How ‘Elemental’ Went From a Family Affair to an Award Contender
Peter Sohn never considered the award’s circuit when he was directing Elemental.
While the seeds of the story instead began with the Pixar veteran’s own Korean heritage, the story of Elemental is a universal story of love, acceptance, and sacrifice.
“It’s been really interesting to talk about the film in this personal way because it really was never meant to be so personal,” Sohn explains.
“The seeds sort of started. And it rippled through the crew, and a lot of our crew members started bringing their own personal lives to it as well.”
A Film Seven Years in the Making
Seven years and a half-a-billion box office run later, Sohn’s film is now nominated Best Animated Feature at the Oscar, where it will face off against the likes of The Boy and the Heron, Nomona, Robot Dreams, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
According to Sohn, the process of creating Elemental began as a family affair at Pixar.
“We had just sent out an email out early in development about wanting to hear if anyone had these kind of stories,” he said onstage. “We were overwhelmed with all these responses. And we slowly but surely went through all of them throughout the first year in development, having meetings, hearing these wonderful, touching stories, really funny stories, and, frankly, sad stories helping us define what these unique cultures could be for a fire and for water.”
An Unexpected Success Story
While Elemental’s stumble during its first week in the theaters led many to write the film off as another Pixar dud, the film slowly but surely found its footing.
Eventually, the film would rebound, providing Pixar with a slow-burning hit and Disney with a new model for box office success.
With the film now in award contention, Elemental has firmly entrenched itself as a classic in the Pixar canon. And to think, it all started with the personal stories of the studio’s employees.
Elemental is now streaming on Disney+.
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