The whole writing process was a gut reaction, very much the way the film itself came together. We were shooting for a very specific time and place and James Bond sound with 'The Incredibles.' With 'Ratatouille' we had no real point of reference, aside from the obvious, which was that the story took place in France.Įvery time I finished writing a cue I thought, this is nothing like the cue I just wrote before! I'm screwing this whole thing up! But that's how it came together. It's a film that makes you look at yourself. You watch what (writer-director) Brad Bird did with it, and you're analyzing things in your own life, choices you've made, things you've done. I remember when the movie was over I thought, why am I getting so emotional about this? It's about a rat! But it really isn't about a rat. But the idea of a rat crawling from the depths of the sewers to the top of the equivalent of a mountain and seeing that kind of vista - that was inspiring to me. First time I saw the film, I was looking at storyboards and stick figures and that shot wasn't finished yet.
