‘Elemental’ Director Peter Sohn on the Sequence Inspired by ‘Generational Legacy’

“Elemental” is classic Pixar. It’s set in a modern metropolis where elements are anthropomorphic characters and live in separate parts of town: The water people live in the Water District, composed of high-rises of cascading waterfalls; the fire folks live in the earthier Firetown; you get the idea.

And instead of some high-concept dilemma, the core of Elemental is a romantic comedy between a more laid-back water man named Wade (Mamoudou Athie) and a flinty fire girl named Ember (Leah Lewis). Opposites really do attract.

Director Peter Sohn, a Pixar veteran who had previously directed “The Good Dinosaur,” was also able to deliver a personal story about the immigrant experience, inspired by his Korean parents. This became even more powerful once the movie, which was a little slow out of the gate, gained box office momentum thanks in part to a surge in popularity in South Korea.

“This idea of parental love is a big theme in a lot of Korean cinema and dramas,” Sohn said, adding that the look of Korean cooking was built into the city of Firetown. A ceremonial bow, meant to show respect, was also taken from the way Sohn’s father had bowed when he left Korea. “This bow was inspired by that. Using that as a gesture of love and respect and healing at the end of the movie, I think is a big Korean sort of thing.”

Part of what made people come back to “Elemental,” was, of course, the look of the movie. As is Pixar’s way, it pushed the boundaries of technology to the breaking point (Sohn said that one of the servers started to smoke during a particularly complicated render), with the characters comprised of living elements: smoke that distorts and changes shape, water that splashes and waves. This was so groundbreaking that several Pixar artists published academic papers on how it was accomplished.

But the technology is never at the forefront of the viewer’s mind; the characters are. This is especially true in a sequence where Wade and Ember go on a date in the city. They start to circle a large lake and Ember hops on top of giant crystals, causing her flame to turn different colors.

Sohn said that the sequence was “all about trying to share culture” and an idea about “generational legacy” (inspired in part by a friend of Sohn’s whose family had helped build the Roosevelt Island tram in New York City). “Wade came from a family that’s been there for a long time, and Ember is from a newer family, but also at the same time, what were their cultures that they would share and the things that she could do with fire and things that he could do with water? And then it was just that fun of that prismatic effect, like, the minerals changing colors and water, all of that started to jump into, Oh, that’s part of their culture, their elemental reactions can be part of their culture. We just started building that to find ways to have them fall in love.”

This story first appeared in the Awards Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the Awards Preview issue here.

Credits
Creative Director: Jeff Vespa
Photographer: Maya Iman
Photo Editor: Tatiana Leiva
Stylist: Kate Bofshever
Hair & Makeup: India Hammond

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