Digital Spy sat down with director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae to discuss going backwards instead of forwards, the college experience and why Pixar star could take a dark, Nicolas Cage-inspired turn.
Kori, you worked on Monsters, Inc and Monsters University, so what made you want to go back and make a prequel?
Kori: "When we first started talking together to see if there was an idea to make another film, we thought about Mike and Sully's relationship and knowing how much we loved those characters from the first film. And we thought it would be great if we went backwards and figured out how they met and meet them when they first meet, and then that took us back to the idea that it could be in college and we thought that could be fantastic."
Dan, you started working at Pixar when the first movie came out so did you feel extra pressure when you were asking to direct Monsters University?
Dan: "I did, I actually felt really excited. The first Monsters, Inc represents starting at Pixar for me, I have a special place in my heart for it. So to be able to tell a story with those ideas as an honour."
There are a lot of classic college movies - did you go back and look at any?
Kori: "We did."
Dan: "We looked at a lot of them, anytime that Pixar is developing a movie we look at movies both in the genre but also movies with similar themes. We're all such film buffs, so we're trying to remind ourselves what's been done in the past.
"But yes, we looked at a lot of college movies, all of which seemed to be from the '80s, I don't know why? So if you look at Monsters University you will see '80s nods, not that the movie takes place in the '80s but we had to do a few feathery monster mullets here and there."
'Monsters University' character ID: Sulley
'Monsters University' character ID: Mike Wazowski
Did you try and relive your college glory days for research?
Kori: "We did, we went on a number of research trips at colleges all over the United States. We really tried to soak [it] up, look at the buildings and remind ourselves what the campuses look like, but also look at the students and pick up on what life was like.
"We realised just how young college students were, they're all babies, we were kind of shocked at being reminded of that. But that was helpful, they're so young and kind of innocent. Their life is ahead of them, but there's also a lot of pressure because they are out there on their own for the first time and they're trying to figure out what to do and what to make of their lives. So we tried to incorporate all of that into the film."
With fear being a big theme in the Monsters movies, what were the things that freaked you out growing up?
Kori: "Oddly enough I did have a recurring nightmare as a kid of an abominable snowman. My own yeti - I did actually have a horrifying dream about that."
Dan: "Was it John Ratzenberger?"
Kori: "It was not voiced by John Ratzenberger. I don't think he talked, he more came charging after me."
Dan: "Clowns, they terrified me."
Since this is going back to look at the early years of a famous film duo, are there any other movie characters you'd like to see have their own prequel?
Dan: "Leaving Las Vegas, but just a version where he's really happy and at the end he goes 'Hmmm, alcohol, I've never tried that before'. That's dark and horrible!"
What's up next for you?
Kori: "We'll certainly be at Pixar but we have no idea, we are just only finishing this one, we finished a few weeks ago."
Dan: "I like this Leaving Las Vegas prequel idea!"
Monsters University opens in UK cinemas on July 12 and is in US cinemas now.
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