Trust Pixar to identify an inanimate, largely unremarkable object and transform it into a figure bursting with heart and character. It’s a tradition that can be traced all the way back to Toy Story in ’96, and one that the Pixar brain trust will uphold with Lou, an animated short film set to screen in front of Cars 3 in a few months’ time.
Directed by Dave Mullins, Lou is a six-minute short that centers on a lost-and-found box and the unseen monster within. Buried in a treasure chest overflowing with forgotten toys and various goodies, Mullins’ elusive creation is one that stems from his own childhood experience, after the filmmaker revealed to USA Today that he dreamed up the idea for Lou “from feeling out of place during his childhood because he moved around a lot.”
Taking this often crippling feeling of loneliness and flipping it on its head, the writer-director then imagined a character with the ability to hide in plain sight, and so Lou was born.
“You either feel invisible because you don’t know the other kids or you’re embarrassed and you want to be invisible. I thought it’d be really cool to have a character who could hide in plain sight.”
Watching over the school playground from the safety of his red hoody, our lead character soon identifies J.J. as a threat. He’s a bully, essentially, one who regularly picks on younger classmates. But J.J. is projecting, and after doling out some “high-jinks-filled comeuppance,” Lou then identifies with his isolation.
“That’s what I like about Lou: True happiness comes from giving. He gets J.J. to understand that and through that, what J.J. wants really is to be accepted by the other kids.”
Lou is expected to light up the silver screen this summer, just prior to Cars 3. Speaking of which, Brian Fee’s animated threequel will introduce fans to Lightning McQueen like they’ve never seen him before when it screeches into theaters across the globe on June 16th.