Pixar’s “Elio” is headed home.
The beloved animated studio’s latest feature, about a lonely young boy who gets abducted by aliens, will hit digital tomorrow, Aug. 19, followed by a 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD release on Sept. 9. And ahead of that release, we have an exclusive deleted scene, which you can watch below.
As directors Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian note in the introduction, this scene was part of a version of the movie that predated their involvement. That version of the movie was very different – chiefly that it was structured around three tests that young Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) must complete after being abducted by aliens and set loose on the Communiverse, a gorgeous, swirling space station full of extraterrestrial “ambassadors.” The scene, as Sharafian notes in the clip, was “for the audience and Elio to meet the ambassadors on an individual level.” Another big difference, as Shi remarks, is that Lord Grigon (voiced by Brad Garrett), went from being another ambassador to the movie’s chief antagonist. He is big and scary, after all.
The scene, which plays out like an extended cocktail party, is what Elio imagines is the first test but is, in actuality, not. It’s a fascinating look at what the movie could have been, and once was, before a dramatic creative overhaul gave us the movie “Elio” that arrived in theaters earlier this summer.
You can see this deleted scene, along with a host of other deleted scenes (including an exciting, fully animated chase sequence), mini documentaries and more on the home release of “Elio.”
