Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for Elio!
Pixar’s latest adventure,Elio, offers another emotional adventure for audiences, and its central theme came from a surprising place for its creative team. The sci-fi comedy hails from a team of some of the studio’s more recent notable creatives, includingTurning Redduo Domee Shi and Julia Cho,Coco’s Adrian Molina andBurrow’s Madeline Sharafian, with Shi, Sharafian and Molina directing the film, albeit the latter having departed at some point tofocus onCoco 2.
Eliocenters on the titular 11-year-old protagonist who, feeling loneliness in the wake of his parents' death, is able to successfully call out to space and is abducted by aliens who mistake him as the leader of Earth by the intergalactic committee known as the Communiverse. When a rogue warlord sets out to conquer the Communiverse, Elio embarks on a journey with the warlord’s son, a similarly lonesome young alien, to stop him and maintain peace. Now in theaters,Eliohas garnered largely positive reviewsfrom critics, particularly for its exploration of isolation and self-esteem.
In anticipation of the movie’s release,ScreenRantinterviewed directors Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian, and producer Mary Alice Drumm, to discussElio. The trio broke down the movie’s exploration of grief and loneliness, including how a former surgeon general helped them shape the way the story tackled these themes, as well as the creation of Glordon and their thoughts on a potential sequel to the latest Pixar adventure.
The Creative Team Turned To A Former Surgeon General For Insight On “The Epidemic Of Loneliness”
“…We Found Something That We Could All Stand Behind.”
Even as they’ve gone on to explore different stories and subgenres, the one thing that remains consistent across all ofPixar’s acclaimed libraryis their films having a heartstring-pulling central theme to their stories. WithElio, as Sharafian explained,the creative team “always pointed back to loneliness as a theme”, particularly since it helped them understand “every character and every dynamic needs to point back to the same idea”. “Elio and Olga are both experiencing loneliness within their relationship, and Glordon and Lord Grigon are experiencing the same thing,” Sharafian explained.
For us, it was a theme that a lot of people on the crew could relate to.
With this theme guiding their way,Elio’s team took to looking for outside input on how best to shape the movie’s story, including “experts on child psychology” to get a sense of how to appropriately depict “loneliness and grief” in the movie’s younger characters. One notable figure they consulted with was that of former surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy,who helped them learn about “the epidemic of loneliness”, which they all found themselves to be a part of.
“Everybody’s feeling it, and as we were learning more about it as a crew, we started to realize, we’re like, ‘Wait a minute. I’m really lonely right now.’,” Sharafian shared. “I think when you find something that, all of a sudden, you’re uniting this team on a worthy goal, and we kind of love that we found something that we could all stand behind.”
Glordon’s Likability Was A Unique Balance Of Contrasts
“And His Voice Performance By Remy Edgerly Is Just Amazing.”
In the midst of the emotional and colorful adventure is that of Remy Edgerly’s Glordon,the son ofElio’s antagonist, Lord Grigon, who is a worm-like alien with “no eyes or eyebrows” and “crazy-sharp teeth”, but also “the cutest, sweetest boy voice”, a “perfect contrast” that Shi felt important to have in his design. Drumm echoed Shi’s sentiments, recalling howthe team “wanted to create a space we’ve never seen before”, and in doing so, explore new species of aliens.
“So there’s a creature called the tardigrade, which is a microscopic creature also called a water bear,” Drumm explained. “So that was the original spark for Glordon, but then I think it’s interesting. We had to say to our animators, ‘What if we have a character with no eyes and no eyebrows?’ But we do work with the best animators in the world, and they were happy to tackle that.”
You feel for him. You cry for him. You love him.
The producer went on tohighlight the performance of Remy Edgerlyas being another key element to why Glordon is so lovable inElio, praising his work as “just amazing” and feeling it “makes the character”. “We heard Remy when he was very young,” Drumm expressed. “He’s probably too young for the role, but we knew that it would take some time for the movie, and he just sparked. He’s a big reason why we all love Glordon.”
Elio Comes With All The Expected Easter Eggs Of A Pixar Movie
“…You Shouldn’t Really Be Thinking About Them The First Time You Watch The Movie.”
In addition to the emotional stories, one of the other consistent elements of anyPixar film is the inclusion of Easter eggsfor the studio’s other films, be they stuffed animals designed like certain characters, or hints at the studio’s next film. When asked ifEliocontinues this trend, both Shi and Sharafian confirmed “all those Easter eggs you mentioned are in the movie”,though the former expressed that audiences “shouldn’t really be thinking about them the first time” they watch the film.
Even still, the co-director confirmed many of “the classics” of Pixar Easter eggs can be found in the film, including “the Luxo Ball” and “A113”. More intriguingly, however, is her reveal thatEliofeaturesa uniquely direct look at the studio’s next film,Hoppers, pointing to it being shown in the Communiverse and being “on screen for a pretty long time”, though she stops herself short as she says, “I don’t know if I want to say more on that”.
The Team Have Many Ideas For An Elio Sequel
“There’s A Whole Story There.”
With Pixar and Disney looking to capitalize on their prior animated successes with a renewed focus on franchise filmmaking, includingToy Story 5andCoco 2, the question now becomes whether there will be a sequel to Pixar’s latest film. For Shi and Sharafian,they are both keen to continue expanding the world set up in the movie, with the former confirmingElio’s ending and post-credits scenes, in which the titular boy is shown still in touch with his new alien friends, “leaves the door open” for future stories.
Shi went on to tease that “the universe is so vast” while also specifically describing “the world of the Communiverse is so rich”, therefore offering many opportunities for the team to explore in a sequel. After Sharafian’s note that there were “so many aliens that we had to trim for time”, her co-director affirmed said characters “had whole backstories” and “families” left unexplored in the film, while sharing her hope to “know about Glordon’s mom” and “the blood wars”.
Stay tuned for and check out our otherEliointerviews with:
Elio
Cast
Elio follows the journey of a space enthusiast who embarks on a cosmic adventure, encountering eccentric alien lifeforms and facing an intergalactic crisis. During this odyssey, he attempts to forge new friendships and discovers his true identity in the universe. Released in 2025, the film explores themes of self-discovery and friendship.
