“In Your Dreams” Director Alex Woo Brings a Raw and Chaotic Sibling Duo to Life
Following his work on Pixar classic films such as Ratatouille and Finding Dory, Alex Woo founded his own production company, KuKu Studios, to bring more heartfelt stories to life. His debut feature, In Your Dreams, delves into the dreamscape of 12-year-old Stevie and her younger brother Elliot as they face their own fierce nightmares in order to be granted the wish of the perfect family. Voice actors for the project include Simu Liu, Cristin Milioti, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, and Craig Robinson.
EnVi met with Woo over Zoom to discuss his inspiration for the film, balancing the comedy adventure genre with emotional storytelling, and his intention behind interlacing his own experiences into the film.
Dreaming Beyond Imagination
From a decade-long career with Pixar as a story artist, Alex Woo is credited for many notable films such as Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Cars 2 (2011), Finding Dory (2016), and Incredibles 2 (2018). After watching Netflix’s House of Cards, Woo was in awe of the original story and anticipated the industry evolution due to streaming. Woo left Pixar alongside Tim Hahn and Stanley Moore, and the three founded their own production company, KuKu Studios, in 2016. “I tapped both Stanley and Tim on the shoulder when we were still working at Pixar together to leave and start a company, because I was so excited by what Netflix was doing. So that’s why we left, because we wanted to try and take advantage of all the changes that were happening in the industry,” Woo remarked.
The trio brainstormed ideas for the first year after starting the company, and a story idea about the world of dreams was hatched. “The dream world has not been explored in a really meaningful way in feature animation [before]. This is such a ripe world to explore because it’s universal,” Woo explained.
More than a film about dreams, Woo wanted the movie to be anchored in story. As a movie watcher, Woo enjoys the unprocessed emotions that an audience can watch and feel with the characters. “I want the full gamut of human emotions. I want to be entertained, I want to be laughing, I want to be thrilled. I want to have suspense. And I also want to have really deep human emotions and raw human emotions. So I tried to put all of the experiences and the emotions I like experiencing in a film.”
Life As a Muse For Movies
Many moments of the film were inspired by Woo’s personal life. Woo illustrated, “That opening scene when they’re making French toast together, it’s very much inspired by my childhood. My mom used to make French toast for us every Sunday.” This scene is a true moment of bliss for preteen Stevie, but the scene quickly shifts into a nightmare. The catalyst is her baby brother Elliot’s cries and tantrum, disrupting her parents’ attention. Stevie awakes from the dream sequence to be met with even more uneasiness as she overhears her parents’ argument about the future.
Stevie desires to get back to that perfect moment when her family felt the most whole. Woo described this as Stevie’s rootable goal: “It’s inspired by my own family, the struggles that we went through and my parents nearly splitting up, and what it felt like as a kid to experience that, you know, feeling like it was my responsibility to save my family.” Stevie takes matters into her own hands to be the problem solver, but throughout the film, she learns the tough lesson that not everything has a concrete solution.
While Stevie likes control, her brother Elliot is carefree. Being the older brother himself, Woo said, “The dynamic between Stevie and Elliot was very much inspired by my relationship with my brother.” Stevie and Elliot embody the accurate sibling relationship with the foundation of love and loyalty paired with surface level nagging and jealousy. The sibling pair not only battle through their nightmares together, but they also are able to cling to each other in reality’s chaos.
Setting Itself Apart
In Your Dreams stands out as an animation feature because of KuKu’s Studio’s expertise and professionalism. The story art showcases detailed cuts with unique comedic angles. There’s boldness with the dream montages but also relatability due to many of the ideas being inspired by real dreams people had. Much of the crew behind In Your Dreams maintained dream journals while working on the creative process for the film. Woo said, “I think the reason they resonate with people is because they were actually dreams and nightmares that people on our crew had.”
Woo shared that the director of The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Michael Rianda, did a pass on the script. Rianda was scared of his grandmother when he was a kid, which in turn inspired Elliot’s recurring nightmare of grandma in the film. Woo also dished about his own dreams making the final cut; being naked in a department store and having all of his teeth fall out were actual dreams he had while growing up. One of Woo’s favorite dreams was the anime dream sequence with Stevie and Elliot’s dynamite fists. “I grew up half my life in Hong Kong, the other half in Minnesota, and I was exposed to a lot of anime as a kid. That anime moment is really inspired by the Sailor Moon transformation,” Woo shared.
While having aspects of the film that highlight Asian culture was important, Woo did not make it the focal point of the story. During the casting process, the director sought out a Chinese actor to voice the role of Dad in order to showcase a mixed-race family. However, Woo also desired the story to be able to resonate with audiences beyond that cultural context. He explained, “It was really deliberate to not make this film about their cultural heritage or their identity, because there are a lot of films that do that, and I think there’s a place for it. But I wanted this film really more than anything, [to be] about the imperfection of people and of parents and of families… and that’s a universal thing.”
Story Longevity
After a decade of honing his craft at Pixar, Alex Woo brings new flavor into animation storytelling. Woo pulled inspiration from many facets to mirror thoughts and emotions that people have on a daily basis. Adventurous, comedic, and emotional, KuKu Studios’ debut feature has a universal theme in discussing the imperfection of families and life. Check out In Your Dreams on Netflix!
Want to stay in the know of the latest films to tune into? Check out EnVi’s premiere picks for October here!
