Ratatouille teaser clip
featurette for Pixar movie emphasizes character of Linguini
There's more Ratatouille goodness from the good folks at Disney and Pixar. This featurette focuses on the hapless garbage boy Linguini.
(Source: film ick)
“For us in animation,” observes Ratatouille producer Brad Lewis,” there’s never been a character like Linguini . . . things have to be completely communicated with physical humour.”
Following up on last Tuesday’s 9-minute Ratatouille clip, Disney and Pixar are keeping the promo goodies coming. There’s a very good reason for that: Pixar’s putting an original story idea up against a lot of sequels this summer, especially the multi-million dollar behemoth that is DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek the Third. It is also testing the wisdom of Disney CEO Robert Iger’s $7.4 billion acquisition of the Emeryville studio last May.
That deal essentially put Pixar honchos John Lasseter and Ed Catmull in charge of Disney Animation, and executives and stockholders need to know that Iger’s decision will keep the profits rolling into the Mouse House.
Disney is doing well financially: it’s on its way to posting a $8.1 billion profit over its first quarter, up from $8 billion last year. That’s despite not having a Christmas blockbuster (like 2005’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and ABC losing the rights to the Superbowl broadcast earlier this year.
But Lasseter has been involved in several artistic turf wars since returning to Disney, and he has to keep that high ground that only a successful summer movie brings. That’s why it’s critical that Ratatouille become a box office success.
This latest featurette focuses on Linguini, the hapless garbage boy who becomes Remy’s human avatar in the kitchen. Remy is a sewer rat who wants to become a great chef, but knows that having a rat in a kitchen is death for the kitchen (and, ultimately, the rat).
When Linguini discovers Remy improving some soup, he’s told to get rid of the rat. But the kitchen boy realizes that Remy can help him keep his job at Gusteau’s, the once-proud Paris restaurant that’s fallen into the hands of the avaricious chef Skinner.
“Linguini’s the exact opposite of Remy in so many ways,” Lewis continues. “Linguini’s never made a plan in his life, never had an ounce of drive in his life.”
“Linguini just wants a job; he’s happy just doing the dishes or taking out the garbage. But Remy,” says story supervisor Mark Andrews, “Remy wants to cook. But nobody’s gonna let a rat cook.”
To get around this, Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) hides under Linguini’s hat, controlling the kitchen boy’s actions by pulling on his hair. This moves Ratatouille towards the realm of physical comedy, since there are many scenes where Remy and Linguini have to figure out their relationship.
“Situations like this are catnip for an animator,” says director Brad Bird, “because it’s about two distinctly different individuals, and one is forcing their own will upon the other, physically.”
“The thing about Ratatouille,” sums up Lewis, “is that there’s probably more physical humour in this film than in any other Pixar film.”
Artistically at least, Pixar seems to have another winner on its hands. If the movie can be judged on its featurettes, Ratatouille looks to be a return to form for Pixar, after the style-over-substance that characterized last year’s Cars. The characters are a lot more interesting, and the story is different from the usual CGI animated fare. Will that translate into box office success for Ratatouille?
Quicktime users can check out the clip over here. Ratatouille opens June 29th.
