'Finding Dory' Director Inspired to Make Sequel After Rewatching Original in 2011
In 2003, Finding Nemo was one of Pixar’s biggest hits to date. But when SuperFan recently spoke with its director, Andrew Stanton, he explained that a sequel was never in the cards. Well, until it was. He said, “I really had no plans of ever going back, didn’t see a reason to, until 2011 [when] I was asked to watch Finding Nemo in 3D.”
But it wasn’t the OMG-in-your-face-3D that inspired Stanton to pick up the story. In fact, it was the stuff that he left out of the original movie that came back to haunt him. He said, “I hadn’t watched the film in years. I went to the theater, watched it, and walked out completely unsettled about Dory. I thought, ‘She could still lose Marlin and Nemo and be back to square one wandering the ocean. She doesn’t know where she’s from.’ I felt like I just left the door open on all this stuff, and I felt that needs to be resolved.”
Now, you could argue that every sequel is based on unanswered questions, but we had to wait 13 years between Nemo and Dory to get the answers! So what other Pixar movie has left fans patiently hanging? Easy: The Incredibles.
The Incredibles came out in 2004 — a year after Nemo — and had an ending ripe for a sequel: Not only were baby Jack-Jack’s superpowers revealed, but also the film ended with the family supergroup finally banding together.
We’re thankful that a sequel is set for June 2019 — setting a Pixar record for the longest wait between films (15!).
Watch Ellen DeGeneres, Ed O’Neill, and the rest of the Finding Dory cast play “What Would Dory Do,” below:
