Report: ‘Elio' Was Pixar's Latest Victim of Cuts to Erase a Queer Storyline

Gizmodo

12 hours ago

A new report from The Hollywood Reporter alleges that Elio, Pixar's latest movie, has become the latest in a growing line at the studio to face radical cuts and changes from senior management—including, yet again, the erasure of a queer narrative.
The report revealed that Elio had a fraught behind-the-scenes production, that saw much of original director Adrian Molina's (Coco) vision undergo significant restructuring to become the film that is in theaters now. The disappointing alterations of the final product were major; insiders who saw original cuts shared that it distanced itself from representing Elio 'as a queer-coded character, reflecting original director Adrian Molina's identity as an openly gay filmmaker.'
Molina didn't intend the film to be about Elio coming out, purportedly, but the framing of the character as being queer was slowly cut back in the production process, after feedback from Pixar leadership pushed the Elio team to present the character in a more masculine manner. The erasure went as far as taking away 'direct examples of his passion for environmentalism and fashion,' according to THR, cutting whole sequences in the process—including imagery in Elio's bedroom that would've implied that he harbored male crushes.
The topics of environmentalism and LGBTQIA+ representation have been downplayed in media due to the conservative political climate of the Trump administration, where perceived affiliations within these communities and social-change groups have been met with emboldened bigotry and dangerous rhetoric. But this wouldn't be the first time Pixar and Disney have pushed to remove queer elements from the studio's work. During the broad backlash to Disney's initial stance on the 'Don't Say Gay' Florida legislative bill in 2022, Pixar employees lambasted Disney, alleging in a statement that 'Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney's behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.' A same-sex kiss in the then-upcoming Toy Story spinoff Lightyear was restored to the film after being initially cut as part of the backlash.
Last year, it was confirmed that Disney asked Pixar to edit a storyline in its Disney+ animated series Win or Lose that would've revolved around a transgender youth participating on the co-ed softball team at the heart of the series. The character remained in the final show, but with all mentions of their gender identity erased.
Disney and Pixar bowing to avoid stirring the pot is making things worse for marginalized communities seeking to be represented authentically, and has already caused internal strife at Disney, as the studio openly made moves to comply with the Trump administration's executive orders targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives earlier this year. To make matters more disheartening in Elio's case, the Hollywood Reporter cited a test screening in Arizona, as what could have prompted Molina's initial exit from the film. A source with knowledge about this test screening told the trade that the studio received feedback from the audience that while they had enjoyed what they had seen, they would not be inclined to go out and see the movie in theaters, raising concerns about the film's direction (and not out of line with Pixar's broader struggles to launch new franchises in a post-pandemic and streaming world).
Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian were ultimately enlisted to rework the film. Initially Molina stayed on as co-director with Sharafian, but eventually Turning Red's Shi stepped in to replace Molina, entirely, who's stepping back from the project was publicly framed as being related to his commitment to Coco 2 alongside Lee Unkrich. With Molina's departure, America Ferrera, who was set to voice Elio's mother Olga, too, with sources speaking to THR claiming that a combination of frustration at Molina's exit leaving a lack of Latinx representation in the film's creative management, and frequent re-recording of dialogue to accommodate cuts and changes to the film, led to her decision. In the final film, Olga became Elio's aunt rather than his mother, now played by Zoe Saldana.
Pixar, once known for approaching deeply moving and often challenging aspects of life with artistic nuance—take, for instance, loss in Up or environmentalism in Wall-E—has seemingly begun to cull its stories of thought-provoking tools that make the medium of animation and its audiences better and more inclusive. Another insider source shared that even the topics of environmentalism and divorce in the upcoming feature Hoppers were points of contention, suggesting that a broader move to conservative appeasement was simply an inevitable aspect of the studio's future.
'A lot of people like to blame Disney, but the call is coming from inside the house,' an anonymous Pixar artist told THR. 'A lot of it is obeying-in-advance behavior, coming from the higher execs at Pixar.' Whether or not this trend will continue beyond the current administration remains to be seen–but it's still a shame that such an ugly course is being taken by Pixar and Disney at all, in a moment in history that will not be forgotten by those most affected or their allies.
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