This ‘Inside Out’ character was based on a movie star (and other little facts you should probably know)

Leave it to Pixar to make a movie bursting with secret references and hidden layers. Inside Out, which holds the US record for the highest opening for an original title, centers around eleven-year-old Riley, and her emotions, played by a whole cast of our favorite voices. On the surface, this movie may just seem like a good way to entertain your little brother on a summer afternoon, but in reality, it’s a wealth of scientific information and quirky Disney-nods. For example, we JUST found out that Joy’s character was based in part on a classic Hollywood star. According to an interview the film’s director, Pete Docter, gave to Cinema Online, “Joy is like a mix of Audrey Hepburn, Bugs Bunny and Audrey Tatou from Amelie.”

And that’s not the only delightful fact we’ve picked up from our Inside Out deep dive. Here are some of our favorites:

1. Emotions are universal. This is something that director Pete Doctor discovered while doing research for the film. He told Cinema Online that “one of [their] experts found a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea that never had any outside contact with anybody, and they have the same facial expressions and the same emotions as we do too.”

2. There were almost other characters, like Pride, Surprise and Schadenfreude. While the movie chose to focus on five specific emotions, expert opinions vary. Some say we have four, and some say we have up to 27!

3. All the characters have specific shapes. Disgust is shaped like broccoli (of course), Anger is a brick, Fear is a tall and thin nerve, Joy is a star and Sadness is a bit like a teardrop.

4. Joy was originally paired with Fear, not Sadness! Doctor spoke to The Dissolve about this, saying, “We realized that wasn’t really saying what we were trying to talk about, with the laws of childhood and the pain of growing up.”

5. Anger’s newspaper is all about Riley. The headlines reflect whatever is going on in the eleven-year-old’s day.

6. There was a Finding Nemo reference in Imagination Land! (Thanks Buzzfeed!)

7. There’s also a reference to The Haunted Mansion. Any time Riley’s dreams turn into nightmares, the theme music from the iconic Disney ride starts playing. *shudders*

8. The most expensive part of the movie? The skin. Originally, the glowing bubble-like skin of the characters was just for Joy, but when John Lasseter, Pixar Chief Creative Officer, saw it, he wanted it on all the characters. That kind of detail cost them a lot of $$$.

9. There were also going be other regions of Riley’s mind. These include the Idea Fields and a Stream of Consciousness, but there wasn’t enough time to fit everything in. Do I smell a sequel?

10. A sequel, you ask? Why, yes. Josh Cooley is directing a short film for the Blue-Ray release titled “Riley’s First Date.” Omg omg omg.

(Images via Pixar)

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