It all started at one of the most famous lunches in recent memory.
Pixar's creative gurus — Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, John Lasseter and Joe Ranft — were in the midst of making 1994's "Toy Story," the company's first film and the first animated film ever made entirely on computer.
Over the course of one meal, the Fab Four hatched ideas for "A Bug's Life," "Monsters, Inc." and Stanton's 2003 Oscar winner, "Finding Nemo" — a film that had more than a few passing references to his hometown of Rockport. The last idea the four came up with was just a character, a lonely robot named WALL-E, left on Earth to fend for himself.
"It's the saddest character we ever thought of," said Stanton, the Rockport native who joined Pixar 18 years ago as its second animator and ninth employee.
That character is the centerpiece of Pixar's latest film, "WALL-E," now playing in theaters. But it's not as gloomy as it sounds. The movie even includes a few songs from the 1969 film "Hello, Dolly!," a nod to Stanton's Rockport High days, when he participated in the school's production of the musical.
It's not one of Stanton's favorite films, but in "WALL-E," it's the title character's favorite.
"I thought it would be very different and unique," said the 42-year-old Stanton. "It just worked. I couldn't explain it."
According to Stanton, it worked because WALL-E is a sensitive soul, left to his own devices on Earth. The child-sized robot continues to do what he was programmed for — compact trash. He compacts trash into dazzling towers, tall enough to rival skyscrapers.
It's clear from the beginning of the movie that at one time, there were thousands of WALL-Es (Waste Allocation Load Lifter — Earth class) out there. Now, he's the only one of his kind left to clean up the trash left by the human race.
As WALL-E builds his skyscrapers of discarded cans and kitchen appliances, humans are cruising the galaxy, waiting to return to their cleaned planet.
Over the centuries, WALL-E has continued his duties, though he's developed a few quirks. He's become a collector of things, from Christmas lights to sporks. He's befriended a dog-like cockroach (who doesn't dance). And when he's done his compacting for the day, he unwinds with a little "Hello, Dolly!"
Evidently, viewing this movie for centuries has turned WALL-E into the quirky guy he is.
WALL-E's world changes when a svelte new robot lands on Earth. EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetarian Evaluators), as she is known, is there to scour the planet for life. WALL-E falls gears over bolts for her.
When Eve finds the tiny patch of green she's been looking for, she hightails it back to the human ship. WALL-E, not wanting to lose his friend, hops on board.
From there, WALL-E and Eve thwart some domineering robots and spur some lazy humans into action. Without "Hello, Dolly!" this might have been all there was. But in the end, there is a budding, though hard to express, love between WALL-E and Eve. This key plot point comes directly from the song "Love is Only Love," along with WALL-E's desire to hold Eve's hand.
Stanton said he didn't know how the notion of robot love would play on screen, or visions of "Hello, Dolly!" But he was in the mood to take a risk when he started working on "WALL-E" right after his Oscar nomination.
"It gave me the confidence to trust my gut," said Stanton, who keeps his golden statue in a glass cabinet in his parlor. "So much of 'Nemo' was risky at the time, so much of it was new. I had the confidence to try something risky after that."
Though Stanton and company devised the idea about 14 years ago, he didn't realize how timely it would be when the film was finally released.
"I didn't mean to be prophetic," he said. "It makes it look like we had a message, and we didn't. I just wanted to create an environment incredibly man-made."
He said he also didn't intend for the film to be preachy. But he does hope it makes people think.
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