'Elio' directors on drawing inspiration from Steven Spielberg and Roald Dahl: We both are sci-fi fans
"Elio", Disney Pixar's new film about a space-obsessed boy who suddenly finds himself beamed across the galaxy and declared Earth's ambassador by a quirky council of aliens, borrows a lot from filmmaker Steven Spielberg's "E.T.
" and Roald Dahl's books, say the movie's directors.
The film is directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina. Both Shi and Sharafian spoke to PTI about their movie influences and crafting a story with a universal theme. The film's producer Mary Alice said "Elio" underscores the intrigue humans have towards aliens.
Shi said she drew a lot of inspiration from Dahl's books like "James and the Giant Peach", and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", while putting together the lead character.
"'E.T.' was a big inspiration for us. I've always loved books by Roald Dahl. He tells stories about these lonely boys that come from a sad upbringing, a lot of the time they're orphans or have horrible families, and through their gumption, passion and perseverance, they're able to find belonging and love through a quirky world.
"The tone of our movie is like, oftentimes very Roald Dahl-esque, kind of the alien ambassadors that Elio meets, they're kind of ridiculous and pompous, but also a little silly and sweet," the director told PTI in a virtual interview.
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Sharafian, co-director of "Elio" said they channelled their love for Spielberg's classic movies, such as "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", John Carpenter's "The Thing", and Ridley Scott's "Alien", to create a narrative that presents aliens as "warm and friendly" figures.
"Domee and I are both huge sci-fi fans. We wanted to make a movie about aliens and a sci-fi movie that portrayed aliens in a positive light.
But we still wanted to have fun and pay homage to these classics and these tropes. When you watch the film, you'll see a little bit of both, friendliness and warmth, but maybe a few scares along the way," she added.
Shi added that with "Elio", they wanted to tap into the universal curiosity about what lies beyond Earth.
"... Is space friendly? Is it threatening? We don't know. I love that our movie kind of proposes a what-if, like, what if space was friendly? What if it was welcoming and there was a sense of belonging out there for us, and for this lonely kid named Elio? So, I love all that.
All the movies that Maddie mentioned, I'm a huge fan of Spielberg, Carpenter, and Ridley Scott," she said.
In the movie, a scene features a pivotal shout-out to Mumbai, encapsulating a massive emotional turn for Elio as he discovers he is not alone.
"I'm a huge fan of Indian films. So, I loved the shout-out. What we wanted that scene to encapsulate was this huge emotional turn for Elio as he realises that there were people like him all around who cared about the same things that he cared about and who were there for him and there to rescue and uplift him, all the things that he thought aliens, only aliens could do.
So, I'm glad we got a Mumbai shout-out in there. I hope one day we could see more," Sharafian added.
According to Alice, they wanted to understand human curiosity about universe through the eyes of Elio.
"We're always looking up at the stars, and we're always wondering, is there life out there? It's such a universal thing. Carl Sagan (American astronomer and planetary scientist) said as we learn more and more about space and the universe and the vastness, we're always curious about that, maybe even sometimes when we're kind of sad or tired of Earth, we wonder if there's something like Elio where we could go out into space and wish for it.
"But there are a lot of sci-fi movies, Maddie and Domee are such fans of and that have been the inspirations for the movie."
"Elio" boasts a stellar voice cast featuring Yonas Kibreab as Elio, Zoe Saldana as Aunt Olga, Remy Edgerly as Glordon, Brad Garrett as Lord Grigon, and Jameela Jamil as Ambassador Questa, among others.
The film will hit theatres on June 20 in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
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