“Question: In your fullness as a filmmaker, you’re happy with this progress. Is that 12-year-old that was drawing Tharks in his neighbor garage, is he happy on the inside?
Stanton: That’s easy. The 12-year-old is so easy to please. It’s the nearly 50-year-old that has now seen way too many movies and read too many books and is very jaded. Can I appease that person? When you see too many things of something you love done poorly, whether that be animation or fantasy or anything, you start to not become a fan, and I found myself starting to become more and more like the last thing I want to see: The last thing I want to see is a sci-fi movie. It’s not because I’ve lost for it; it’s that I love it too much to see it done half-assed or see it miss the mark — I’d rather save my energy for when I think it’s being done right. I’m trying to appease that part; I’m trying to appease the part of me that wouldn’t easily go to something like this — for any film I’m working on. I’m trying not to think of other audience members; I’m trying to go, “How can I not exclude anybody? How can I make this satisfy me on as many levels as I could?”
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