovers the world's treasure: priceless historic relics, amazing scientific discoveries and exotic flora and fauna never before seen. But when Muntz brings home the skeleton of a fantastic 13-foot-tall creature from a remote mountain in South America, he is discredited by scientists. Vowing to prove them wrong, Muntz returns to South America, swearing to bring back a live specimen. And he won’t come back until he does!

ELLIE (voice of Elie Docter) is Carl’s childhood playmate and soul mate, who later becomes his wife. Her childhood dream of travelling to Paradise Falls, and Carl’s promise to take her there, are the motivation for Carl’s magnificent journey.

CONSTRUCTION FOREMAN TOM (voice of John Ratzenberger) tries to persuade Carl to sell his home to Tom’s boss, a major contractor. Ratzenberger is the only actor to voice a character in all 10 Disney•Pixar films.

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE

The “Up” Creative Team Discovers the Lost World of the Tepuis

In order to prepare for their assignment on “Up,” and the film’s premise of a journey to one of the most beautiful and mysterious places on earth, Docter and select members of his creative team embarked on their own adventure of a lifetime. At the suggestion of Ralph Eggleston, a veteran Pixar production designer with credits on

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“Finding Nemo” and “WALL•E,” the team headed to the jungles of South America (the intersection of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana) to discover their own “Lost World.”

“Ralph gave us a documentary about the tepui mountains (mesas) in South America, and as soon as I popped in the DVD, my hair stood on end because I knew this was where we should set the movie,” recalls Docter. “This was a fantastic weird world that I had never heard of. It was where Conan Doyle set his 1912 novel about prehistoric animals “The Lost World.” One of the biggest challenges on this film was to design a place that looked other worldly and yet was still believable enough that audiences would feel like the characters are actually there. We knew we had to go there because there’s something fundamentally different about experiencing a place versus just seeing pictures or film.”

“We make cartoons for a living...the only thing we were used to traversing was one end of our building to the other. There was no way to prepare us for this adventure.” - Ronnie Del

Carmen, Story Supervisor

Reaching their destination took three days, and required rides in airplanes, jeeps and helicopters. And then the fun began...

The first tepui that the group explored was Mount Roraima in Guyana, the highest and most famous of the 115 table-top mesas.

“This is the only tepui that you can actually climb,” says story supervisor Ronnie Del Carmen. “There’s a natural outcropping on the side of it that you can traverse. The climb is one mile pretty much straight up. The rocks are loose, the vegetation is not stable and they can pull off very easily if you grab them. We make cartoons for a living, so the only thing we were used to traversing was one end of our building to the other. There was no way to prepare us for this adventure.”

“It was like your worst nightmare,” says Peterson. “It was about a six- or seven-hour climb to the top and I had on way too much gear. When we got to the top, we had to hike across uneven terrain for another hour and a half. It was already dark when we got to our camp. And suddenly, from out of the darkness, we saw this cave lit by candles and there was warm soup waiting for us. When we saw our tents, most of us just sat down and started crying. We were so happy to be there. And then in the morning, when we awoke, literally 50 feet from where we were camping was a drop one mile straight down. I was a little reticent in the beginning, but I’m so glad I took the trip because we went to another world. There’s no place on the planet that has such sculptural rock forms.”

The group found no pack of dogs or pre-historic birds - both featured in the film - but did live to tell about close encounters with killer ants (a nasty variety whose bite can be deadly in 24 hours), menacing mosquitoes, stinging scorpions, miniature frogs and poisonous snakes. From Roraima, the intrepid explorers took a helicopter to Kukenan (also known as Matawi Tepui), which is considered the “place of the dead” by the local Pemon Indians.

“Kukenan had a completely different feel to it than Roraima,” says Ricky Nierva,

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the film’s production designer. “It was so pure, and had more aggressive shaped rocks. I asked our guide, Adrian Warren (documentary filmmaker, “The Living Edens: The Lost World - Venezuela’s Ancient Tepuis”), ‘How many people have been up here? Hundreds? And he replied, ‘More like tens.’ It felt very eerie. You expected to turn a corner and see a dinosaur roaming around.”

Angel Falls in Venezuela, the highest waterfall in the world, dropping 3,212 feet from the summit of Auyantepui, proved to be the real-life inspiration for the film’s mythical Paradise Falls (which is three times taller than its real life counterpart or about 9,700 feet high). The group climbed to the base of Angel Falls, where they endured slippery wet rocks and a constant spray of water.

The “Up” filmmakers took thousands of photographs, home movies, and copiously sketched their awe-inspiring surroundings. The images and vegetation they observed had a tremendous influence on the look of the film. Bonnetia trees, Stegolepis plants, and black rocks with beautiful pink flowers popping out in the middle, were all used in the film.

THE LOOK AND STYLE OF “UP”

Filmmakers Call Upon Disney Classics for Inspiration

Over the course of nine acclaimed feature films, Pixar has experimented with a wide variety of different looks and styles. In the case of “Up,” the filmmakers opted for a simplified or minimalist approach that grew organically from the story itself.

“We wanted ‘Up’ to have a distinct look all its own and to be a departure from other Pixar films.” - Jonas Rivera, Producer

According to Pete Docter: “In this film, we have a story about a man who floats his house to South America with balloons. We knew we needed a certain amount of whimsy and caricature, which is sort of my general aesthetic anyway. We were trying to reach back and connect to the great Disney films that we grew up with, like ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Cinderella,’ and the great sense of style and caricature that they had. We made a real concerted effort to caricature the characters and their environments. In most films, the characters would be about six or seven heads tall. Our hero, Carl, is only three heads tall!

“We knew that the latest advances in computer technology could give us all the detail we wanted, but instead we asked it to do a simplification that doesn’t exist in real life,” he adds.

“We wanted ‘Up’ to have a distinct look all its own and to be a departure from other Pixar films,” adds producer Jonas Rivera. “It was inspired by artists like Mary Blair, George Booth and the storybook illustrations of Martin Provensen. Pete wanted the entire film to have a caricatured look. For example, we didn’t study real people or clothing for reference. We looked at Hank Ketcham drawings of ‘Dennis the Menace,’

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and the simple way he could show a fold in the mother’s apron with just two lines. Our production designer Ricky Nierva coined a new term to describe the film’s unique approach.”

“‘Simplexity’ was a term that I came up with to explain the essence of something,” says Nierva. “We wanted to pull away some of the detail without making it look cheap. The CG medium gives you the ability to put in all this amazing detail that adds to believability. We weren’t trying to make a realistic movie but something that is tangible. We wanted to caricature the humans in the film, but not so much that the audience couldn’t relate to them.”

The character design for the film’s two main characters - Carl and Russell - came down to a basic circle and square motif. “It’s part of simplexity,” says Nierva. “It involves boiling things down to their purest essences. A square symbolizes the past; the circle represents the future. Squares are static like a brick wall. They’re immovable, and Carl is somebody that is stuck in his ways after Ellie dies. In the case of Carl’s design, we’ve never had a character go from being a child to an old man before. He’s more circular and round as a kid with more curves. Ellie has a circular motif, too. As Carl grows older, he becomes more rigid. Russell is egg-shaped and all curves with all the dynamic symbolism that comes with that.”

Colour became another important design element for the filmmakers. Says Nierva: “The film starts off with a black and white newsreel, which started us thinking about using colour to help tell our story. When Ellie is alive and Carl is full of life, the colour palate is saturated. When she’s gone, it’s desaturated, almost black-and-white again. We also came up with a colour to symbolize Ellie - magenta. Throughout the whole film, there are magenta flowers and skies to remind us of her. When Carl shuts himself off from the world, the colours desaturate and we don’t really see colour again until Russell arrives and interrupts his life. That brings colour back into his life. Every time we see a new character that adds to his life, like Dug, we introduce more colour.”

ANIMATION AND ACTING

Stylized Character Animation and Inspired Voice Talent Bring “Up’s” Characters to Life

With their highly caricatured design, the characters in “Up” posed lots of challenges to Pixar’s team of animation experts, designers and technicians. For Carl, they had to learn how to get nuance, emotion and a full range of motion into a character that is three heads high and basically square. Russell, an egg shaped character with practically no chin and more levels of clothing than had ever been dealt with before, had his own unique difficulties.

Scott Clark served as supervising animator on the film and was supported by three directing animators - Dave Mullins, Shawn Krause and Mike Venturini - and a team of nearly 70 animators at the peak of production. On the technical side, Thomas Jordan was the character supervisor who headed up the areas of modelling, rigging, shading, tailoring the clothes and grooming the hair.

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“The film has something to say about celebrating life, and the union of two souls is always much sweeter than the isolation of one.” - Ed Asner, Voice of Carl

CREATING CARL“With Carl, Pete wanted an old man who had literally shrunken in his suit and

was swimming in this thing,” says Clark. “The problem was Carl didn’t look like he had any knees or elbows, so we had to really come up with some innovative ways just to show a break in the cloth. We ended up lengthening his arms and legs so that you would see the break. He is probably the most caricatured thing we’ve ever done. It’s a real testament to our animation crew that they could actually get complex emotions other than just cute or happy out of Carl and Russell. There’s some pretty heavy scenes and great acting.”

“In terms of humans, Carl is definitely the most complicated character that Pixar has ever created,” says Jordan. “His face is the most sophisticated one we’ve ever done. He was full of technical challenges. With every film, we run into the age-old problem of form versus function. When the designers and art department come up with a character design, they don’t always understand or aren’t fully aware of the limitations the design might impose upon animation. So it’s really important for the animators to get involved early in the process.

“Pete and the team wanted the animation to feel fairly simplified like the other aspects of the film,” Jordan adds. “For example, Carl doesn’t have nostrils or any indication of pores on his skin. There are no holes in his ears. The challenge was finding a balance between simplicity and realism. It took quite a bit of experimentation to get things believable but not necessarily realistic.”

But Carl needed a voice, too. Says Docter, “When we were coming up for the character of Carl we had this list of attributes that we wanted him to be - grouchy, curmudgeonly - but with a soft side that you knew he really cared about people. And funny. We definitely needed funny. And the name that just kept coming up again and again was Ed Asner. It was like he was born to play this role.”

“As soon as we had Ed Asner on board to do the voice, we had Carl,” adds Clark. “You heard it and you had the character. It gave us something to hang the animation on.”

“Ed Asner is the most likeable curmudgeon that you could possibly ask for,” adds Lasseter. “The goal with all Pixar characters is to make them as appealing as possible and Ed brings that to the role of Carl. We’re so honoured to have him on the film. He has given us so much to work with. When you see the animation of Carl Fredricksen, he’s alive, and you don’t ever think that this character is a bunch of computer data. And that’s what Ed helps bring to the process by inspiring our animators. It’s really remarkable.”

“I like this character because he dreams beautiful dreams, and he’s willing to fight the dogs of society to maintain them,” says Asner. “I respect that enormously. I think it’s quite a story that this old man is able to transform his adoration for his late wife into a grudging final acceptance of a love for a young boy who needs his love.

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“Carl is a bit of a curmudgeon, which is why they cast me,” Asner adds. “I’m supposedly recognized as such, but I don’t know how I ever got there. Carl just wants to be left alone, but the boy brings him out of his shell. Circumstances bring him out and he has a rebirth. I think all curmudgeons should have a rebirth.

“I love voice work. The challenge of trying to create the variations and the accents delights me. It’s a part of acting. The interesting thing about the process is that you may have a simple line. You may do a couple of variations if you’re doing a movie or doing it on stage. But working with Pete and the guys, they want to hear a total range of presentations. You give them eight, ten, fifteen sounds on that line which are all recorded and then the absolute funniest is selected.

“I’m a sucker for sentimentality,” Asner concludes, “and I want to be affected by it. I would like to be one of the causes for affecting others. The film has something to say about celebrating life, and the union of two souls is always much sweeter than the isolation of one.”

RUSSELL’S LAYERSAccording to Steve May, the film’s supervising technical director, the character of

Russell presented a few challenges. “Russell was difficult because he’s just covered in stuff. He’s a Wilderness Explorer, and he’s got a neckerchief, and woggles, the little totems on the front of his badge, and then he’s got this backpack - it’s like he went to REI on a shopping spree, and he’s completely loaded up with all that stuff on his back.”

“Russell basically doesn’t have a neck,” adds Jordan. “We had to figure out a way to animate him so that he looked right. We found that subtle changes in placing the eyes, nose and mouth on his face could make him feel too old or too young. One breakthrough came when we learned to strike the balance between simplicity and complexity of detail. We needed to bring out his chin to make him more of a caricatured egg shape. We accentuated the look, feel and behaviour of a chin, and all of a sudden, that defined his face as separate from his body.”

For the voice of Russell, the filmmakers tested 450 kids all across the country. They found exactly what they were looking for in then 7-year-old newcomer Jordan Nagai.

Producer Jonas Rivera says that Nagai’s brother, a talented actor with some commercial experience, actually came in to read for the part. Nagai was just tagging along. “Even though Jordan wasn’t there to audition, we liked the sound of his voice,” says Rivera. “He started talking about his judo class, and Bob Peterson and I just looked at each other and said, ‘There’s Russell.’”

“One of the things that attracted us to Jordan,” Docter says, “was when he just talked about nothing - judo or piano lessons or whatever - he would just meander and the way he spoke was so funny. That did influence the character of Russell quite a bit.”

“There is something very truthful and appealing about Jordan’s voice,” adds character supervisor Jordan. “There’s a real humanity and a kind of naiveté about him. He hasn’t been taught to act yet, so he’s making all the right mistakes. When kids see the film, they’ll know it’s a real kid.”

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According to the novice actor, director Docter had a few tricks up his sleeve to ensure authenticity. “When I had to be exited or angry and loud, “Pete would make obstacle courses around the table and I would have to run around. Then I’d go to the mic and say my lines. It would make my energy go up so I could say the line better.”

MAKING MUNTZMuntz was a difficult character to nail down, because according to Docter, “he’s

really the glue that binds the whole story together. He’s the inspiration for the journey to begin with, and instils the desire to go down to South America in Ellie and Carl. And then he ends up being the antithesis of Carl.

“We were very lucky to get Christopher Plummer to do the part,” adds Docter. “He is an amazing actor, and so instinctive. With most actors, we like to get a good healthy number of different takes and reads. With Christopher, he would give us one or two and we knew we had it. In fact, we had trouble choosing between the two because they would both be great ideas. “

Says Plummer, “All my life, I’ve done animated films, it seems, and I love doing them. It’s great fun to play zany characters, and it takes me back to my start in radio. I’m a huge fan of the Pixar stuff and of course that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to do ‘Up.’ Muntz isn’t all bad. He’s got a great personality.”

TECHNICALLY KEVINThe character Kevin wasn’t based on one bird species. “Kevin is a mix of real

birds,” says Docter, who describes the bird as gorgeous and goofy at the same time. “Even eagles - if you watch them they’re so stately and regal and then they’ll do something completely crazy.”

But the bird’s design wasn’t quite as simple. “The design evolved more than any other character in the film because Kevin’s role in the story kept evolving,” says Jordan. “The challenge wasn’t so much with the modelling and rigging but had more to do with the feathers. We wanted the audience to see this bird and instantly know why Muntz has been chasing it for 50 years. Pete and Ricky wanted Kevin to have beautiful iridescent highlights, unlike anything you’ve ever seen in real life but still believable. We researched lots of birds with similar characteristics, including the Monal pheasant in the Himalayas. We had to come up with new hair technology for the feathers. We’ve done hair on many movies now, but we’ve never done feathers. A feather is like hair growing on a spline, and each spline needs to react like a hair. It’s like hair growing on hair. We had to re-engineer our hair system, pipeline and tools just to create those feathers.”

FINDING DUG’S VOICEFilmmakers found the voice of the sweet, simple Dug the dog among one of their

own. Co-director/co-writer Bob Peterson says he knew he’d provide the voice the golden mutt when he wrote the character’s first line. “The very first thing he says is ‘I have just met you, and I love you.’ That came when I was a camp counsellor in the early eighties in Ohio. The first week of camp, a kid ran up to me and threw his arms around me and said ‘You’re my camp counsellor! I love you!’ That was the key to Dug. Dug is

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the stream-of-consciousness of what we think a dog would be thinking. He’s emotional and loving and, at times, happily unaware of the reality surrounding him.”

The character’s design reflects that lack of awareness. Says Jordan, “For Dug, the idea was for him to be very soft-looking, appealing and a bit overweight. He’s an overweight dog, but doesn’t realize it. He thinks he’s every bit as healthy as all the other dogs - like Chris Farley when he did the Chippendales skit on Saturday Night Live.”

But like the rest of the pack, Dug is a real dog, not a talking dog, says Jordan. “We wanted to make sure that these dogs could truly behave like real dogs,” he says. “It was very important to Pete that these dogs did not act like humans, so they didn’t need to talk. They had these collars that would talk for them.”

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Pixar’s Technical Team Reaches New Heights

Pixar’s team of technical wizards faced numerous challenges in giving the filmmakers the look and wide range of actions that they needed to tell their story in the style and scale that was required.

“One of our toughest assignments on this film was creating the balloon canopy that carries Carl’s house to South America,” says Steve May, the film’s supervising technical director. “It was important to the film to have fairly realistic balloon simulations. The balloons behave in a realistic way, although the notion of being able to fly a house with balloons is pretty preposterous. We’re not physicists but one of our technical directors calculated that it would take on the order of 20 to 30 million balloons to actually lift Carl’s house. We ended up using 10,297 for most of the floating scenes, and 20,622 when it actually lifts off. The number varies from shot to shot depending on the angle, the distance, and fine-tuning the size so that it feels interesting, believable and visually simple.

“The number of balloons was just the beginning,” May adds. “These thousands of balloons all react to physical forces like buoyancy and wind. One of the key things for balloons is that they all have to react to one another. One balloon has to be able to respond to 10,000 other balloons. Additionally, each balloon is tethered to the house by a string, and the strings have to collide against one another and all the other balloons. This is a very complicated simulation problem with all of these things bumping into each other. This is probably the most complex interaction simulation we’ve ever had to deal with at Pixar, and our effects team had their work cut out for them.”

Adding to the complication of animating a house held aloft by a canopy of balloons was the fact that, for a period of time, the house was attached to the characters. “This was probably the most mind-blowing thing that struck me when I watched the reels for the first time,” says May. “Here you have two characters with more complex clothes than any we’ve ever done before. Each character is very complicated to begin with, and then they’re connected by these ropes to a house that is suspended by the balloons that all interact. It’s all one system that has to work together. You move one thing, and it has an impact on everything else.”

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May and his technical team also had to come up with ways to create crowd scenes (packs of dogs), cloth simulation and a waterfall that is three times taller than the tallest waterfall on earth (Angel Falls in South America).

Unique to Pixar and the world of computer animation, the role of director of photography is divided up into two distinct jobs. Patrick Lin served as director of photography: camera, which involved overseeing the camera movements and layout. Jean-Claude Kalache, a 13-year Pixar veteran, was the director of photography for lighting. Working closely with the directors and other members of the creative team, these two cinematographers helped to give “Up” its tremendous sense of scope, scale and adventure.

“Pete had a unique vision for this film, and he wanted a very theatrical and controllable approach to the lighting,” says Kalache. “This meant highlighting the action, focusing on where the characters are and pushing things fairly dark where we didn’t want the audience to look. When you’re making a movie where the camera is moving all around, this is a big challenge because each shot had to be viewed as if the audience is seeing it from that angle.”

Patrick Lin and his team had to contend with such composition-related issues as characters with large heads, scenes that included an extremely tall bird and much smaller dogs, and epic scenes involving airships and dogs in biplanes. A fan of classic Japanese cinema, Lin also drew inspiration from such legendary filmmakers as Kurasawa (and his film “Ikuru,” in particular) and Ozu, who often used a minimalist approach and shot with a single 50mm lens.

“Our goal was to make sure our camera followed the character’s emotions,” says Lin. “In the beginning of the film, everything leads up to the moment when Carl isolates himself from the rest of the world. We use the cinematography to subliminally isolate him. Since his life is really standing still, we shot those scenes with one 50mm lens. Even when Russell first appears, there is a visible division on screen, like the door jamb, to try and separate him from other characters. At the moment when the balloon shadows appear and the house lifts off, that’s when the camera really starts to move; we try to complement the emotion of the action.”

Lin and his team particularly enjoyed working on the climactic blimp fight near the conclusion of the film. “I think it’s the best old man fight in movie history. Blimp versus house. Carl has his cane and Muntz has a big sword. There’s a lot of handheld camera work and we have some very dynamic movement.”

3D - A FIRST FOR PIXAR

Taking Computer Animation to a Whole New Dimension

“Up” adds a whole new dimension to experiencing a Pixar film by being the first feature from the studio to be released in Disney Digital 3D™. It ushers in a new era of exciting possibilities for the animation studio that brought moviegoers the first computer animated feature 14 years ago and is recognized throughout the industry for its great storytelling, technical virtuosity and attention to detail.

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“We look at 3D as another crayon in our crayon box.” - Pete Docter, Director/Writer

According to director Pete Docter, it was John Lasseter who suggested they make “Up” in 3D. “So we set up a whole separate division,” says Docter. “This new department took a lot of the same story telling elements that we were using and tried to use depth as another way of telling that story.

“For example, at the beginning of the film, Carl is stuck in his ways and he’s living in this little house,” continues Docter. “We wanted it to feel claustrophobic so we flattened everything - we made it purposely less deep. Contrast that later when he gets to South America. We wanted this expansiveness - we wanted you to feel the wind in your face, so we really pushed depth there. We look at 3D as another crayon in our crayon box,” says Docter.

Heading up the effort to make “Up” the first Pixar feature to be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ was Bob Whitehill, a veteran layout artist who came to the studio five years ago. His title on the film was stereoscopic supervisor.

“I think that ‘Up’ may quite possibly be one of the greatest 3D movies ever made, simply because the layout and composition is so good and so solid,” says Whitehill. “The lens choices and blocking really take advantage of the Z axis to and from the camera, and there are these wonderful sequences in the jungles of South America where they’ve set dressed these out-of-focus leaves, bushes and vines in the foreground. It creates this wonderful window through which you can look into this world and watch these entertaining characters.”

Working with the filmmakers, Whitehill and his team developed a “depth budget” to figure out the optimal and most effective use of 3D throughout the film. 3D became a visual cue to help the filmmakers tell the story and involve the audience with the characters.

“When Carl loses his wife, he retreats from life, and the film’s compositions become very flat,” explains Whitehill. “The lenses are a bit longer, and Carl is framed tight to the top of the frame so that it looks like he’s closed in and claustrophobic. In those sequences, we dialled down the depth budget. We’re using that Z-axis depth to help tell the story of a man who’s really lost the centre of his life and so is retreating from us. When he and Ellie are younger, we dialled it up so that you feel this sense of room and freedom and adventure. And then when he goes on his big adventure, we really ramp things up. It’s quite staggering to go from a sequence with Carl trapped in his house, so to speak, to deep in the jungle in the heart of this big adventure.”

STRIKING “UP” THE BAND

Acclaimed Composer Michael Giacchino Adds Emotion and Excitement with his Thematic Musical Score

A film that incorporates elements of great adventure, comedy and emotion calls for a great musical score, which is why the filmmakers on “Up” called on Michael

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Giacchino. One of today’s most talented and versatile composers, Giacchino previously worked his musical magic on such popular Pixar films as “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” Most recently, he conducted the orchestra for the 81st Annual Academy Awards telecast and has composed scores for the upcoming “Star Trek” and “Land of the Lost.”

“Those great scores for the Disney animated films taught me not to be afraid of being emotional with the music.” -Michael Giacchino, Composer

One of the main challenges in creating the musical score for “Up” was to keep alive the spirit of Carl’s wife, Ellie. Giacchino achieved this through a special theme associated with the character.

“Ellie provides the underlying motivation for Carl throughout the film,” says Docter. “We’ve tried to visually keep her alive as much as we can by connecting her with the house that is always there. Michael came up with some amazing music that plays through in different ways in emotion, in comedy and in action. It’s been a really successful way of bringing Ellie along through the whole film.”

Giacchino adds, “Ellie’s theme begins in the movie as a lyrical waltz. Hopefully, when you hear it, you’ll think of younger days and things you did when you were young like the first time you fell in love. That theme grows through the film. It twists and turns as needed, and by the end, it becomes an action-adventure theme.”

Giacchino’s talent is on full display during one beautifully emotive montage sequence that - without the benefit of a single word - takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions as the film showcases Carl and Ellie’s life and dreams together. The montage takes you from the highs of the happy early days of their life together through the tearful and emotional twilight of Ellie’s life.

In terms of the overall score for the film, Giacchino wanted to pay homage to some of his favourite adventure film scores from the past like “Around the World in 80 Days,” as well as such classic Disney scores as “Peter Pan.”

“Those great scores for the Disney animated films taught me not to be afraid of being emotional with the music,” says Giacchino. “The legendary composers like Ollie Wallace and Frank Churchill weren’t afraid to be emotional when the story was emotional. They also showed me that it was okay to be thematic and actually have a melody that you can walk away with. It’s amazing how good those guys were. Listening to them really humbles you and makes you work harder and want to be better.”

ABOUT THE VOICE CASTVersatile, committed, eloquent and talented are all adjectives that describe

actor/activist ED ASNER (Carl Fredricksen). He is perhaps best known for his comedic and dramatic crossover as the gruff but soft-hearted journalist Lou Grant, the role he originated on the landmark TV news room comedy “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and continued in the newspaper-set drama “Lou Grant,” which earned him five

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Emmys and three Golden Globe Awards. Asner received two more Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for the miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man” and “Roots.” His prolific and much honoured acting career demonstrates a consummate ability to transcend the line between comedy and drama.

One of the most honoured actors in the history of television; Asner has been the recipient of seven Emmy Awards and 16 nominations, as well as five Golden Globe Awards and served as national president of the Screen Actors Guild for two terms. He was inducted into the TV Academy Hall of Fame in 1996. Asner received the Ralph Morgan Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2000, presented periodically for distinguished service to the Guild's Hollywood membership. In March 2002, he was again honoured by the Guild as the 38th recipient of the prestigious Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment, presented annually to an actor who fosters the highest ideals of the profession.

In addition to his professional versatility, Asner has consistently served and committed himself to the rights of the working performer in addition to advocating for human rights, world peace, environmental preservation and political freedom. A passionate and informed spokesperson for the causes he supports, Asner is a frequent speaker on labour issues and a particular ally for the acting industry's older artists. Some of the many honours he has received throughout his career include the Anne Frank Human Rights Award, The Eugene Debs Award, Organized Labour Publications Humanitarian Award, ACLU's Worker's Right's Committee Award and the National Emergency Civil Liberties Award.

Asner has more than 100 TV credits, which include starring in the series “Off the Rack,” “The Bronx Zoo” and “Thunder Alley.” Numerous guest appearances include roles in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “ER,” “Arliss,” “The Practice” and a recurring role on “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” Besides commercials and numerous books on tape, he has lent his voice to popular cartoon shows such as “The Simpsons,” “Spiderman” and “Boondocks.” Asner's dozens of motion pictures include “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!,” “Fort Apache the Bronx,” “JFK” and the European production of “Giovanni XXIII” - the highest rated television miniseries in the history of Italian TV - as well as the box office hit “Elf” with Will Farrell and James Caan. Asner has done several Hallmark movies and was nominated for another Emmy for “The Christmas Card.”

He recently completed filming for “Gigantic,” with John Goodman and Jane Alexander; “Generation Gap” for the Hallmark channel; and an episode of “CSI/ NY.”

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (Charles Muntz) has enjoyed almost 60 years as one of the theatre’s most respected actors and as a veteran of over 100 motion pictures. Raised in Montreal, he began his professional career on stage and radio in both French and English. After Eva Le Gallienne gave him his New York debut (1954) he went on to star in many celebrated productions on Broadway and London’s West End, winning accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. He has won two Tony Awards for the musical “Cyrano” and for “Barrymore” plus seven Tony nominations, his latest for his “King Lear” (2004) and for his Clarence Darrow in “Inherit the Wind” (2007); also three Drama Desk Awards and the National Arts Club Medal.

A former leading member of the Royal National Theatre under Sir Laurence

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Olivier and the Royal Shakespeare Company under Sir Peter Hall, where he won London’s Evening Standard Award for Best Actor in “Becket;” he has also led Canada’s Stratford Festival in its formative years under Sir Tyrone Gutherie and Michael Langham. He is widely recognized as one of the finest classical actors of his time.

Since Sidney Lumet introduced him to the screen in “Stage Struck” (1958), his range of notable films include “the Man Who Would Be King,” “Battle of Britain,” “Waterloo,” “Fall of the Roman Empire,” “Star Trek VI,” “Twelve Monkeys” and the 1965 Oscar-winning “The Sound of Music.” More recently, he appeared in the Oscar nominated “The Insider” (as Mike Wallace, he won the National Film Critics Award), the Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind,” “Man in the Chair,” “Must Love Dogs,” “National Treasure,” “Syriana,” and “Inside Man.” His TV appearances which number close to 100 include the Emmy-winning BBC “Hamlet at Elsinore” playing the title role; the Emmy-winning productions “The Thornbirds,” “Nuremberg,” and “Little Moon of Alban”; and many others. He has himself won two Emmys plus six Emmy nominations. Plummer has also written for the stage, television and concert-hall.

Apart from honours in the UK, USA, Austria and Canada, he was the first performer to receive the Jason Robards Award in memory of his great friend, the Edwin Booth Award and the Sir John Gielgud Quill Award. In 1968, sanctioned by Elizabeth II, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada (an honorary knighthood). An Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at Juilliard, he also received the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. In 1986 he was inducted into the Theatre’s Hall of Fame and in 2000, Canada’s Walk of Fame. His recent self-written memoir, “In Spite of Myself” (Afred A Knopf Publishers) is being much lauded by critics and public alike.

Upcoming projects include “9,” and “My Dog Tulip,” both animated film projects; the title role of “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” directed by Terry Gilliam; and “The Last Station,” in which he plays the great novelist Tolstoy opposite Helen Mirren, written and directed by Michael Hoffman.

JOHN RATZENBERGER (Construction Foreman Tom) is an accomplished director, producer and multi-Emmy Award nominated actor with notable credentials as an entrepreneur and humanitarian. While he is best known to international audiences as postman Cliff Clavin on “Cheers,” for which he garnered two Emmy nominations, Ratzenberger is the only actor to voice a role in all of the Disney•Pixar films. Indeed, his characters have been memorable: the charming and witty Hamm the piggy bank in “Toy Story” (reprised in “Toy Story 2” and the upcoming “Toy Story 3”), PT. Flea in “A Bug’s Life,” Yeti the snow monster in “Monsters Inc,” a school of Moonfish in “Finding Nemo,” a philosophical character named Underminer in “Incredibles,” a Mac-truck in “Cars,” Mustafa, the head waiter in “Ratatouille” and John, a human living aboard the spaceship Axiom in “Wall•E.”

A former carpenter, archery instructor, carnival performer and oyster boat crewman, Ratzenberger was raised in Bridgeport, Conn. An English literature major at Sacred Heart University, he starred in one-man shows and directed others after graduation. Ratzenberger spent a decade in England as co-founder of the improvisational duo Sal’s Meat Market, earning acclaim across Europe and a grant from the British Arts Council. Early in his career, he appeared in numerous motion pictures,

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including “A Bridge Too Far,” “Superman,” “Gandhi” and “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” Ratzenberger also starred in the Granada TV series “Small World,” and cut his teeth as a producer and writer for the BBC, Granada TV and several prestigious theatre companies.

In 1982, Ratzenberger auditioned for a role on “Cheers,” suggesting to creators that they consider adding a know-it-all bar regular. The character of Cliff Clavin was brought to life, and the “Cheers” team rewrote the pilot to include him. During 11 seasons on “Cheers,” Ratzenberger improvised many of his lines, helping bring freshness and enduring popularity to a show that earned 28 Emmy Awards. With “Cheers” still airing in worldwide syndication, Cliff Clavin remains one of television’s most beloved characters.

Ratzenberger has reprised his role of Cliff Clavin in “Frasier,” “The Simpsons,” “Blossom,” “Wings,” “St Elsewhere” and eight NBC specials. The accomplished character actor has also appeared on “8 Simple Rules,” “That ‘70s Show,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Love Boat,” “Magnum PI.” and “Hill Street Blues.” Among his numerous TV movies are starring roles in “The Pennsylvania Miners Story” for ABC, “A Fare To Remember,” “Remember Wenn,” PBS Masterpiece Theatre’s “The Good Soldier," and the BBC’s “Song of a Sourdough” and the “Detectives.” Ratzenberger’s big-screen animation success extends to the small screen in the long-running TBS series “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” and “The New Adventures of Captain Planet.” He was also a fan favourite on the hit ABC show “Dancing with the Stars.”

Ratzenberger’s recent credits include the film "The Village Barbershop," winner of the Audience Choice Award at the Cinequest Festival, and “Our First Christmas” for Hallmark. He recently kicked off season five of his popular Travel Channel series “John Ratzenberger’s Made in America.” Ratzenberger created the show in 2004 to showcase American-made products, a cause for which he has been very active. Ratzenberger’s non-profit organization, Nuts, Bolts, and Thingamajigs Foundation, is positioned to restore esteem and dignity to the manual and industrial arts, and to inspire the next generation of American artisans, inventors, engineers, repairmen and skilled workers.

JORDAN NAGAI (Russell) was born on Feb. 5, 2000, in Los Angeles. At 2½, the tot kicked off his acting career tackling a role in a public service announcement. Two years later, Nagai was featured in print ads for JC Penney and Pacific Care.

While the youngster was attending Japanese school on Saturday, the principal sent an e-mail to all the students saying that Pixar was auditioning boys 9 to 10 years old for “Up.” Nagai, just 7 at the time, tagged along with his older brother to the audition, ultimately winning the role.

While working on "Up," Nagai did a radio commercial for a restaurant franchise. He is also a special guest on an upcoming episode of "The Simpsons."

At the age of 7, ELIZABETH “ELIE” DOCTER (Young Ellie), came to Pixar Animation Studios to do a scratch recording for the voice of “Young Ellie.” A number of other actors were considered for the role, but it was decided that Docter’s voice was the ideal fit for “Young Ellie,” and she was officially cast in the role.

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Now 10 years old and a real-life tomboy (like her character in “Up”), Docter is a fan of MGM musicals and is the self-proclaimed world’s number one dog-lover. She enjoys reading Archie Comics and loves to swim. Docter also loves Annette Funicello, Hayley Mills, and other classic Disney actors. She currently lives in Piedmont, California with her parents and older brother.

DELROY LINDO (Beta) has had memorable film roles in David Mamet’s “Heist” and as Mr Rose in “The Cider House Rules.” Lindo garnered critical acclaim for his role as Rodney in Spike Lee’s drama “Clockers” and also worked with Lee on “Crooklyn” and “Malcolm X” (earning an NAACP Image Award nomination for his work as West Indian Archie). He was most recently seen in the hit film “This Christmas,” also serving as executive producer.

He has had memorable roles in a diverse range of films, such as “Wondrous Oblivion,” “The Core,” “The Last Castle,” “Domino,” “The One,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Ransom” ( Best Supporting Actor NAACP Image Award nomination), “A Life Less Ordinary,” “Get Shorty,” “Feeling Minnesota,” “Romeo Must Die,” “Mr Jones,” “L’Exil du Roi Behanzin,” “Devil’s Advocate,” “Bright Angel” and “Mountains of the Moon.”

On TV, Lindo starred in the NBC series “Kidnapped.” He is also featured in “Lackawanna Blues” (HBO) and in “The Exonerated” (Court TV). He appeared to critical acclaim in the CBS drama “Profoundly Normal,” starred as US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the Peabody Award-winning drama “Strange Justice” (Showtime), and received critical acclaim playing baseball legend Satchel Paige in HBO’s stirring drama “Soul of the Game.” Lindo also starred as Arctic explorer Matthew Henson in “Glory and Honour” (TNT) and appeared in “First Time Felon” (HBO). Also for TV, Lindo conceived, produced, hosted, directed and co-edited documentary interviews featuring Spike Lee, Charles Burnett and Joan Chen.

In theatre, Lindo was most recently seen in the title role in “Agamemnon” at the Getty in Los Angeles. Prior to that, he appeared in the London stage production of “The Exonerated.” On Broadway, Lindo was featured as Herald Loomis in August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” receiving Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations; in “Master Harold and the Boys” (Broadway and national tour); and as Walter Lee in the Kennedy Centre and Los Angeles productions of “A Raisin in the Sun” (Helen Hayes Award nomination and NAACP Image Award, Best Actor). Lindo has also worked Off-Broadway; and extensively in regional theatres throughout the United States and Canada.

Theatre directing credits include critically and commercially acclaimed productions of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” (Fall 2008) and a new play, “Blue Door,” both for Berkeley Rep. Theatre. Additionally, Lindo won a 2006 Los Angeles Theatre Weekly Award for his work directing the Vietnam era drama “Medal of Honour Rag.”

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERSPETE DOCTER (Director/Screenplay/Story) has carved out an

illustrious career as one Pixar Animation Studios’ most prodigious talents. Joining the studio in 1990, he began by animating and directing a variety of Pixar-produced

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commercials for Tropicana Fruit Juice, Tetra-Pak drink box recycling and Lifesavers.

Along with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, Docter developed the story and characters for “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first full-length feature film, for which he also served as supervising animator. He was a storyboard artist on “A Bug’s Life,” and wrote the initial story treatment for “Toy Story 2.”

Docter made his debut as a director on “Monsters Inc,” which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. As one of Pixar Animation Studios’ key creative contributors, Docter garnered another Academy Award nomination for his original story credit on Disney•Pixar’s Oscar winning “WALL•E.”

Prior to joining Pixar, Docter worked as an animator for The Walt Disney Company, Bob Rogers and Company, Bajus-Jones Film Corporation and Reelworks in Minneapolis. Docter’s interest in animation began at the age of 8 when he created his first flipbook. He studied character animation at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) in Valencia, California, where he produced a variety of films including “Winter,” “Palm Springs” and the Student Academy Award-winning “Next Door.”

Docter currently resides in Piedmont, California with his wife and their two children.

BOB PETERSON (Co-Director/Screenplay/Story/voice of Dug/Alpha) has been a key player at Pixar Animation Studios since 1994. His first assignment was that of layout artist and animator on “Toy Story.” He later served as story artist on “A Bug’s Life” and “Toy Story 2,” story supervisor on “Monsters Inc” and was also one of the screenwriters on the Academy Award-winning feature “Finding Nemo.”

In addition to his story work, Peterson has voiced several of the company’s memorable animated characters: the aged chess-playing hero of “Geri’s Game,” paperwork-obsessed slug-woman Roz in “Monsters Inc” and the tuneful teacher Mr Ray in “Finding Nemo.” He also lends his voice talents to Up for the character of Dug the dog.

While studying for a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Indiana’s Purdue University, Peterson had his first experience working in a computer graphics lab. It was there that he also received his first cartooning experience, writing and drawing “Loco-Motives,” a daily four-panel strip for Purdue University’s Exponent newspaper.

Following graduation, Peterson moved to Santa Barbara, California, to work for Maya creator, Wavefront Technologies, and then to Hollywood-based Rezn8 Productions, before joining Pixar in 1994.

Born in Wooster, Ohio, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and Dover, Ohio, Peterson earned his undergrad degree from Ohio Northern University. He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife, three children and two non-talking dogs.

JONAS RIVERA (Producer) joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1994 as a production office assistant on the studio’s first feature film, “Toy Story.” Working on almost every Pixar feature film to date, Rivera’s ability and expertise has enabled him to

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advance in his role on each of the studio’s subsequent productions.

Progressing to art department co-ordinator for “A Bug’s Life,” Rivera then served as a marketing and creative resources co-ordinator for “Toy Story 2.” His heart always in the art and creativity of filmmaking, Rivera returned to the art department, this time as a manager, on “Monsters Inc.” Rivera then went on to serve as production manager on Pixar’s Golden Globe winning feature, “Cars.”

For as long as he can remember, Jonas Rivera has always loved films, particularly animated ones. His first childhood memories consist of the Tiki Room at Disneyland and going to the theatre to see films like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Star Wars.” Inspired at a very young age, Rivera was enthralled with the medium of filmmaking and dreamed of making films himself someday.

Prior to Pixar, Rivera’s diverse professional background includes working in music stores, toy stores and playing in hard rock bands - what he jokingly refers to as ‘the perfect training for working at Pixar.’

A Bay Area native, Rivera grew up in Castro Valley and graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in film production. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife and their children.

JOHN LASSETER (Executive Producer) is chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering. He is a two-time Academy Award-winning director and oversees all films from Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and associated projects. Lasseter directed the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed films “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Toy Story 2.” Additionally, he executive produced “Monsters Inc,” “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles.” Lasseter returned to the director’s chair in 2006 with the release of Disney•Pixar film, “Cars.”

In 2004, Lasseter was honoured by the Art Directors Guild with its prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery award and received an honorary degree from the American Film Institute. Lasseter received the 2008 Winsor McCay Award from ASIFA-Hollywood for career achievement and contribution to the art of animation.

Under Lasseter’s supervision, Pixar’s animated feature and short films have received a multitude of critical accolades and film industry honours. He received a Special Achievement Oscar in 1995 for his inspired leadership of the “Toy Story” team. His work on “Toy Story” also resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, the first time an animated feature had been recognized in that category. “Finding Nemo,” released spring 2003, became the highest grossing animated feature of all time and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.

As creative director of Pixar, Lasseter enjoyed the critical acclaim and box office success of “The Incredibles” in 2004. The film was recognized with a record-breaking 16 Annie Award nominations and several “Best Of” awards by The Wall Street Journal, American Film Institute, National Board of Review and many others.

Lasseter also has written, directed and animated a number of highly renowned short films and television commercials for Pixar, including “Luxo Jr.” (1986 Academy Award nominee); “Red’s Dream” (1987); “Tin Toy” (1988 Academy Award winner); and

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“Knickknack” (1989), which was produced as a 3D stereoscopic film. Pixar’s “Tin Toy” became the first computer animated film to win an Oscar when it received the 1988 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Prior to the formation of Pixar in 1986, Lasseter was a member of the Computer Division of LucasFilm Ltd, where he designed and animated the computer-generated Stained Glass Knight character in the 1985 Steven Spielberg-produced film “Young Sherlock Holmes.”

Lasseter attended the inaugural year of the Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts and received his BFA in film there in 1979. While attending California Institute of the Arts, Lasseter produced two animated films, both winners of the Student Academy Award for Animation: “Lady and the Lamp” in 1979 and “Nitemare” in 1980. His very first award came at the age of 5 when he won $15.00 from the Model Grocery Market in Whittier, California, for a crayon drawing of the Headless Horseman.

ANDREW STANTON (Executive Producer) has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator and ninth employee to join the company’s elite group of computer animation pioneers. As vice president, creative, he currently leads the initiatives of and oversees all features and shorts development of the studio.

Stanton recently directed and co-wrote the screenplay for “WALL•E,” which earned the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature of 2008. He also was Oscar nominated for the screenplay.

Stanton made his directorial debut with the record-shattering “Finding Nemo,” an original story of his that he also co-wrote. The film garnered Stanton two Academy Award nominations (Best Original Screenplay & Best Animated Film), and “Finding Nemo” was awarded an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of 2003, the first such honour Pixar Animation Studios had received for a full-length feature.

Stanton was one of the four screenwriters to receive an Oscar nomination in 1996 for his contribution to “Toy Story” and went on to receive credit as a screenwriter on subsequent Pixar films “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters Inc,” “Finding Nemo” and “WALL•E.” Additionally, he served as co-director on “A Bug’s Life,” and was the executive producer of “Monsters Inc” and the 2006 Academy Award-winning “Ratatouille.”

A native of Rockport, Mass., Stanton earned a bachelor of fine arts in character animation from California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts), where he completed two student films. In the 1980s, he launched his professional career in Los Angeles animating for Bill Kroyer’s Kroyer Films studio, and writing for Ralph Bakshi’s production of “Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures.”

MICHAEL GIACCHINO’s (Composer) melodies have enhanced entertainment of all genres, including television shows, animated shorts, video games and stand-alone symphonies with themes that run the gamut from driving, melancholic and suspenseful to serene. Viewers of the hit television shows “Lost” and “Alias,” are well acquainted with his work and have been enjoying his compositions for several

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seasons.

Giacchino made his feature film composing breakthrough with his acclaimed score for “The Incredibles” (Annie Award winner, Best Music in an Animated Feature Production; Grammy nomination, Best Score Album Soundtrack) and went on to compose music for Disney’s “Sky High,” the comedy-drama “The Family Stone,” Albert Brooks’ “Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World,” the thriller “Mission: Impossible III” and Disney•Pixar’s “Ratatouille,” (Grammy Award winner, Best Score Album Soundtrack; Annie Award winner, Best Music in an Animated Feature Production; Oscar nomination, Best Original Score). He was also the musical director for the Academy Awards this year.

In early 1997, Giacchino was approached by the newly formed DreamWorks Studios to score their flagship PlayStation video game, based on Steven Spielberg’s summer box office hit “The Lost World.” “The Lost World” featured the first original live orchestral score written for a PlayStation console game and was recorded with the members of the Seattle Symphony.

Since “The Lost World,” Giacchino has gone on to compose many orchestral scores for DreamWorks Interactive, including the highly successful “Medal of Honour” series, a World War II simulation game created by Steven Spielberg. It was his work on such games that led to his involvement in the ABC series “Alias,” created by writer/director JJ Abrams. The producers of the show contacted the composer because they were fans of the games he had worked on. “Alias,” in turn, became a gateway of sorts for his work with Pixar on “The Incredibles.”

A boyhood fascination with movies led him to film school at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he majored in film production with a minor in history. Upon graduation, Giacchino began composition studies at Juilliard School at Lincoln Centre while working day jobs at both Universal and Disney’s New York publicity offices. Two years later, he was transferred to the Disney Studios in Burbank to work in their feature film publicity department. During that time, the aspiring composer accepted a job with Disney Interactive as an assistant producer, managing and producing titles for the division. He devoted his evenings and weekend to practicing and studying music.

On May 13, 2000, the Haddonfield Symphony premiered Giacchino’s first symphony, “Camden 2000.” Proceeds went to benefit the Heart of Camden, an organization dedicated to rebuilding inner city Camden housing. The symphony, which played to a sold-out crowd, celebrated the birth, past greatness, and future of hope in the city of Camden, NJ.

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