New Delhi, Mar 31 (IANS): The animation world is booming with fresh and creative content, feels Tarun Lakshminarayan, Indian origin animator at Pixar who is excited about "a lot of new and original films" the studio is leading the charge with.
After scoring an Oscar for "Toy Story 4", Disney-Pixar released its next animated urban fantasy film "Onward" in March. It has also lined up "Soul". By lending his voice in "Soul", Jamie Foxx has become the first-ever African American lead in a Pixar film.
"Right now in the animation and in the film world in general, I think there is a real demand for original content that's fresh and creative and particularly in animation, an interest in exploring new and different visual styles that haven't been tried before. Telling new kinds of stories from fresh perspectives coupled with those visuals is where I think the industry should and is going," Tarun told IANS.
"Currently I'm animating on Pixar's summer 2020 release ‘Soul', which has been really special to work on, with one of my favorite directors, Pete Docter. I'm pretty excited with the upcoming slate of projects at Pixar. There's a lot of new and original films coming," added the animator, who also lent his creative expertise to "Onward".
Set in a suburban fantasy world, "Onward" is about two teenage elf brothers who embark on a quest to discover if there is a little magic left in the world. Pratt has voiced the character of Barley Lightfoot, the big brother to Holland's Ian Lightfoot.
Talking about his experience of working on the Disney-Pixar project, the animator from Chennai, said: "My biggest takeaway from ‘Onward' as a film is the importance of the people in life who shape you into the person you are. As an experience to work on it, it has a special place for me as it was the first Pixar film I had the opportunity to work on. I learned a lot as an animator too, watching my incredibly talented colleagues show their work and learn from them first hand."
"I just love being a part of original films that are trying something new and hopefully making an impact on a global audience. Down the line I would love to be a part of or develop an Indian centric animated feature film," he added.