Pixar shorts ready to delight, starting with ‘Up’ dog Dug
While Pixar is a legendary animation house known for its many Oscar-winning features, the Disneyowned studio fosters rising talent through its Pixar SparkShorts program.
“Dug Days” is a series of brief cartoon spin-offs from Carl, the grouchy old guy in the 2017 Pixar hit “Up,” and his best friend, Dug, the scene-stealing pooch who through a device around his neck can talk to Carl.
“We pitched to Pixar a series of shorts that showed a dog’s life, especially his super senses like smell. This gave us a dog’s feelings, which can be intense,” explained director Bob Peterson, who also voices Dug.
Ed Asner, who died a few weeks ago, was once again the voice of Carl.
“We gave Carl a hobby, woodworking. And Dug’s backyard is his whole world so we wanted it to have that same cozy feeling.
“We updated Dug as well, with new fur and textures. And we finally get to see the Squirrel — he needs to give Dug a hard time, which squirrels do.
“Dogs,” Petersen added, “have superpowers with hearing and smell, far beyond what we can do.”
The two SparkShorts, a program for new storytellers and new storyteller techniques, are personal.
Aphton Corbin, the writer-director of “Twenty Something,” worked on “Soul.” She’s been at Disney since 2016.
Corbin’s heroine Gia is “going out on her 21st birthday into the world. With her friends they go to a club. I based my short on insecurity, to feel like a kid in the workplace. I had to use my own skills to write a script with dialogue.”
Because of the pandemic, “I missed having a team to bounce ideas off of.”
“Nona,” writer-director Louis Gonzales’ six-minute short, involves a grandma who loves watching wrestling, her 4-year-old wildly energetic granddaughter and a pitbull.
“I had this character, she’s a grandmother I like. Not like the ones I see on TV. Then there’s this ball of energy who’s gone the minute you turn your back.
“To find truth in this character meant ‘write what you know about.’ Like my Grandmother Pearl,” Gonzales said, “who I was kind of afraid of when I was young. The important part: She loved wrestling.
“I have a truthful version of this character. Nona is not Grandma Pearl but definitely an inspiration. The thing that for me made it honest, made it more than just a concept of a grandma who was a wrestler was where we found a grandma who watches wrestling to remember their deceased loved one.”
“Dug Days” and “Twenty Something” are available now on Disney+. “Nona” will be available Friday on Disney+.