The INSIDER Summary:
• Pixar fills its movies with hidden references to other movies.
• Director Andrew Stanton says its because the animators get bored.
Pixar movies are filled with Easter eggs. Often they're references to other Pixar films hidden in the background of scenes. Fans like to look for them, and they're rewarding to find.
Andrew Stanton, the co-director of Pixar's most recent movie, "Finding Dory," told INSIDER animators make Easter eggs because they get bored at their job and want to mess around.
"Most of it, to be frank, comes out of sheer boredom," Stanton said. "We work on these films for four years, and I defy anybody who works on the same thing for four years not to get impish and want to mess with stuff."
It makes sense. If you're an animator spending hours configuring the precise shade of blue on Dory's left fin when the sun is at a 23-degree angle at the sky, you might get restless and want to have a bit of fun. And the Easter eggs tend to be suggested by the animators, not the higher-ups working on story development.
"We kind of promote anything that keeps people making their job fun," Stanton said. "It’s not like there’s a big war room and then people map it out like that."
Stanton appreciates it when the audiences picks up on the Easter eggs. It tells him that people are paying attention, and lovingly poring over the details.
"It's just a stamp of approval," Stanton said. "It means that people are focusing and really watched your movie."
