Behind the scenes with Patton Oswalt (voice of Remy)
A behind-the-scenes look at the technical ingredients
The Studio Synopsis
In the hilarious new animated-adventure, Ratatouille, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the city of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unwanted visitor in the kitchen at one of Paris' most exclusive restaurants, Remy forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini, the garbage boy, who inadvertently discovers Remy's amazing talents. They strike a deal, ultimately setting into motion a hilarious and exciting chain of extraordinary events that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.
Remy finds himself torn between following his dreams or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef.
Some Fun Facts You Might Not Know About Ratatouille...
Courtesy of our friends at Disney
In the new Disney/Pixar animated feature film Ratatouille, Remy, a rat with dreams of becoming a famous chef, forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini, the new garbage boy at Gusteau's Restaurant. Communication is a challenge for the new buddies, especially since Linguini is rather tall at 6 feet 3 inches and Remy stands at a modest 7 inches.
Colette is the toughest chef and the only female in the kitchen at Gusteau's. Colette rides a "Calahan" branded motorcycle, named after Sharon Calahan, the Director of Photography for Ratatouille.
During the character design process, the sculptor created nine handmade clay sculpts of the film's protagonist, Remy. Six of those sculpts were different design explorations. The last three were different poses of the final design.
Anton Ego, the most powerful food critic in Paris, can make or break a restaurant with a single review. Ego's office is shaped like a coffin.
To save on time, the artists at Pixar skipped one detail--none of the human characters have any toes.
The filmmakers created over 270 pieces of food in the computer. Every food item was prepared and styled in a real kitchen, then photographed for reference and eaten.
When conducting research in Paris, the filmmakers took over 4,500 reference photographs.
When recording lines for a scene in which Remy hugs his father Django, Patton Oswalt (voice of Remy) actually hugged director Brad Bird to achieve a realistic sound.
To brush up on their fine dining knowledge, director Brad Bird and producer Brad Lewis both enjoyed multiple hour, multiple course meals at Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Napa, in addition to many fine restaurants in Paris. Brad Lewis also completed a two-day internship in the French Laundry kitchen with Keller and his team.
The character Skinner, head chef at Gusteau's, stands at 3' 6" tall and has a bit of a Napoleon complex. Sir Ian Holm, the voice of Skinner, is two feet taller than Skinner and has played Napoleon Bonaparte three times in his illustrious career.
Skinner's name is a nod to behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner, famous for his experiments with rats.
To create a realistic looking compost pile, artists photographed and researched the way real produce rots. Fifteen different kinds of produce were left to rot and then photographed, such as apples, berries, bananas, mushrooms, oranges, broccoli and lettuce.
A bottle of wine from John Lasseter's actual winery in the Sonoma Valley can be seen in the film--Lasseter Cabernet Sauvignon.
Ratatouille is Brad Garrett's third Pixar film. He has voiced a beetle named Dim (A Bug's Life), a blowfish named Bloat (Finding Nemo), and now a deceased French chef named Auguste Gusteau that appears in the film as a sprite-like figment of Remy's imagination.
