From Bloomington to Cannes, things looking 'Up' for Docter

CANNES, FRANCE

Bloomington boy turned Pixar director Pete Docter was waving his hands like the one-eyed, stick-armed Mike in his movie "Monsters Inc.," describing what it was like to be on the red carpet in Cannes on Wednesday night.

"It was cameras going, 'Phoosh-phoosh-phoosh-phoosh,' people yelling, 'Hey! Hey! Hey!' I had never been to the Cannes Film Festival before, so I had no idea what it was going to be. It was overwhelming -- even more so than the Academy Awards. Because of all the yelling."

Given the international chorus of cheers following the gala screening of Docter's new computer-animated "Up," which kicked off Cannes on Wednesday night and opens worldwide in two weeks, things aren't likely to quiet down anytime soon.

"I'm an introvert," said Docter, 40, who therefore wasn't thinking too far outside the box when he conceived the film's story of a man who attaches helium balloons to his house in order to escape the world.

"Days like this," he said of his marathon press junket, "are really, really hard. And even directing is hard, too, because you're going from person to person, interacting socially with everyone. By the time I get home from work, I just want to be by myself. But my wife is an extrovert. I walk in the door and she's like, 'All right, now we're going out with the so-and-sos!'"

It isn't hard to see that family means everything to the Bloomington Kennedy High School grad. Amanda Docter was on the red carpet Wednesday with her husband, giggling at the flurry of flashbulbs. Their daughter Ellie voices one of the film's characters. And "Up" itself is a tale grounded in an appreciation of family and friends.

"Over and over I find myself getting caught up with goal-oriented things, and then I remember our family trips. We actually went to France a couple of years ago. One night we forgot about the Eiffel Tower and just got goofy with hot chocolate in a department store. It was one of those special moments with my kids that I'll always remember."

Because this is Cannes, I asked Docter if "Up" might be a little French in its humor.

"Oui, oui!" he said with a laugh. "I love Jacques Tati. He shows you what could be real life, and then, subtly, he turns the volume way up."

In his own real life, could Docter possibly turn it up any further than "Up"?

"I don't know," he said with an easy shrug. "Opening the Cannes Film Festival is going to be hard to beat."