When it comes to representation in Pixar movies, the animation company has been including more leading characters of color in many of its recent films across the past decade, from Coco to its latest title, Elio, which is new on streaming this week. Earlier this year, when CinemaBlend learned about the movie at Pixar’s headquarters in Emeryville, California, we talked to the filmmakers about the Dominican family at the center of it.
Elio is a fun space adventure that also has a lot of say about parenthood. In the movie, Elio and his aunt Olga Solís are adjusting to living with each other in the wake of Elio’s parents dying, and the heart of the movie lies in their relationship. Here’s what co-director Domee Shi told us about what Zoe Saldaña brought to the movie as Aunt Olga:
Elio and his family are of Mexican-Dominican heritage, which marks a first for Pixar. Since Saldaña is half Dominican herself, she could infuse some of her own experience and specificities of her culture to the movie with the filmmakers. They took her ideas to heart.
It sounds like the Oscar winner was generous with the filmmakers about this behind the scenes. It only helped make the character more authentic. As co-director Madeline Sharafian added during our interview:
Olga Solís is an Air Force major who is struggling with basically becoming a parent and adjusting to giving up her dreams to be an astronaut in order to raise him. The movie has been praised for being accurate to the U.S. Space Force.
Elio also received positive praise from critics and audiences alike (just check out our Elio review) during its underwhelming theatrical release in early summer. As Shi (who also helmed Turning Red) also shared about working with Saldaña on the animated movie:
Zoe Saldaña is also a mother herself of kids around Elio’s age, as she has three sons with husband Marco Perego. They have 10-year-old identical twins Cy and Bowie, and an eight-year-old named Zen. Producer Mary Alice Drumm said this about collaborating with Saldaña on the new Pixar movie:
It’s great to hear Zoe Saldaña was so involved in the process of bringing the studio’s first Dominican family to screen, along with her great talents that have also been made apparent in her other sci-fi projects like the Avatar and Star Trek movies. Now that the original movie is on Disney+, you can watch for the specificity Saldaña brought to the role on streaming.