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If you’re Pixar fan Courtney Mault, then even the trailer for WALL•E makes you cry. Having seen the film myself, I’ll admit to tearing up — twice — at emotional (well, robo-motional) moments in the story. So what’s the story here? Well, Mault posted a video of herself crying during the WALL•E trailer — in the video, she becomes overwhelmed when WALL•E first speaks his name. Mault’s video got back to Pixar, and inspired the WALL•E team, who were in the last months of production at the time. Mault became known inside Pixar as “The Crying Girl.” Here’s the rest of the story from Mault’s boyfriend:
After a few months, she started to get trickles of emails from people at Pixar who said they had seen her video and really appreciated it. It was all sort of under the radar — mostly code monkeys, and they were sort of circumspect about the subject.
… Then, last month, she received another barrage of emails from Pixar. … They were having the wrap party for Wall-E in San Francisco, and wanted to know if we wanted to join them.
… Before the movie began, the producers and the film’s director, Andrew Stanton, came out and gave a very heartfelt speech about the making of the film. … Then he said this: “Six months ago, when the first trailer for Wall-E came out, we were only halfway done with the film, and we weren’t exactly sure how we were going to get it done. We were exhausted. And then, one day, a movie showed up on YouTube showing a girl watching the trailer for Wall-E. And every time she watched it, she would cry on cue. When we saw that, we knew we were on the right track.”
Read the rest for a tale that could only happen in our online age. See also: photos of Mault’s Pixar visit, her boyfriend’s original post on MetaFilter, and a TV news story on Mault — including an interview that delves into the reasons behind Mault’s tears.
So: did WALL•E make you cry?
(Via Pop Candy.)
Comments (24)
Comment
Yes. Yes it did. A couple of times.
Well, not all-out crying, but I had tears in my eyes.
What an incredible movie!
posted by Phraktyl on 7-7-2008 at 6:57 pm
Close. I thought they skated near the edge of cliche – but they never fell in.
A masterful performance.
posted by Terry Smith on 7-7-2008 at 7:10 pm
I’m sure I will cry watching it if it ever comes to New Zealand!
(I cried at Lilo and Stitch!)
posted by Dawn on 7-7-2008 at 8:31 pm
Yes, definitely. Best Pixar movie Ever.
posted by Rose on 7-7-2008 at 9:05 pm
No way man, there was something in my eye and my allergies were flaring up. Plus the AC really made the air dry.
posted by willc2 on 7-7-2008 at 9:13 pm
Only because I’d spent $24 for my family to go to a matinee and it was 90 minutes I’ll never regain. I must be the only one who couldn’t get it over with fast enough. Ugh.
posted by Jim on 7-7-2008 at 9:46 pm
Only because it was $24 and ninety minutes I’ll never regain. I’m clearly in the minority but it couldn’t end soon enough for me. I did laugh at the irony of how many crappy plastic toys Disney will sell based on this considering the storyline of humans trashing the planet.
posted by Jim on 7-7-2008 at 9:48 pm
No crying for me.
Definitely sweet, though, with a mix of satire. The Pixar team really outdid themselves with this one.
posted by Silva on 7-7-2008 at 9:56 pm
I didn’t cry ’cause I hate crying in public, but boy did I have to fight back the tears! It was just as tough the second time I saw it too.
posted by Oshi on 7-7-2008 at 10:10 pm
Like a baby. Jim, I hate to say it, but you have no soul.
posted by Josh on 7-7-2008 at 10:22 pm
The first time I was with kids who constantly asked questions (good thing it was at a drive-in instead of a theater), so not then, but the second time I saw it and could actually pay attention … yes.
posted by Jenna on 7-7-2008 at 10:32 pm
i thought i was the only one that teared up like an idiot during the preview for it.
huzzah!
posted by Em on 7-8-2008 at 1:13 am
Yes! The end got me.
posted by Angela on 7-8-2008 at 4:04 am
I saw Wall-E in the theater on board the Disney Wonder cruise ship during my honeymoon, believe it or not. My take on the film:
I liked it for the most part. The animation is jaw-dropping (surprise). The plot is pretty good, although it made disappointingly predictable and simplistic moral judgments in the second half. I though the juxtaposition of the Hello Dolly songs against the bleak Earth setting was a particularly brilliant touch.
No crying though – we watched it at 12:01 am on opening day after twelve solid hours of eating, so we were too tired to show emotion.
posted by Ira on 7-8-2008 at 7:09 am
The only time I really cried was during the short before the actual movie started. Even my boyfriend was crying from laughing so hard. I love the Pixar shorts!
posted by Brans on 7-8-2008 at 9:51 am
Wall*E did not make me cry, though I did enjoy it thoroughly.
Heartbeeps, on the other hand, makes me openly weep. A brilliant brilliant cinematic achievement of the highest order.
posted by EMStoveken on 7-8-2008 at 10:51 am
I didn’t cry, and I’m a girl. I actually nodded off a couple of times. But I was super tired – not the movie’s fault. My husband does the best Wall*E imitation I’ve heard yet, though, so he makes me laugh ’til I cry.
And the short at the beginning was my favorite part.
posted by Pearl on 7-8-2008 at 1:16 pm
I have not seen the movie, but Grandma took my 11 year old. When I asked her if she liked it she said, “No. I do not want in your face political commentary in my cartoons!” I swear …those were her exact words.
Now I have to go see the movie to see what she is talking about. Even if she is wrong, I’m thrilled she thought about it.
posted by Karen on 7-8-2008 at 2:01 pm
I definitely choked up and had tears spring to my eyes a couple of times.
posted by MH on 7-8-2008 at 4:07 pm
I never came close to tearing up. I was too busy being positively enthralled by this movie.
posted by august on 7-8-2008 at 4:18 pm
I definitely did. Hello Dolly’s “It only takes a moment” makes me tear up anyway. What a great film.
posted by Kieran on 7-8-2008 at 5:08 pm
Oh man now I HAVE to see this movie. I’m such a softie that I knew i was gonna love this movie from the first time I saw Wall-e roll on screen. I mean look at him! He’s adorable! And I’m glad to hear that i wasn’t the only one who got a little choked up when wall-e said his name. I don’t know why, but it hit a chord.
posted by heather on 7-9-2008 at 12:40 am
WALL-E Didn’t make me cry, but it did make me fear for the future.
I saw “Lars and the Real Girl” on DVD a couple of weeks ago. That made me cry.
posted by Sally Villarreal on 7-9-2008 at 2:15 am
It was hard not to cry. The movie was wonderful to me. I either had my jaw dropped or was holding back tears the entire movie.
posted by Michaela on 7-9-2008 at 12:03 pm