Pixar's ELIO Film Takes Inspiration From E.T., CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and THE THING

Pixar is no stranger to pulling emotional strings and breaking visual ground, but with Elio, the studio is doing something a little more unexpected. Yeah, it’s a heartfelt story about an outsider kid getting swept up in an intergalactic misadventure.

But, behind the vibrant animation and charming alien creatures, the film actually borrows visual inspiration from film such as Steven Spielberg’s E.T., Close Encounters of The Third Kind, and John Carpenter’s The Thing.

During an early press day for Elio, directors Domee Shi (Turning Red) and Madeline Sharafian revealed they didn’t just look to Spielberg’s warm-and-fuzzy side for reference. They also went to the dark corners of sci-fi cinema, pulling in vibes from Ridley Scott’s Alien and The Thing. Sharafian said:

“I was really excited to partner with our DPs, Derrick Williams and Jordan Rempel on diving into the aesthetics of the Spielbergian sci-fi movies, like E.T., Close Encounters, and some of the more kind of scary ones like Alien and The Thing.

“We watched them with a fine-tooth comb for the visual look, which gave Jordan a lot to work with. So we made these sort of darker, deeper shadows.”

While no one’s getting devoured by a shape-shifting monster here, the influence is clear in Elio’s atmosphere. From the footage we’ve seen in the trailers, you can spot the soft, misty glow of nighttime light sources—something Sharafian was especially happy about about.

“One of my favorite things is atmosphere, where sometimes you'll watch a Spielberg movie and there's like mist in the room and you're like, ‘Why is there mist in Elliot's bedroom? I don't understand.’

“There's something about that, that dreaminess, got us really excited, and it's about the way that you feel, not about what's real in a movie. That's what excites me about animation, and I'm really happy with the way things turned out. That was really fun to nerd out about.”

But beyond the mist and moody lighting, the filmmakers pushed for a truly cinematic look, even using virtual anamorphic lenses in the animated production. Sharafian explained:

“We shot the film with an anamorphic lens, which I know it's an animated movie, but we use real cameras the same way a live-action film would.

“So you'll see little touches of that. There's a red ring around a light that might be shining right at you. This is all for the film geeks.”

This could very well be one of the studios more aesthetically ambitious films, and it opens in theaters on June 20, 2025.

Via: /Film