Not to make you feel old or anything, but it’s been 10 years since Pixar’s emotional masterpiece “Inside Out” hit screens. Yes, really.
First premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, the animated film hit theaters on June 19, 2015. Having given cars, toys and monsters emotions, “Inside Out” introduced fans to emotions themselves: Joy, Anger, Sadness, Fear and Disgust. They inside the head of Riley, a young girl just starting to hit adolescence, whose entire life is uprooted when her family moves to San Francisco.
Like any movie, “Inside Out” had quite the journey in getting to screen, and there are some hidden gems in that trail. So, we picked out a few of our favorites.
Here are 10 facts about the animated classic you might not have known.
1. Riley’s Emotions Nearly Talked to Her
In one draft of the film, the console in Riley’s head had a microphone, so that her emotions could speak directly to her. She wouldn’t have talked back or anything, but they could influence her more directly.
“They’d be like the voices in her head, and they could suggest things she should say or act upon,” director and writer Pete Docter explained in a deleted scene for the film. “That ended up getting cut just because it seemed like something more complicated than we needed.”
2. Joy was more aggressive
One concern the “Inside Out” team had was that Joy would be easy to hate, simply because anyone who is only optimistic and cheerful can be annoying. But ironically, the character had more of an edge to her at one point. In another deleted scene from the film, she gets annoyed at the idea of Riley making friends, and suggests they spit in a girl’s face.
3. Fear almost became a villain
Originally, the journey through Riley’s mind was going to be one that Joy and Fear took together, rather than Joy and Sadness. And during that journey, Fear actually had a brief villainous turn, as he tried to capture Joy and keep her from returning to headquarters. It was…a little dark.
4. ‘The Office’ isn’t why Phyllis Smith got cast
Phyllis Smith is, of course, best known for playing Phyllis in NBC’s hit series “The Office.” But it was actually her work alongside Cameron Diaz in “Bad Teacher” that got her cast in “Inside Out.” Producer Jonas Riveras saw her in the film, and it cracked the character of Sadness for them.
5. Lewis Black mocked the directors for casting him
According to Riveras, Lewis Black actually mocked him and Docter when they called to pitch him the role of Anger. “He immediately was like, ‘Great. Real stretch casting, guys. Brilliant,’” Riveras told Nola.com.
6. ‘SNL’ was a reference for some scenes
Apparently, Bill Hader, who would go on to voice Fear in “Inside Out” (but not “Inside Out 2”), would often hang around Pixar just because he loved animation. Docter and Riveras ran into him on campus, and got to talking, revealing that “Inside Out” would have a live television broadcast scene.
Hader was still a “Saturday Night Live” cast member at that point, so he invited the duo to visit the New York set for research, and they did, which led to Hader getting the part.
7. Mindy Kaling cried when she heard the initial pitch
According to Pete Docter, Mindy Kaling — who voiced Disgust in “Inside Out” but also did not return for the sequel — cried when he pitched the film to her. He told NPR at the time that “I thought, ‘Oh no, did she get like a bad text or something?’”
In reality, she was just so excited about the story, telling Docter, “I just think it’s really beautiful that you guys are making a story that tells kids that it’s difficult to grow up and it’s OK to be sad about it.”
8. It was the first Pixar film without heavy involvement from Steve Jobs
It’s easy to forget that co-founder and former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs was also a founder of Pixar, but indeed, he was. And he maintained a pretty heavy presence there until his death in 2011.
Development on the film was greenlit back in 2009, and the team behind the film first met in 2010. The timeline shook out so that “Inside Out” actually became the first Pixar original film to be produced almost entirely without Jobs’ involvement.
9. Riley was almost depressed
Riley is just 11 years old in “Inside Out,” so she’s really starting to navigate complex emotions for the first time ever. But in one draft of the film, her struggle was actually going to be more intense.
“We initially considered sending Riley into a deep depression,” Docter told the New York Times in 2015. “But we realized that was not appropriate.”
10. Walt Disney’s daughter directly impacted production
“Inside Out” may not have had Steve Jobs, or very much John Lasseter, but it did have help from an actual Disney. Walt Disney’s daughter Diane — the only biological child of the company’s founder, though he and his wife adopted another daughter — provided space for Docter and his team to work.
In 2011, Diane Disney Miller allowed the “Inside Out” team to hold multiple meetings at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. This allowed them to focus on their work without the distraction of a buzzing studio around them.
“Inside Out” is now streaming on Disney+.
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