Peter Sohn
Peter Sohn (born October 18, 1977) is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor, best known for his work at Pixar Animation Studios. He directed the short film Partly Cloudy (2009) and the feature films The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Elemental (2023). He has also been the voice of Emile in Ratatouille (2007), Squishy in Monsters University (2013), and Sox in Lightyear (2022).
Peter Sohn | |
|---|---|
Sohn at the 2023 Annecy International Animated Film Festival | |
| Born | October 18, 1977[1] The Bronx, New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | California Institute of the Arts |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (2000–present) |
| Spouse | Anna Chambers |
| Children | 2 |
Early life edit
Sohn was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of Korean immigrants Yung Tahk Sohn and Hea Ja Sohn. He has one brother. He was raised in New York.[2]
While studying at CalArts, he landed a summer job working on Brad Bird's animated feature film, The Iron Giant.
Career edit
After graduating from school, he worked at The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. before coming to Pixar in the art and story departments for Finding Nemo.[3] He also worked on The Incredibles, Ratatouille and WALL-E. Sohn performed the voice of Remy's brother, Emile in Ratatouille. He made his directorial debut with the short film Partly Cloudy in 2009 which he also wrote. Partly Cloudy was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2009. Sohn co-directed the English-language version of Ponyo in 2009 with John Lasseter and Brad Lewis (fellow Pixar workers).[4] Russell, the boy in Up, was based on Sohn's appearance.[5] He voiced Russell in the corresponding short, George & A.J., and Squishy in the feature Monsters University.
Sohn directed The Good Dinosaur, which was released in November 2015. He voiced its Styracosaurus character Forrest Woodbush.[6] The film is notable for being Pixar's first film to be a box office flop.[7] Emily St. James at Vox praised the films for its "gorgeous visuals" but criticized its story writing, "The film's story isn't just derivative — it actively rips off other, better movies."[8] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian agreed writing, "It may be visually impressive, but this Jurassic outing lacks the passion and sophistication that we’ve come to expect from Pixar".[9]
Sohn was set to voice the Marvel Comics character Ganke Lee in the Sony Pictures Animation feature film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but his lines were ultimately deleted from the final film.[10] However, he eventually voiced Ganke in the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Sohn provided the voice of Sox, a robotic kitten, in the Pixar film Lightyear (2022).[11]
Sohn's sophomore effort as a director at Pixar, Elemental, is based on his experience growing up in New York. The film incorporates the classical elements of fire, water, air, and earth as the sentient residents of a city. The film debuted out of competition to initially mixed reviews at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.[12][13] It was released June 16, 2023 to positive reviews. The film is the 27th feature film made by Pixar.[14][15]
The film originally underperformed on opening weekend.[16][17] However, its performance improved in the following weeks following positive word-of-mouth that led the movie to become a sleeper hit.[18][19][20][21] Alison Willmore of Vulture says, "Elemental is the second feature from Peter Sohn, a Pixar stalwart who has been with the company since 2000 but as a director is now 0 for 2 ... the visuals are there but the storytelling lately falls flat".[22] David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote "It's so busy trying to pen an op-ed that it forgets to give it a narrative structure and make it emotionally resonate. That’s just elementary."[23] Audiences received the film much more positively, praising its emotional story and charming romance.
Personal life edit
Sohn is married to artist Anna Chambers, whom he met at CalArts.[24] During the production of The Good Dinosaur, they welcomed two children.[25]
Filmography edit
Feature films edit
| Year | Title | Director | Story | Executive Producer | Story Artist | Production Artist | Animator | Story Consultant | Other | Voice Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Iron Giant | No | No | No | No | No | Additional | No | Yes | Rough In-between-er | |
| 2001 | Osmosis Jones | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ||
| 2003 | Finding Nemo | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ||
| 2004 | The Incredibles | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Mugger | [26] |
| 2007 | Ratatouille | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Emile | |
| 2008 | WALL-E | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2009 | Up | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | ||
| Ponyo | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Director: English Dub; US Version | ||
| 2010 | Toy Story 3 | No | No | No | No | Additional | No | No | No | ||
| 2012 | Brave | No | No | No | Additional | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2013 | Monsters University | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Squishy | |
| 2015 | Inside Out | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team | |
| The Good Dinosaur | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Forrest Woodbush | ||
| 2016 | Finding Dory | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2017 | Cars 3 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | |
| Coco | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | |||
| 2018 | Incredibles 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2019 | Toy Story 4 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2020 | Onward | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| Soul | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | |||
| 2021 | Luca | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Ciccio | |
| 2022 | Turning Red | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| Lightyear | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Sox | ||
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Ganke Lee | |
| Elemental | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Pixar Senior Creative Team | ||
| 2024 | Inside Out 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| 2025 | Elio | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Short films and TV specials edit
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Production Artist | Cinematographer | Animator | Other | Voice Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | One Man Band | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ||
| 2007 | Violet | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ||
| Your Friend the Rat | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Emile | Song Performer: "Plan B" | |
| 2008 | Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | Episodes 1-4 |
| 2009 | Trifles | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ||
| Leonardo | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | |||
| Partly Cloudy | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |||
| George & A.J. | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Russell | ||
| 2011 | Toy Story Toons: Small Fry | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Recycle Ben | Special Thanks |
| 2013 | Toy Story of Terror! | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Transitron | TV special |
| A Monsters University Short: Party Central | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Squishy |
Video games edit
| Year | Title | Voice Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Ratatouille | Emile |
| 2012 | Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure | |
| 2013 | Disney Infinity | Squishy |
Other credits edit
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Tracy | Blog Creator |
| 2015 | Borrowed Time | Thanks |
| 2018 | Bao | Special Thanks |
| 2019 | Purl | |
| Smash and Grab | Brian Larsen's Story Brain Trust | |
| Kitbull | Rosana Sullivan's Story Trust | |
| Wind | Story Trust | |
| 2020 | Out |
References edit
- ^ Truitt, Brian (September 14, 2015). "TIFF: 'Good Dinosaur' stars friends, frontier". USA Today. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
...says Sohn, 38.
- ^ Greiving, Tim (June 15, 2023). "Meet Mr. Pixar". The Ringer. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
- ^ Corrado, E. (November 4, 2009). "Q & A with Pixar's Ronnie del Carmen and Pete Sohn - Part 1". One Movie, Five Views Archive. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
- ^ Murray, Rebecca. "'Ponyo' Movie Credits". About.com. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
- ^ Lee, Patrick (March 2, 2009). "Up director Pete Docter on talking dogs, youth scouts and adventure". Blastr.com. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
- ^ Keegan, Rebecca (September 18, 2013). "'The Good Dinosaur' moved to 2015, leaving Pixar with no 2014 film". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
- ^ "How The Good Dinosaur Became Pixar's First Bona Fide Box Office Flop". SlashFilm. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
- ^ "The Good Dinosaur is Pixar's most gorgeous disappointment". Vox. November 25, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (November 26, 2015). "The Good Dinosaur review – desperately disappointing and twee". The Guardian. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ Sciretta, Peter (February 26, 2019). "Pixar Director Pete Sohn Originally Voiced Ganke in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'". /Film. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
- ^ Bastos, Margarida (February 8, 2022). "'Lightyear' Full Voice Cast Includes Taika Waititi, Keke Palmer, James Brolin, and More". Collider. from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
- ^ "Elemental, the 27th Film by Pixar Animation Studios, to be the "Last Screening" at the 76th Festival de Cannes". April 19, 2023.
- ^ Azad, Navid Nikkhah. "Elemental, the 27th Film by Pixar Animation Studios, to be the "Last Screening" at the 76th Festival de Cannes - Deed News". www.deed.news. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ^ Moreau, Jordan (May 16, 2022). "Pixar Announces Next Movie, 'Elemental,' From 'Good Dinosaur' Director Peter Sohn". Variety. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ Pixar (May 16, 2022). "In a city where fire, water, land, and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: How much they actually have in common. Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream, Disney and Pixar's Elemental releases June 16, 2023". Instagram. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
- ^ "'Elemental' Box Office Debacle: Pixar Movie Opens to Record-Worst $29.6M". The Hollywood Reporter. June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ "Pixar's 'Elemental' bombs at box office". NPR. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ Fuster, Jeremy (August 8, 2023). "'Elemental' and Pixar Have Quietly Made a Box Office Comeback". The Wrap. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (July 31, 2023). "'Elemental' was written off as a box-office flop. Then it sprouted legs". CNN. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ Reyes, Mike (August 3, 2023). "Pixar's Elemental Has Crossed Another Box Office Milestone, So Can We Stop Calling It A Bomb Now?". Cinema Blend. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ Rudoy, Matthew (August 1, 2023). "Pixar Box Office Redemption: Elemental Box Office Doubles Budget After Initially Being Declared A Flop". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ "Pixar's Messy Metaphor for Interracial Romance". Vulture. June 15, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ "'Elemental': Pixar's Steamiest Love Story Will Leave You Cold". Rolling Stone. June 14, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ Robertson, Barbara (April 9, 2009). . CGSociety. p. 2. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
Sohn's wife Anna Chambers, who he met at CalArts, is also an artist, and both create artwork at home.
- ^ de Souza, Alison (June 14, 2023). "Korean-American director Peter Sohn tells his personal stories through Pixar film Elemental". The Straits Times. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ "Peter Sohn on bringing the cat SOX to life in Lightyear". YouTube. June 23, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
External links edit
- Peter Sohn at IMDb