Disney fans are excited to celebrate the 17th anniversary of Finding Nemo today. The 2003 film became a fast favorite among fans of Pixar's output. Nobody has really forgotten how big of a hit this film was with young audiences as well. Ellen DeGeneres' take on Dory still brings a smile to a bunch of people's faces. With people at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, Nemo has probably been a popular pick with the young and young at heart on Disney+. Going around Disneyland, you can even see there's an attraction to capitalize on the popularity of the little clownfish. So, it probably comes to no shock that a couple of years ago there was a sequel released.
Before Finding Dory dropped, Comicbook.com had the chance to speak with producer Lindsey Collins (Wall-E, Ratatouille) and screenwriter/co-producer Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Toy Story) about the task of penning another adventure in the water.
"You have to be very conscious when you go into it. I think it's very stressful as well. You have to ask: do I love these characters enough to invest four more years of my - honestly - and, then I think you have to feel like you want to be - not only with the people you are working with on a daily basis - but, the characters you are with for four years," Collins began. "It can get, you know, it's tiring, but it's also - as I imagine we would both say - it's also incredibly rewarding and it doesn't always feel that way, but man, when that shot in the arm comes of: okay, we're not crazy. This is how we need to do this. We just got together and watched everybody else react to it and it's probably one of the better feelings."
She continued, "I think we want them to take away that it's a movie that feels worthy of the first film and that feels worthy of Dory because we take that responsibility very seriously. We didn't enter into it, as Andrew said, lightly in terms of knowing what we were getting ourselves into and we also are super aware of everybody's public [ownership] of Dory. Everybody, kind of, owns Dory, as a character, and, so entering into that game was a very, very conscious decision and, I think, the ultimate goal has always been: does this film feel worthy of the first and does it feel like it's worthy of her, as a character? Meaning: are we giving her what we want her to have at the end."
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