Exclusive: ‘Elemental’ Director Peter Sohn & Producer Denise Ream Talk Doing The Impossible With Upcoming Pixar Film

Are you ready for Elemental?

We had the pleasure of touring Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA (basically San Francisco) where we nerded out inside the epicenter of cinematic innovation in Hollywood.

While there, we enjoyed a sneak peek at Pixar’s soon-to-be smash Elemental ahead of our interview with Peter Sohn, Vice President of Creative at Pixar Animation Studios, and Producer Denise Ream you can read below:

GG: ‘I’ve heard everyone say that they could not see this [Elemental] in their mind–that it was an impossible task–

Peter Sohn: ‘Yeah. Yeah. Everyone we pitched to in the beginning just didn’t get it‘–

Denise Ream: ‘Yeah.. there were three key images, maybe four, and a big visual–it was just hard to visualize and conceive, really–that’s why it was hard.’

GG: What advice would you give someone who wants to do something that’s seemingly impossible?

Peter Sohn: ‘I would say for me the naivete of how possible it was kept me going… if I had known what I knew now, I don’t know if I would have gone down this route. Honestly, this was a very difficult process to try to figure out. But I went in with a lot of naivete with just hopefulness. I love the movies and this would be a cool concept for a movie. Yeah, that’s the fuel. You just keep driving with that thing. My car is going pretty fast with this one and then all of a sudden people are like, ‘how you gonna do this?’ Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know.’

Denise Ream: ‘Yeah, it was gonna be hard. It was exponentially harder. But I think, you know, it’s kind of putting the blinders on. Like, it’s having a vision. And you kind of have to block out the noise–you kind of have to. Because everyone kept telling us that [the film was impossible to make]. Yeah, they really did and it’s important to find collaborators that felt passionate about it.’

In Disney and Pixar’s Elemental, moviegoers are transported to an extraordinary place called Element City where a host of elements live and work.

Source: Disney/Pixar

As you can imagine, things take a rather interesting turn when a quick-witted and fiery woman named Ember (whose always stayed close to home in Firetown) finally ventures out of her comfort zone to explore this spectacular world specifically crafted for the big-screen experience.

Check out the trailer below:

Directed by Peter Sohn, produced by Denise Ream, and executive produced by Pete Docter, the buzzy family film stars Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie as Ember and Wade, Ronnie del Carmen as Ember’s soon-to-be retired dad, Bernie, Shila Ommi as Ember’s love-seeking mom, Cinder, Wendi McLendon-Covey as Wade’s stormy, and Air-Ball-loving boss, Gale, Catherine O’Hara as Wade’s welcoming mom, Brook, Mason Wertheimer as Ember’s admiring earth neighbor, Clod, and Joe Pera as an overgrown city bureaucrat, Fern.

Elemental opens in theaters June 16, 2023.