Remy dreams of becoming a gourmet chef in a five-star Parisian restaurant. There's just one problem: He's a rat. Nevertheless, he's going to achieve that dream, with the help of a human garbage-hauler named Linguini — as well as the assistance of some of the finest artists and technicians in the world at Pixar Animation Studios. And with screenwriter-director Brad Bird at the helm, how can he fail?
But, just as Remy faces setbacks, so too did Pixar in bringing his adventure, Ratatouille, to the big screen. Midway through production, management determined that the story wasn't working, and with the release deadline looming, time was running out. The original director, Jan Pinkava, was excused from the project, and Bird was brought on board to salvage what he could. The writer-director of The Iron Giant and The Incredibles (which he discussed in STARLOG#266 & #329), Bird tried to bring afresh perspective to the story and do it justice in a drastically shortened window of production time.
STARLOG spoke with Bird as he was sound-mixing Ratatouille at Skywalker Sound in late April, polishing the picture for its June 29 release. He discussed how he joined the project, the changes he made, the film's production, his approach to the story development, the so-called "CG glut" and whether his upcoming live-action movie, 1906, means the end of his involvement in animation.
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