Joss Whedon, Toy Story script doctoring

September 1, 2009 3:41 PM

I recently read an article saying that the Pixar film Toy Story "really came together" when Joss Whedon started working on the script. Does anyone know how he contributed or what he actually did to the story?

I realize there are a number of writers who worked on the story--many say Joss Whedon made the greatest contribution. I'd like to know how.

posted by The ____ of Justice to media & arts (5 comments total)

Try watching The Pixar Story on Netflix (you can watch-instantly). It's quite interesting and I do recall Whedon's involvement being quite instrumental in Toy Story, particularly in the sequel which was almost a straight-to-video Disney release.
posted by fleetwoodmeta at 3:58 PM on September 1

particularly in the sequel which was almost a straight-to-video Disney release

He's not credited at all for Toy Story 2, what I can see.

As for his involvement in the first film, this article makes it clear that it was a long effort involving many people, and that Whedon's first rewrite was anything but a success:

"The intention was to make it less juvenile," says Lasseter, "and more edgy, more adult." And Whedon's rewrite of the original script by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow was indeed sharp-edged. "We pushed them too far," suggests Schumacher. "They interpreted us wrong and made the film too abrasive. It lost a lot of its charm."

Hanks recognized the problems with Woody and Buzz early on. "At first pass, Woody was a very acerbic kind of guy," he says, "edgy and unpleasant. It was hard to believe him as the most popular toy in the bedroom who's lost his throne, who's more of a pose meister."

Disney chief Katzenberg was not pleased with the movie's direction--and at that bleak November 1993 meeting in Disney's old animation building in Burbank, animation chief Schneider, who usually played the role of bad cop on Toy Story, told Lasseter, Guggenheim, and Arnold that they had to stop animating until they got the tone right.
posted by effbot at 4:23 PM on September 1

That's what Pixar does. They have great writers each take a pass and add bits and pieces until its the final version. I doubt you could find out what he really contributed unless you have a friend that was involved in the production.
posted by mattsweaters at 4:28 PM on September 1

A defunct web magazine, In Focus, had a 2005 interview with Whedon where he talks about when and how he was involved with the Toy Story script. Key bits:

And they sent me the script and it was a shambles, but the story that Lasseter had come up with was, you know, the toys are alive and they conflict. The concept was gold. It was just right there. And that’s the dream job for a script doctor: a great structure with a script that doesn’t work. A script that’s pretty good? Where you can’t really figure out what’s wrong, because there’s something structural that’s hard to put your finger on? Death. But a good structure that just needs a new body on it is the best. So I was thrilled.

I went up to Pixar [the Northern California-based animation studio which produced “Toy Story”], and stayed there for weeks and wrote for, I think, four months before it got greenlit, and completely overhauled the script. There was some very basic things in there that stayed in there. The characters were pretty much in place except for the dinosaur, which was mine. I took out a lot of extraneous stuff, including the neighbor giving the kid a bad haircut before he leaves. There was a whole lot of extraneous stuff....

I spent about four months on it before we got the green light. When we got the green light and the script was approved and they were putting it together, I walked away, started doing other things, then came back a couple months later.

They had shut the movie down. I went up to Pixar, and they actually said, “Listen, we’re having to shut down for a while because we’re having story problems. Many of you are going to be laid off, and Joss is here to fix the script.” And then I was just like, “Why are you pointing at me? What’s going on? This is horrible!” I think this was “Black Monday.” I don’t know if it was a Monday. I think it was a Monday. But it was definitely referred to as “Black.”

So we sort of went back into the trenches and made sure we had everything we needed and nothing we didn’t. And then, you know, as is always the case with animation, I spent another couple of months on it and then it got reworked somewhat from there. I think one of the last things that was added – certainly it was after my time, and it’s the thing I most wish I could take credit for – was the crane-worshippers....

The little 3-eyed aliens.
I think I spent more time explaining that I didn’t come up with that than anything else.

How much time altogether did you end up investing in the project?
More than six months. It was not a polish; it was a rewrite and with animation you’re writing with every visual. Every shot is up on a board somewhere, so you’re writing in great detail. It’s a very fluid and complicated process.

Can you point to a specific “Toy” contribution of which you’re particularly proud?
I think the thing that I can point at and say, “This I am proud of,” is really the voice and the sensibility of the characters, keeping them from being that sort of old-school Disney – what my wife would refer to as “old-man humor.” Getting a little more voice and a little more edge into the jokes and into the bits, and just helping the structure, seeing it through.

The whole thing with the mutant toys, as we referred to them, forming the skateboard thing to bring them out, that came after Mattel rejected my Barbie-as-Sarah-Connor rescue scene.

Obviously, this is his perspective.
posted by dhartung at 11:36 PM on September 1

Thanks dhartung!
posted by The ____ of Justice at 12:27 PM on September 2