Pete Docter, the chief creative officer of Pixar, defended the studio’s decision to cut LGBTQ+ storylines from “Elio,” saying they were “making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.”
While some were disappointed by this decision — as well as the decision to remove references to a character being transgender in Disney+’s “Win or Lose” — the Pixar executive told the Wall Street Journal in a new interview that the studio found some parents didn’t want their entertainment to force conversations with their kids.
However, hours after the interview dropped, Docter’s admission sparked a range of responses from fans of the movie, many of whom expressed heartbreak over the tweaked plot.
“This PIXAR news is actually HEARTBREAKING for many,” one X user wrote Saturday. “elio DESERVED his full STORY without any SCRAPPED elements.” Another chimed in with, “Gutted, i absolutely loved Elio and this would have been a great little message imo.”
But a third person offered a different perspective. “As a gay man that #Elio is one of his favorite #Pixar movies,” he wrote on X, “I think in this case the version we got holds enough elements to understand what is happening in the final version without throwing it to our faces and in this case that scene would stood out of the theme of the movie.”
The animated film follows the story of Elio, a young boy who is bullied by his peers for his obsession with space before embarking on an out of this world adventure. Per the Wall Street Journal, the movie tested poorly with audiences, and Docter ordered the team nearly complete to rework it.
Some of the elements removed — including a pink bicycle and a fantasy sequence in which he imagines a life together with his male crush — appeared to indicate Elio was gay.
Though the final edit tested better, the movie earned only $150 million when it opened in theaters — ultimately losing Disney over $100 million.
The movie’s emotional ending proved to be a hit with audiences, however. At the conclusion of the film, Elio is forced to decide between remaining in the magical realm he’s inhabited or returning to Earth, and he ultimately chooses the latter. As he says goodbye to his new alien friends, they each tell him, “OK, bye, love you” — a phrase that initially drew them to Elio in the first place.
“As an audience member in [previous director] Adrian’s earlier screenings, that was the point of the movie that I always cried, no matter what,” Madeline Sharafian told TheWrap. “Even if there were some other resolutions happening around it, that moment hit every time. When we took on the project, it was very clear that we need to maintain it and serve it and make sure that we’re leading up to it and that we don’t lose whatever about this is making it so emotional.”
