THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES’ RICK MITCHELL

The look of Rick Mitchell (voiced by Danny McBride) — the nature-loving father who’s stuck in the past at the start of Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix’s movie — is based on director Mike Rianda’s own dad. “We wanted the characters to feel real and specific … and the way we did it was being observational,” he says.

The aviator jacket that was depicted in the film is “an actual jacket that my dad had when I was growing up. … It sort of puts him in the past, because it’s a jacket from the ’70s,” he adds. “We were so specific about the crinkles in his jacket and we had these handdrawn swirls in the fur so it looks like an illustration and not CG, which is what we were trying to do with the whole movie.

“Even thought he’s a little rough around the edges, he’s illustrated with a lot of warmth,” the director adds of the look of the concerned father, noting that this was important for production and character designer Lindsey Olivares. “It’s almost as if [daughter] Katie, the main character, is drawing the characters herself. He’s injected with the love you would have for your own dad, even though you are aware of his faults.”

The resemblance is there, Rianda confirms, saying that his father told him, “The guys at the Elks Club are giving me shit.”