Pixar boss responds to fan campaign to cast “Ratatouille” superfan Josh O'Connor in live-action film: 'It would be tough'
"I like making movies that are original and unique to themselves," Pixar CCO Pete Docter says. "To remake it, it's not very interesting to me personally."
Pixar's chief creative officer does not plan to cook up a live-action remake of Ratatouille, even if it were to involve a renowned actor like superfan Josh O'Connor.
In conversation with TIME, Pete Docter was informed about O'Connor's love for the 2007 animated comedy — centered on a rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who dreams of becoming a chef in Paris — and the fan campaign to get him cast as Alfredo Linguini, the hapless restaurant garbage boy who helps his little rat pal achieve those dreams.
Is a live-action adaptation something Pixel has considered? "No," Docter said, "and this might bite me in the butt for saying it, but it sort of bothers me. I like making movies that are original and unique to themselves. To remake it, it's not very interesting to me personally."
Related: Patton Oswalt became friends with Anthony Bourdain because chef was a fan of his movie Ratatouille
Indeed, it might be difficult to make a "live-action rat cute," the TIME reporter noted.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty; Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett Collection
'Ratatouille' superfan Josh O'Connor; Alfredo Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano) in 'Ratatouille'Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
"It would be tough," Docter continued. "So much of what we create only works because of the rules of the [animated] world. So if you have a human walk into a house that floats, your mind goes, 'Wait a second. Hold on. Houses are super heavy. How are balloons lifting the house?' But if you have a cartoon guy and he stands there in the house, you go, 'Okay, I'll buy it.' The worlds that we’ve built just don’t translate very easily."
O'Connor's love for Ratatouille has been well-documented. The actor first shared his love for the film in 2021, revealing in a junket that the movie often made him cry. His love for it was revived particularly during the press tour for his tennis film Challengers. O'Connor, who listed the film as one of his four favorites in a video segment for Letterboxd, shared that he would have movie nights with costars Zendaya and Mike Faist while filming that featured Ratatouille viewings.
Related: Disney World's new Ratatouille ride will drop your jaw: See a stunning POV video
He previously told Vogue, “Something I was surprised to learn about Zendaya is that she loves the film Ratatouille as much as I love the film Ratatouille."
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