The Most Fascinating Facts You Didn't Know About WALL-E
For a movie with very few words, WALL-E certainly has a lot to say. With sly references, hidden biblical messages, and major environmental themes, the 2008 Pixar movie stood out from the animated Disney films that came before it. Unsurprisingly, the sci-fi comedy was critically praised and commercially successful, ending up regarded as one of the best Pixar movies.
There are plenty of interesting things about WALL-E that will make you look at the movie in a whole new light, whether it's one of those hard-to-spot Pixar Easter eggs or just a fun little bit of trivia. Let's take a look at some of the most fascinating things about the animated classic.
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WALL-E Was Voiced By The Guy Who Played R2-D2
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Sound designer Ben Burtt was given the massive task of creating the voice for the movie's main character - which consisted of lots of beeps and whistle sounds. It wasn't a new task for Burtt, who's known for voicing R2-D2 in the Star Wars films. He explained how he got involved in the project in an interview.
"I had just finished my 29-year, 10-month tour of duty with 'Star Wars,' and I thought, 'Well, at least I don't have to do any more robots.' But when Pixar called, I could see this was something more like a Frank Capra romance with Buster Keaton thrown in. And you had the challenge of not only creating the sound for this fantasy world, but the even bigger task of creating principal characters built out of sound," he said.
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The Design For WALL-E Was Conceived At A Baseball Game
Director Andrew Stanton came up with the design for the titular character while at a baseball game. He'd been using binoculars, and at one point realized that he all he needed to create a memorable character was in his hands.
"You don't need a mouth, you don't need a nose, you get a whole personality just from [the binoculars]," Stanton said of the design development that led to the creation of the WALL-E character.
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The Original Title Was 'Trash Planet'
WALL-E wasn't always the heartwarming story it ended up being. Originally, the film was called Trash Planet and had a much different plot and tone.
"It was about a family of aliens going on a summer vacation on a planet and it’s supposed to be a resort and there’s this tiny little robot that drives them nuts," co-writer Jim Reardon explained of the original movie.
"John [Lasseter] passed on it but the idea of a lone, solitary robot on a planet full of trash really struck something in [director] Andrew [Stanton]. And he thought he could make it into a love story."
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The Movie's Creators Denied Its Environmental Message
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WALL-E isn't just a robot love story, it's a layered tale with a poignant message about the environment and the power of Mother Nature. The creators of the movie wouldn't have you thinking that, however. The famously apolitical Pixar denied the political message of the film upon its release.
"I knew that I was going into territory that was basically the same stuff, but I don't have a political bent or ecological message to push. I don't mind that it supports that kind of view — it's certainly a good-citizen kind of way to be — but everything I wanted to do was based on the film's love story, the last robot on Earth, the sentence that we first came up with in 1994," Stanton said.
"I said, 'I have to get everybody off the planet, and do it in a way that audiences get it without any dialogue.' So trash did that. You look at it, you just get it. It's a dump, you've gotta move it — even a little kid understands that."
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The Movie's Composer Is Related To The Composer Of WALL-E's Favorite Movie
One of the coolest bits of WALL-E trivia comes from its music composer. Thomas Newman's last name should ring a bell - he's in the Newman family film score dynasty. His cousin is songwriter Randy Newman, and several other of his family members are successful film composers.
In WALL-E, the titular character's favorite film is Hello Dolly! - which just so happened to have been composed by Newman's uncle Lionel Newman.
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There Are A Lot Of Connections To 'Alien'
Andrew Stanton is known as a fan of science fiction - so much so that he cast Alien star Sigourney Weaver in a role similar to her iconic part. The part was one of very few speaking roles in the film.
"I think it was given to me because Andrew Stanton loves science fiction and is such a fan of the 'Alien' movies," Weaver said in an interview. "And he thought it would be funny after having such an important computer mother in 'Alien,' if I played the ship's computer. I'm playing such a small part, but it's such a great movie to be a part of, I'd play the wastebasket."
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It Was Inspired By Silent Films
The virtually dialogue-free WALL-E was heavily inspired by silent films, as its creators were tasked with creating a compelling feature without the use of the voice to drive the narrative.
"We all thought about Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton," sound designer Ben Burtt said, "this energetic, sympathetic character who doesn’t say a whole lot. Most animation is very dialogue heavy. There’s dance, constant talking, punch lines. We used to wonder: How will we prepare the audience?"
At a $180 million budget, WALL-E might just be the most expensive silent movie ever made.
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The Toy Story 'Pizza Planet' Truck Makes A Cameo
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The Easter eggs in Pixar movies are some of the most fascinating and fun aspects of their legacies, and WALL-E is no exception. One particularly amusing Easter egg in the movie happened just a little ways in, when EVE is seen scanning a broken down trunk at a junk yard.
That truck in question just so happens to be the Pizza Planet truck from the iconic Toy Story - a callback to arguably the most cherished Pixar film of all time and the movie that started the company's rise to animation domination.
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It Was The First Pixar Film To Use Live Action
Legendary actor Fred Willard appeared in the movie as the head of the Buy N Large company - and the creators chose to use live action scenes instead of animation. That was a first for Pixar, who hadn't previously used live action elements in its films.
"I appear on a TV monitor but I’m more than a voice. Jeff Garlin is a voice but people are saying, ‘Oh, you’re a voice.’ No, I actually appear. People will say, ‘Oh, that’s Fred Willard,'" Willard confirmed in an interview prior to the release of WALL-E.
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The 'Finding Nemo' Sea Turtles Make A Cameo
In another Pixar Easter egg, the sea turtles from Finding Nemo can be seen in the film's animated credits sequence. Amusingly, there's also a small cameo from Micky Mouse in the form of a silhouette that's been used in several Pixar movies. Another credit sequence Easter egg that's easy to miss is an appearance from the bird from A Bug's Life.
One of the cooler easy-to-miss facts about the film, Apple - and in particular the man who designed the iPod - helped design the character of EVE.
"I wanted Eve to be high-end technology – no expense spared – and I wanted it to be seamless and for the technology to be sort of hidden and subcutaneous. The more I started describing it, the more I realized I was pretty much describing the Apple playbook for design," Stanton said of iPod designer Johnny Ive's involvement in the movie.
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WALL-E Is Named After Walt Disney
One interesting bit of WALL-E trivia is that the character and film's name has a direct correlation to Disney founder Walt Disney. A simple shortening of the legendary Walt Disney' first name is what sparked the idea for the titular character's name - serving as a tip of the hat to a man who started a company that ultimately was responsible for the huge success of Pixar and its films.
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The Character Of EVE Comes From The Bible
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The film's connection to the Bible and religion has been examined and interpreted numerous times in the 10 years since its release. Fans point out that Wall-E represents Adam, lonely in the Garden of Eden, until God creates Eve, who in the film arrives as a robot named EVE. The two are "banished" after EVE finds the plant that Wall-E has scavenged.
There are other biblical references throughout the film, but the EVE connection is the most glaringly obvious.
