Rossiter Drake, The Examiner
2008-06-25 10:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

SAN FRANCISCO -

There’s something to be said for an idea that won’t go away, especially when it’s conceived by a man whose creative track record remains gloriously unblemished.

For Andrew Stanton, the acclaimed director, screenwriter and graphic artist who became the ninth employee at Pixar Animation Studios back in 1990, the idea he couldn’t shake eventually inspired “WALL*E,” which opens Friday: What if mankind evacuated Earth and forgot to turn off the last robot?

Even as the 42-year-old Massachusetts native worked on movies that turned Pixar into the pride of the Walt Disney empire — “Toy Story,” “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” among them — his thoughts kept returning to that melancholy robot, dutifully performing his chores in a desolate, post-apocalyptic world.

“The idea came from a lunch we had in the summer of ’94,” says Stanton, referring to the now-famous meal with early Pixar architects John Lasseter, Pete Docter and Joe Ranft that produced concepts behind “Finding Nemo,” which Stanton directed, and “A Bug’s Life” and “Monsters Inc.”

He says, “We couldn’t stop talking about this little R2-D2-like robot, but the idea immediately got shelved because we didn’t think anyone would let us do it. ‘Toy Story’ was unproven, and we hadn’t really proven ourselves, either.”

It wasn’t until 2002 that he began obsessing about WALL*E, the trash-compacting robot who inhabits a mostly barren world. No longer a neophyte, and having unprecedented success — Pixar’s eight feature films have grossed $4.3 billion — Stanton decided it was time.

“Why would he be the last robot on Earth? Where could this go? I started thinking it should be a love story because he’s such a lonely character,” Stanton said. “Then I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and usually when that happens you know something is there.”

Stanton acknowledges that “WALL*E” — a film with beeps, bleeps and metallic crashes but little dialogue — is a departure from the narrative style of “Ratatouille,” but he’s hoping audiences trust Pixar enough to try “something a little out there.” He also hopes they can embrace his passion for old-fashioned sci-fi.

Stanton’s enthusiasm as he names some favorite films — “2001,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.” and “Alien” — is contagious. It’s no surprise when he admits that “WALL*E,” whose universe recalls Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic “Blade Runner,” was a deliberate attempt to rediscover the majesty of the genre.

“After the late ’80s, I was never as enthralled by what I was seeing, so ‘WALL*E’ was a very conscious effort to get back to the feelings those movies inspired,” he says.

Stanton admits he’s had another inspiration for his next movie, another idea that has become an obsession: an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ lost-in-space saga, “John Carter of Mars,” which might incorporate live action into Pixar’s animated format.

A gamble? Perhaps. But by now, Stanton is used to them.