Behind the Scenes Interview with MONSTERS UNIVERSITY Director and Producer

CineMovie paid a visit to Pixar Animation Studios to talk to director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae about the making of MONSTERS UNIVERSITY. The veteran Pixar artists give us the scoop on being part of Pixar team and working their way up to spearheading the own Disney*Pixar hit.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY comes to Blu-ray and DVD on October 29 with lots of bonus features that includes the usual featurettes about the making of the film, but the home release also gives you a rare look into life at Pixar and the collaboration process, which has given us many of our favorite characters from Toy Story, Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, Up and Monsters Inc.  

For their latest blockbuster, Pixar Animation Studio and Disney invited us to their Northern California studio for a rare look inside the facilities that is currently themed to MONSTERS UNIVERSITY.  CineMovie went back to school for a curriculum in MONSTERS UNIVERSITY.  Part of the visit was with MONSTERS UNIVERSITY director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae who moved up the ranks at Pixar to helm their own project.  Scanlon joined Pixar Animation Studios in September 2001 as a storyboard artist and went on to work on Cars and Toy Story 3. Then came an opportunity to co-direct with Disney*Pixar’s fearless leader, John Lasseter on the original short film based on one of Cars’ favorite character in “Mater and the Ghostlight, which can be found on the Cars DVD.  On his own time, he wrote and directed the live action film Tracy, released in 2009. Haven proven himself, Scanlon took full charge of the most anticipated release from Disney*Pixar.

Scanlon’s producer Kori Rae also moved up the ranks at Pixar Animation Studio. The Pixar veteran helped shape Pixar in its early inception when she joined the Emeryville-based company in 1993. Working on the Pixar classics through the years including Monsters Inc. as an associate producer has led to producing the new adventure with Mike and Sulley.  

Aside from that, the MONSTERS UNIVERSITY filmmakers also reveal how they came to the decision to change the Dean Hardscrabble character from a male scarer to a female monster so late in the process, which is also documented on the extras on the MONSTERS UNIVERSITY Blu-ray.  

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY is available on Blu-ray and DVD October 29, 2013.