Was 'afraid' to talk about race before working on Pixar's 'Soul', admits co-director Pete Docter

New Delhi

'Soul' has been a riveting watch for many, but for film's director and Pixar's chief creative officer, Pete Docter, the film's journey has been personal on many levels. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he admitted that the story of Joe Gardener, the film's Black protagonist, wasn't a comfortable one for him.

"A number of people gave me feedback like, 'You seem really scared to talk about race issues,'" Docter said in the interview. "I am because I'm afraid I'm going to stick my foot in my mouth and say something dumb and offend somebody," said Docter. "I did along the way, without knowing it, and I learned from other people's mistakes as well."

'Soul' review: Pixar’s latest is all about appreciating little things in life in a hopeless year

One of the reasons the film has been criticised for its representation is for falling into the popular animation trope of turning people of colour into animals or creatures for the good length of the film. In the movie, Joe Gardener is introduced as a middle-school music teacher-cum Jazz musician, only to die within a few scenes and turn into a blue soul. 

Speaking about the same, Docter had said in September, "We were unaware of that [trope] as we started, but we certainly became aware,"  During the same conversation, Docter was asked if the film's initial release on June 19, 2020, before it was postponed due to the coronavirus, was purposefully chosen as it's Juneteenth, a day which commemorates the end of slavery in much of the United States. 

According to Insider, Docter admitted that they initially "were clueless to the fact that it was Juneteenth." Kemp Powers - who joined the film in 2018 as a writer late in the process, eventually becoming co-director alongside Docter - said when he came on board and saw the release date, he recalled a few of them noticing the significance of the date. "A few of us were like,' Oh, Juneteenth,' to which others were like, 'What's that?' It was a total coincidence that that was just the date," Powers said in September.

Docter took the reigns of the studio in 2018 after John Lasseter's departure following allegations of inappropriate behavior. After Lasseter left Pixar, execs turned their attention to fixing women's unequal role at the animation studio, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At that point, since the company's first release in 1995 with 'Toy Story,' Pixar only had one female director, Brenda Chapman, who helmed "Brave." She was later fired from the film over creative differences and replaced by a man, Mark Andrews.

Docter also advocated for Domee Shi's short film 'Bao,' which went on to win an Oscar for best animated short. Shi is now directing the studio's 2022 theatrical release, "Turning Red," which follows 13-year-old Mei Lee, who turns into a red panda whenever she gets excited. 

All these positive changes helped move 'Soul' in a different creative direction. After working on "Soul" for five years, Docter eventually made the brave choice to center Joe's character, making the animated jazz musician, voiced by Jamie Foxx, Pixar's first Black lead. 

In earlier iterations of the film, Joe wasn't Black. He wasn't even the main character.  "The very first incarnation of the story spent almost no time on Earth," Docter told Insider in October. "It was all in the soul world. I'm not sure Joe was African-American at that point."

"I don't know that we specified too much, but the roles were flipped. 22 [a soul voiced by Tina Fey] was the lead, this character, who doesn't want to go be born," he added.

In September, Powers recalled joining the film more than halfway through production. Initially hired for 12 weeks as a writer, he said the film was in "pretty rough form." Joe had gone from being an actor to a jazz musician and Powers was brought on to help "authentically" shape his character.

Along with the addition of Powers, the 'Soul' team reached out to consultants, who they relied heavily on throughout the creative process. They also created an internal brain trust made up of Black Pixar story animators and artists to make sure the film accurately reflected the Black culture.

"Animation is not an industry where there's been a great deal of representation. It just hasn't," Powers said during September's press conference. "I feel that Pixar is one of the few places that's been very genuine in recognizing the shortcomings and making a tremendous effort to start to rectify it. This film is that first effort."