Remy is a rat who has a passion for cooking and he is really good at it. Remy gets caught by a janitor named Linguini while making soup. The cooks in the kitchen believe Linguini is the one who made that soup. Linguini needs to do whatever he can to keep his job. Remy helps him by controlling him with his hairs like a puppet in order to make all the fancy foods. They develop a friendship with each other.
Blaine: The idea for “Ratatouille” came to Brad Bird while he was developing “The Incredibles” and the people at Pixar studios thought it sounded like an interesting idea for an animated feature. Brad had already developed a script with Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco. After “Cars”, Pixar wanted to make “Ratatouille” it’s next movie, but they felt the story needed more work so they called Brad, asking if he could develop a new script. Brad was also offered to direct the project as well. Brad knew a movie like this should have a lot of physicality to it with the rat, Remy, wandering around and the way Linguini moves when Remy controls him through his hairs. Brad has always thought of rats as interesting creatures and he believes they are sweet when they are lab rats because they are not full of diseases for one. The rat characters in the film had to look like rats, but also at the same time look like something likable. Like you would have to fall in love with Remy and feel what he is feeling. Some of the animators at Pixar had rats as pets and they brought them into Pixar to use as models to draw. The animators studied their movements.
The animators wandered through Paris taking pictures of everything that was going to be in “Ratatouille”. It had to feel like you were in Paris as you were watching the movie. They also took photos from the ground and tight spaces in order to show what Remy’s point of view would look like. They went to Paris so many times and took pictures of everything including stuff like dumpsters. Brad Bird only got to visit Paris once because he was busy with other things, but he really enjoyed his trip. There was one spot in Paris that made Brad think of a new scene for the movie and it’s the scene where Linguini has Remy in a jar and is about to throw him into the water.
The inspiration of knowing the beauty of food and how a chef works came from Chef Thomas Keller, one of America’s finest chefs. Brad and the producers spent a lot of time with Thomas learning how to cook like him.
The animators took pictures of different types of food dishes made by Chef Michael Warch. He cooked up all these dishes they wanted in the film and they took photographs. They also took photographs of all the ingredients to make those foods. They photographed everything in different angles because it was important that they have every detail of each food for when the animators animate it. French people are proud of the food they make and their approach to cooking because it’s a huge part of their lives. The animators visited several French restaurants and the people who worked there were very welcoming and excited about the project it was for.
The people at Pixar made different versions of the ratatouille food at the studio and various chefs had worked on it. Brad Bird wanted it to look like something special in animation. Chef Thomas Keller had a special way of making ratatouille which Brad thought was perfect for the film. The challenge was to recreate the way Thomas did it through a computer in order to animate it.
Another challenge for “Ratatouille" was to find the right actor to do the voice of Remy because he had to speak about food with passion. Brad Bird heard Patton Oswalt’s voice on the radio and he was talking about food. The way Patton spoke about food really impressed Brad and he knew Patton was the perfect guy for the job. Patton Oswalt has done a little bit of acting, but he is more of a stand up comedian. He thought his friends were pulling a prank on him when he got the call saying Brad Bird was interested in him playing the lead character in the next Pixar film, but he kept getting calls that week about the project and he realized that it wasn’t a prank. So Patton met with Brad and they talked about the character, Remy. Patton Oswalt had never been offered a lead role before so this was something new and big for him. It was exhausting for Patton to do all that voice work because he had to put so much into his voice.
Peter Sohn is a story artist and animator and Brad thought his voice sounded right for Remy’s brother, Emile. Peter didn’t know what to think about that because he had never acted before, but he read the lines perfectly when they tested him and he felt comfortable under Brad’s direction because Brad knows what he wants.
Lou Romano had drawn a lot of stuff for Brad. He was a character designer for “The Iron Giant” and he was a production designer for “The Incredibles”, but for “Ratatouille”, Brad wanted Lou’s voice. The animators make a video where they act out a scene with physical movements to use as a visual example of how the animated characters are going to move. Lou did a lot of Linguini’s movements and he would talk and make noises while doing it. Brad saw those tapes of Lou bringing so much character into his performance and he felt Lou was suitable for Linguini.
This was Brad Garrett’s third film with Pixar after “A Bug’s Life” and “Finding Nemo” and even though he would have preferred a bigger part for “Ratatouille”, still he had fun doing the voice of Gusteau. Gusteau was a professional chef before his death, but his spirit lives on in some. He inspires Remy to cook thanks to his book on how to cook and the beauty of food. Gusteau lives on in Remy’s mind as his imaginary friend. The reason why Remy imagines him is because he needs someone to talk to who is understanding. Remy's family doesn’t understand him and he can’t talk to Linguini because he’s a rat.
Colette is the only female chef who works in the kitchen and she’s a believer in Gusteau’s message that anyone can cook. She’s also tough and is Linguini’s mentor, then she becomes his love interest. The animators who worked on Colette were all female and they loved doing animation to Janeane Garofalo’s voice work. Janeane Garofalo did a fantastic with the French accent.
Anton Ego, the food critic, starts off as someone who looks and acts like someone evil, but after he has a taste of the ratatouille Remy made for him, you see a different side to him and he acts nice. You just know Remy is going to cook up something that’ll really impress Anton. The late Peter O’ Toole was nice enough to agree to do the voice of Anton Ego and he loved every minute of this project because he loved saying his lines. Brian Dennehy did the voice of Django, Remy’s father and leader of the rat pack. Brad thought that Brian had a lot of authority in his voice.
The story Brad Bird had developed is so unique, original and smart and I think that’s one of the reasons why the actors were very happy and felt lucky to be apart of a project like this. Making “Ratatouille” has made Brad appreciate the skill and the artistry that goes into really good cooking.
My rating on “Ratatouille” is five out of five stars.
