Pixar’s Brave: Cast and Filmmakers Share Some Fun Facts
Pixar’s wonderful new movie, Brave, is out in theaters today, Friday, June 22nd (Check out our review here). The movie takes place in the Highlands of Scotland and follows the story of Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald), a skilled archer and headstrong daughter of (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). When her hand is put up as a prize to the winner of an age-old custom tournament, Merida decides to take her fate in her own hands. With the help of a Witch (voice of Julie Walters), she makes a wish that could have dire consequences and is forced to find the bravery inside her to defeat a curse before it’s too late.
Brave is a magical journey for the whole family. The scenery from Scotland is stunning and the characters will make you laugh, cry and everything in between.
A few of the talent who lent their voices to the characters, including Kelly Macdonald (Merida), Craig Ferguson (Lord Macintosh), and Kevin McKidd (Lord MacGuffin/Young MacGuffin), along with director Mark Andrews and producer Katherine Sarafian, took some time recently at a press conference to answer questions about the film. Here is what we learned.
The First Female Protagonist For Pixar
Kelly Macdonald explained that attention to detail is not her strong point and that she only recently realized that Merida is the first female protagonist in a Pixar movie. And even though she feels very privileged, she’s also glad that she didn’t know because it would have been a lot of pressure for her.
Sarafian also explained that they didn’t want to make Merida tomboyish, she likes being a girl and wearing dresses… and shooting arrows.
More of An Indoorsy Type
While the character of Merida is very outdoorsy and rebellious, Macdonald shared that she wasn’t like Merida growing up. In fact she was more of the indoors type, as for the rebellious part, “I didn’t have much to rebel against” she explained as her mom was really easy going.
No Fraternizing In The Booth
The actors didn’t get a chance to fraternize in the both as they didn’t get a chance to work together in the booth. That said Kevin McKidd seemed to be happy about it, as he joked, “It was great because it was all about you.”
It’s Pixar!
When asked about why they decided to get involved with the movie, Macdonald explained, “Just the name Pixar you know it’s going to be special.”
Ferguson even joked, “It’s not really an offer, it’s more of a summons.”
No Motion Capture
Andrews and Sarafian stated that there was no motion capture for the film. They did explain that when Emma Thompson was recording they would put a camera there to see her expressions and get inspiration from it, but that was it.
Traveling To Scotland
The filmmakers went to Scotland to find the look of the film, Macdonald even joked that “the filmmakers have seen more of Scotland than I’ve seen it.”
Learning From The Past
Sarafian explained that each of Pixar’s films builds on the last one in terms of animation. She gave as an example Merida’s hair. It is because of their past experiences that they were able to make it look the way it does.
Fun fact, Sarafian shared that in the past they even considered giving their characters hair cuts because it wouldn’t work the way they wanted it to.
What Animal Would Your Mother Be
When asked what animal they would turn their mothers into, Ferguson joked “I wouldn’t have thought my relationship would have been improved by her having claws.” As for McKidd, he received big awwws from the room when he shared the he would “turn her into a beautiful hummingbird so she could fly and be free.”
Fun Fact
Because he voiced two different characters, McKidd explained that in the morning when he was still a bit asleep, he would do the voice for Lord MacGuffin and try to imitate his father, and then after lunch it was young MacGuffin.
And now that you know it all, it’s time to get your tickets to see Brave and enjoy it with the whole family.
As always you can follow me on Twitter @sosandrine
