Purple Mike Wazowski? 'Toys In The Hood?' See Some Of Pixar's Wildest Scrapped Ideas
Every movie has its early drafts, some of which never see the light of day. But the rise of concept art books and juicy "How Did This Get Made"-style oral histories have left nary a stone unturned in the vast movie development landscape.
Pixar boasts some of the most critically acclaimed and universally beloved animated films of the past 20 years, largely in part thanks to the animation studio's meticulous attention to detail and story. Pixar films can take up to six years to get made, with films going through several drafts and concepts before they finally hit the big screen. Early versions of films like Toy Story or Finding Nemo may be virtually unrecognizable to us. But Pixar has opened its tight vault of undiscovered ideas to fans, and revealing some of its weirdest and most intriguing scrapped ideas for its films.
Pixar has released a video of some of its best scrapped ideas. Some of them we know (Inside Out's original slate of 20-plus emotions) and some of them we didn't (Toy Story could have been called Toys in the Hood!) but either way, Pixar has just gifted us with a whole new collection of early concept art that we never knew we needed.
Pixar Scrapped Ideas
Here are some of the most fascinating scrapped concepts listed in the videos:
Inside Out: At one point, Riley had 27 different emotions with individual names. Sadness was named Misty, Anger was Ira, Fear was Freddie.Toy Story 3: The opening originally had Woody riding into a dusty Old West town before Buzz showed up and the scene turned into a Hannah Montana-style concert. This was revealed to be Molly playing with Andy's toys.Up: Up was originally about two brothers who lived in a mythical floating city.WALL-E: An early version featured "gelatinous blobs" that spoke gibberish. The idea was scrapped and the blobs became humans that lived on the Axiom that WALL-E discovers in space.Ratatouille: Remy originally had a mother named Desiree, but she was scrapped after the focus turned to the father-son relationship.Cars: The inspiration came from a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer-style short story called "Yellow Car" about a little electric car who was disliked by everyone else in its small town because it was different. The only thing that stayed was the small-town setting and characters Fillmore and Sarge.The Incredibles: Character designer Teddy Newton originally drew Edna Mode to be much taller, but Brad Bird loved a funny doodle he did where she was 3 feet tall so much that it became the final version.Monsters Inc: Mike Wazowski design changes included springy hair, fire on his head, a purple design, a creepy elongated version and, most terrifying of all, a goatee.A Bug's Life: Heimlich was originally going to be voiced by a professional actor but temp voice Pixar animator Joe Ranft was so good that he was kept for the part.Toy Story: Original title ideas included Hand-Me-Down Hero, The Cowboy and the Spaceman, Spurs & Rockets, Plastic Buddies, Don't Move, and Toys in the Hood.