‘Elemental’ director Peter Sohn reveals why film was 'personal' for him

Filmmaker Peter Sohn's latest Pixar animated feature, Elemental, holds a personal significance for him as it reflects his parents' immigration story from Korea to New York. 

The film portrays fire, water, land, and air as residents of Elemental City, where Ember, a fiery young woman, meets Wade, a water being, and realizes they have much in common despite their conflicts.

Sohn, as a first-generation immigrant himself, drew inspiration from his own experiences and those of the animators and storytellers involved in the film. 

The director also added the film acted as closure for him because he lost his parents during the project. 

"In early development, I lost my dad, and at the end, I lost my mom. So, there’s been an emotional attachment to just finishing it and tying it to closure."

The vibrant and colorful world of Elemental took seven years to develop, and creating a character like Ember, who is made entirely of gas, posed significant challenges. 

While Sohn admits he wasn't particularly strong in science, he found inspiration in the periodic table and the idea of transforming elements into characters, making animation a magical realm for him.

"I like science, but I wasn’t that great [at it]. I think that’s why I loved animation so much, because it was like this magical little thing that could happen when you flip pages."

"With the periodic table and breaking down the atomic number and how that was tied to the elements, it was different for me. This idea came from drawing buildings on top of this periodic table and making them into characters."