* I attended an all-expense paid press trip courtesy of Pixar/Disney. The review is in our own words and is our opinion.
Part of my Monsters University schedule was sitting down with the filmmakers of the upcoming computer-animated film. My classmates and I spoke with Producer, Kori Rae who shared a few insider information about herself and the film Monsters University.
Who is Kori Rae’s favorite character?
I love them all but I just love the character design of Dean Hardscrabble. She’s a strong, powerful character but Sully and Mike cause her to shift a little bit and change her way of thinking.
How many employees worked on Monsters University?
At our our peak the crew size ramped up to 260 – 270.
Did you work on the original Monsters, Inc.?
I was Associate Producer on that film.
What is the story behind Monsters University?
This prequel is the story of Mike, how he overcomes failure and how Sully helps him. Mike realizes as one door closes, and it closes hard, that sometimes the door that opens is what you were really meant to do. This story is really meaningful to me.
This is a different version of the old story that if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything. Sometimes you hit that brick wall and you have to figure out where to go from there.
What was Kori Rae’s life like pre-Pixar?
I taught eighth grade English and coached volleyball, softball, and basketball. I did this right out of school. I then
decided to change directions and do other things and that eventually led me to Pixar after a few years. I think Producing is definitely a lot like teaching and coaching.
Do the voices come together prior to the movie being animated? Where are they recorded?
All of the voices are recorded before it goes to animation.They are final, and edited in before animation. We record the voices here at Pixar as well as travel. A lot of it is dictated by schedules honestly. We can’t afford to fly to New York or wherever the town is, so we ask the voice talent to come here. We have a lot of the talent recorded here, which was fantastic. However, we did go to New York a couple times.
Thanks for meeting with us Kori Rae!
Monsters University is in theaters on June 21, 2013!
