Inside Out, Pixar’s newest animated movie, is a tearjerker. Audible sniffles filled the theater at the film’s East Coast premiere at Vulture Festival, and in a panel following the screening director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera revealed that even Mindy Kaling, who voices Disgust, couldn’t keep it together when she heard the script. “We pitched her the story, and we turn around and she’s crying,†Docter said. “We thought she got a bad text or something.†It turns out Kaling also handed Docter and Rivera the film’s central idea on a platter. “She said, ‘I think it’s great that you guys are making a film that shows that it’s difficult to grow up and that it’s okay to be sad about it,’†Docter said. “And we were like, ‘Quick, write that down!’â€
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Synchronizing those themes is one of many reasons Inside Out took five years to make — a “not unusual†time frame for a Pixar masterpiece, Docter said. The team consulted neuroscientists to make the film’s location — an 11-year-old-girl’s brain — believable, interviewed child psychologists and psychiatrists, took months designing and re-designing set elements, and even switched out one of the central characters. “We’d still be working on Toy Story one if someone didn’t tell us to stop,†Docter said. “That’s credit to the creative leadership. They recognize it’s not just about getting it done — it’s about getting a good thing done.â€