Pixar Changed Elio After Its First Trailer - The Filmmakers Explain Why

Pixar's upcoming movie Elio used to be a different film, something that many audiences noticed after comparing recent trailers to the first teaser. The movie in its final form follows a kid named Elio who is abducted by aliens and appointed as a representative for all of Earth. The Direct sat down with the cast and filmmakers behind Elio to talk about how the film changed over time; this included stars Yonas Kibreab (Elio), Brad Garrett (Lord Grigon, the villain of the movie), co-directors Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian, and producer Mary Alice Drumm. Elio hits theaters on Friday, June 20.

One of the biggest "sweat-inducing" changes made for the film, according to Madeline Sharafian, "was changing the aspect ratio to widescreen.". Of course, there were other massive changes, such as Elio wanting to be abducted instead of being against it, something that Mary Alice Drumm called "so energizing for the whole movie."

The Cast & Filmmakers of Elio Detail Big Changes to the Movie Before Release

"It Was a Big Change to Come Late..."

• The Direct: "Going back and re-watching that first teaser, it showcases a very different movie than what the final product ends up being. So, can you guys talk about what some of those big changes were at the end of the day, and then why you chose that this was the direction you needed to shift into for the better, realized story that you brought to the screen?"

Mary Alice Drumm: Adrian Molina was the first director on the film, and Maddie and I worked with him on 'Coco,' and the film, obviously, we got delayed because of the actors strike and everything, but at that point, it was more of a traditional abduction, right? That seemed like a great idea.

It was still a space idea. And then when Maddie and Domee started being more involved, they were just like, what if he's always wanted to go to space? And I love that about them, because... they take these tropes and they turn them on their head. And so that was just such a big idea that we were like, wait a minute, this is huge.

So, it is a big change to come late, but it was so energizing for the whole movie, and that informed then a lot of other pieces of the film.

Madeline Sharafian: We also made a big visual change that I was really excited about, which was changing the aspect ratio to widescreen, where I think it was actually the idea was pitched to us by our DPs, Derek Williams and Jordan Rempel, who were like, if we're gonna be making all these changes, we need to pitch this to you now, because it's something that we've been thinking about.

This is a sci-fi movie, let's try making it feel a little bit more epic and a little bit more like a classic sci-fi. And they showed us, you know, these tests that they had already run. They did all of this on their own, which I could see. I was like, clearly, these guys really want to do this. And to be honest, it was an easy decision to make the change, because I could see right away from the tests that they did, that it made the whole world feel more cinematic and it made Elio, even his internal emotional journey, feel more intense. 

So, that was exciting, but it was, you know, maybe a little sweat-inducing to change the aspect ratio partway through.

The entire interview with the filmmakers of Elio can be seen below:

In the original teaser, it makes it seem like Brad Garrett's Lord Grigon is an ally to Elio from the jump. He's even a member of the Communiverse (the alien society that Elio visits), which he isn't in the final movie.

Garrett told The Direct that "they really felt that Glordon," Grigon's son, "was a better ally," and that they wanted Grigon to be "more of a challenge for Elio:"

Brad Garrett: They really felt that Glordon was a better ally, who was obviously Grigon's son. And I kind of agree with that, too. If we started off where Grigon was an ally out of the gate, it really affects the stakes of the movie and the drama of the movie. So they wanted, I think, my character to be something that was more of a challenge for Elio and more of a challenge for Grigon when he started to be friends with Glordon, that just started to feel more of a natural, creative angle.

The full conversation with Brad Garrett can be seen below:

Yonas Kibreab confirmed that at one point, "Elio wasn't as excited to get abducted by aliens:"

Yonas Kibreab: From a long time ago to now, Elio wasn't as excited to get abducted by aliens, but now he is super, super excited. And to be honest, it was such a long time ago, so it's not really fresh in my mind. But yeah, this movie, it's gonna be so great.

Yonas Kibreab had plenty more to say about Elio, which can be viewed below:

Check out more of The Direct's interviews here!