 
To The Second Sequel, and Beyond
Posted on: 06/16/10
 Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney Pictures The original “cast” of the “Toy Story” movies in “Toy Story 3.” By MEKADO MURPHY NY TIMES WOODY is back! Buzz returns! And now joining them, a teddy bear that smells like strawberries! Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear Dolly Big Baby Mr. Pricklepants KEN On the long road to “Toy Story 3,”opening on Friday, 15 years after the original film was released by Pixar Animation Studios, Buzz, Woody and the gang have accumulated a host of friends: the film has 15 new characters joining the 12 from the original “cast.” The fear of obsolescence, and the hopefulness of new beginnings, are themes that play into the new film as Andy, the owner of the initial 12 toys, is heading to college and wondering what to do with his old playthings. The toys are donated to Sunnyside, a day-care center, which leads the characters into adventures both exciting and harrowing. Below, Mr. Unkrich, along with the film’s production designer, Bob Pauley, discuss some of the film’s new characters and the thoughts behind their design. An interactive feature on the character designs can be seen here. Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear The most jolly and larger-than-life new character is a pink, stuffed, strawberry-scented Lots-o-Huggin’ Bear, or Lotso. He welcomes Woody and the old toys to the Sunnyside day-care center with open arms. But the character, voiced by Ned Beatty, may not always be as sweet as he seems. “When he showed up in the film, I wanted him to be the most disarmingly gregarious, down-to-earth, warm, grandfatherly kind of a guy imaginable,” Mr. Unkrich said. Lotso was the first plush toy the filmmakers designed on their own for the franchise. “We wanted our teddy bear to stand out, but we wanted him to be very believable,” Mr. Pauley said. That involved trips to toy stores and toy collectors to research teddy bears and try to understand how they moved. But the defining characteristic was Lotso’s nose. “Daniel Arriaga, who designed Lotso, had these drawings with this big nose, and it just connected with us, and we thought that feels different and kind of sweet.” Dolly Dolly, like Mr. Pricklepants, comes from the bedroom of Andy’s young neighbor. A rag doll of sorts, with the voice ofBonnie Hunt, Dolly has a floppy body. “The idea that she’s kind of flat would dictate certain behavior and movement that would be charming and funny,” Mr. Pauley said. They came up with a doll that is sewn in a way that she almost must walk on her tiptoes. The original conception was that Dolly would be a completely handmade doll, created by her owner. “We started to go down that path originally, design-wise, but she was looking a little Frankenstein-y and not entirely appealing,” Mr. Unkrich said. Big Baby One of the rougher new characters is Big Baby, a doll who has seen his fair share of wear and tear. “If you go to any day-care center, you see lots of toys, but what you see consistently are these baby dolls,” Mr. Unkrich said. “And many of them have pen marks soaked into the vinyl of their skin. They’ve just gotten worn, carried around, dragged around.” The baby dolls often have eyes that roll forward, and sometimes even jam up, he added, so they gave the character a droopy eye. For the markings on Big Baby, Mr. Unkrich found old doodles made by one of his daughters. He scanned the doodles into the computer, and the design team mapped them all over Big Baby to create pen tattoos. “We designed him to be kind of as blank-faced as possible,” Mr. Unkrich said. “He’s not smiley, he’s not frowny. He’s just very neutral.” Mr. Pricklepants For “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” the filmmakers envisioned Andy’s toys as a group of office co-workers who saw Andy as their boss. This film introduces the toys found in the bedroom of one of Andy’s young neighbors, who attends the day-care center, and Mr. Unkrich wanted to give them a group personality. “What we came up with was this idea of a group of toys as kind of a theater troupe.” The leader of that troupe is a Shakespearean thespian named Mr. Pricklepants, voiced by Timothy Dalton. One of the film’s story artists, Matthew Luhn, suggested the character be a hedgehog wearing lederhosen. “We just tried to keep him really cute and tried to have him feel like kind of a higher-end European stuffed animal,” Mr. Unkrich said. Mr. Pauley added, “It’s awesome having any character with lederhosen, period.” Ken Since he liked the appearance of Barbie in “Toy Story 2,” Mr. Unkrich was interested in having her be a part of the new film. “Then very quickly on the heels of that decision, we thought well, if we have Barbie, we had to have Ken,” he said. “I literally went through the catalog of every Ken from the ’60s to now and looked at them all. And the one that absolutely stood out for me is this one Ken from the late ’80s called Animal Lovin’ Ken.” The safari-print shirt and short shorts are part of the exact outfit from that particular version of Ken. Naturally, he has frequent costume changes throughout the film, allowing the filmmakers to snatch clothing designs from his history. “We could have made up outfits,” Mr. Unkrich said, “but I don’t think we could have come up with anything as outlandish or as garish as the real outfits that have existed over the years.” COMMENTS
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