Movie Hunger

Just recently we gave away a free DVD of Disney Pixar Up and I was really excited for Movie Hunger readers because I love giving away free stuff.

Why? Well sometimes people can’t afford the new DVD releases and it’s nice to get a break sometimes. The jaw dropped when I found out that I was going to be able to sit in on a virtual roundtable with UP’s Ronnie Del Carmen.

I don’t think my hands stopped shaking until an hour after the event.

Ronnie Del Carmen worked with Peter Docter and Bob Peterson on developing a larger story for “Dug”. This triangle of minds allowed Ronnie Del Carmen to capture the funny nuences of this character. Why didn’t they just give this character a larger part in the movie Up?

“Dug arrives in “Up” talking about being on a special mission, and we never talked about it again in the movie. I immediately wanted to find out what happened. “Dug’s Special Mission” is really about how Dug remembers these moments.”

“Dug has such a fragmented attention span that his continuity is likely not very spot-on. Dug is easily the most lovable character in the movie, and you can’t help but want to see more of him.

“I would love to feature Alpha someday, also voiced by Bob Peterson, as well as Gamma, voiced by Jerome Ranft. Those two crack me up. Maybe someday I’ll get a shot at that.”

Though “Dug” had a small part in the film, Ronnie Del Carmen was still passionate about the movie Up. A person would think that Ronnie Del Carmen’s favorite moment would be when Carl cracks a joke in the film.

It seems that his favorite scene brought tears to his eyes while he was working on the movie. There’s a scene in the movie called “Married Life” in which the whole life story of Carl and Ellie. Carl sits in his empty house flipping through Ellie’s adventure book and getting sentimental.

Ronnie Del Carmen was not the only person tearing up after the scene.

When we watched our story reels, I would see people wipe tears from their eyes. You know you’ve got something when a bunch of lines on paper are making people cry.”

In past experiences people get emotionally involved in the projects that they are working on. What did Ronnie Del Carmen connect to while working on “Dug’s Special Mission”. Was there a pet in Ronnie’s household that he could base Doug off of?

“Dug is such a sweet dog; his heart is out there. You empathize with him right away. Also, the voice characterization of Bob Peterson gives us that Dug persona that instantly makes you love the character.”

Ronnie Del Carmen is definately a dog lover. He grew up with a big, trained, and alert German Shepherd. It seems that his pet was a little like Alpha and a little like Dug from the movie Up. Ronnie Del Carmen’s German Shepherd would be this big lovable dog when he played. So he used that life experience as a reference for Dug.

It took Ronnie Del Carmen almost a year and half to finish “Dug’s Special Mission” and the film is only a few minutes long. Hopefully, movie fans will see more of Dug in the future.

The good news is that Del Carmen is working on a book with Kiki Thorpe called “My name is Dug”. Kiki Thorpe had worked on a great story about Dug searching for a bird. Don’t be surpised if you see more stories about Dug in the future.

“I definitely would love to do the continuing stories of Dug.”

Ronnie Del Carmen had originally had Dug flying an airplane but it was cut because of time constraints. He hopes to see Dug in a plane again. If a person was able to see inside this man’s brain they would know that Dug was flying on the horizon. 

“There are stories in my head that tell how he got into Muntz’s pack. Dug in that pack looks like a mistake - an oversight. I would love to tell that earlier story of how he got there. Certainly Muntz and Dug, Russell and Dug… Carl and Dug too!”

So check out the movie Up! on DVD which includes “Dug’s Special Mission”. Who knows you might be able to win it for the holdays during my DVD giveaway!