Photo Credit: MomStart.com
If you’ve gone and seen The Good Dinosaur (which you better have! or you better have plans to this weekend! 🙂 ) you saw the new Disney Pixar short Sanjay’s Super Team. While in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, we got to interview the director and producer of this great new short, Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle.
Sanjay has been an animator at Pixar for over 20 years. He’s working on films such as A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille and Toy Story 3. Despite working on some of the best Pixar movies, Sanjay is actually a very humble man – which is why he was actually very reluctant to create a film about him and his heritage. After the great John Lassiter caught wind that Sanjay was doing side projects outside of Pixar, including creating books that connected him to his culture, Mr. Lassiter asked Sanjay to create a short film. Before doing so, he talked with his father. And I love what he told Sanjay:
Sanjay: He said it was my duty to at least try. Win or lost, that doesn’t matter. That’s not part of the equation Sanjay, but it is your duty to at least try.
I loved the insight that Sanjay shared on developing Sanjay’s Super Team story:
The original concept I pitched to John was about a little boy in India that was kind of ignoring the cultural stories that were carved on the temples all around them. He had his nose buried in a Western style super hero comic and the short is about the boy appreciating his culture and then John asked, Well where were you born? Where were you raised? I told him, No I was raised in Whittier or in the San Bernadino. A little bit of both in Southern California. I told him how I spent every morning with my dad and his rituals and my rituals and he really connected with both concepts. The first note from John was Sanjay just tell your story about you and your dad. If you just tell that as honestly as possible people will connect to it. I just can’t diminish John’s support and his stewardship, he just made it so authentic and so true. He gave me permission to say things that I wouldn’t say otherwise because I think growing up in this culture I was always so afraid of exposing my identity, my parents identity, my parents community. I think my normal was always to just try to fit in and so it took John Lassiter to say to me, No Sanjay your story, your parent’s story has value here. You have permission to tell it. I’m super grateful.
At the end of the movie, you will see there are drawings. We thought they were possibly drawings that Sanjay drew when he was little, but they were actually photos from crew member’s children!
Nicole: We asked our crew members kids to do the drawing and they took it really seriously. They have parents who work at Pixar and they were like, What! I can have my artwork in the film? They all did their artwork and brought it in and we did our best to get them all in there. So that was fun.
Sanjay’s Super Team
is a sweet short that children and parents alike are sure to love and be able to relate to in some way. Thank you, Sanjay, for sharing your store with us through this great Pixar short!
Sanjay’s Super Team plays before The Good Dinosaur, in theaters now!
The Good Dinosaur asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.
Follow The Good Dinosaur Online:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube
The Good Dinosaur is now in theaters!
I was sent on an all-expense paid trip to Los Angeles, California courtesy of Disney to experience The Good Dinosaur as well as other fun adventures I can’t wait to share with you all. All opinions, as always, are 100% my own.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
Speak Your Mind