Brad Bird Explains Why He Never Pitched RAY GUNN to Pixar

Considering Brad Bird made The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Incredibles 2 with Pixar, you might assume the studio would have been an obvious place to take Ray Gunn. Bird never even pitched it to them.

I recently attended a screening of Ray Gunn, and during a Q&A after the film, Bird talked about the long road to getting his sci-fi noir adventure made. Part of that journey involved finding a studio willing to back an animated movie aimed at a slightly older audience.

Bird knew Ray Gunn didn’t fit comfortably into the usual animation lane, and that’s exactly what he wanted.

He explained: “Well, I never pitched it at Pixar, which you would think would be a natural because I was there, but I wanted a certain audience that was a different audience.

“It wasn't that there wasn't a lot of overlap, but I wanted to steer it a little more older. And, um, when, uh, you know, it's maybe not for a five year old. When the five-year-old turns 11, 12, maybe that's fine, you know?

“So, uh, I didn't want it to be in the in the, um, the usual animation wheelhouse. I wanted a slightly different wheelhouse, and fortunately, we, you know, skydance and Netflix backed that.”

Bird wasn’t trying to make animation inaccessible to younger viewers. He just didn’t want Ray Gunn shaped around the expectation that an animated movie needs to work for a five-year-old.

That gave him room to make the movie he wanted, a retro-futuristic sci-fi noir with an older target audience and a different flavor from what audiences might expect from a major animated production.

Finding a company willing to put serious money behind something outside the standard animation formula wasn’t guaranteed. Bird credits Skydance Animation and Netflix with taking that chance.

He continued: “And I give them huge props for doing that because it's a unique, it's a different kind of film, and that scares people a lot when they're talking about large resources.

“So it's always a leap of faith on the financial end. And when somebody's willing to take a risk and do something different and interesting, you know, big salute to them.”

Ray Gunn had been kicking around in Bird’s life for more than 30 years, so finally getting it made wasn’t simply about finding a studio with the cash to finance it. He needed a home willing to let the movie be what it was.

Pixar may look like the obvious destination for a movie like this, but Bird knew Ray Gunn belonged in a different wheelhouse.

Skydance Animation and Netflix were willing to go there with him.