Those following the film industry may know Mike Jones from his tenures at IndieWire, Variety, and other publications. But a career shift took Jones into the screenwriting world, and a partnership with Pixar Animation Studios eventually led to his co-writing credit on the studio’s upcoming critically acclaimed masterpiece Soul.
Soul, featuring the vocal talents of Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, tells the story of Joe Gardener, a middle school band teacher whose life takes a detour into the world of the Great Before. As with the best Disney/Pixar films, Soul tackles such lofty topics as the origin of personalities and what are we really here on Earth to do? And also as with the best Disney/Pixar films, it engages adults while remaining wholly entertaining for younger audiences.
Here, screenwriter Mike Jones talks to Awards Daily about working in Pixar’s intensely creative environment, about bringing diverse perspectives into Pixar’s first predominantly Black film, and about working with stars Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey.
Soul drops Christmas Day on Disney Plus.
Awards Daily: Let’s start with being a member of the Pixar creative team. What’s that experience like for you?
Mike Jones: Before I even got to Pixar, I would jump from studio to studio just looking for work and getting the occasional job or assignment or selling some pitch or something. When Pixar called, I ended up working on The Little Dinosaur for a little bit. Then, I just jumped around from director to director, and they would tell me the seed of their idea. I felt like my job was then to put that idea into a framework so they can start seeing it as a movie, whether it was a short film for a short film director or a feature. Then, I started to get invited to the brain trusts after screenings. I ended up really jelling with their extremely collaborative nature. It really worked out for me because I was never really precious with my writing. Precious maybe with what I wanted to say, but how I wanted to say it – there’s always a better way. That comes from a bit of my journalism background. I really couldn’t be pressured spending extensive time on the stories I wrote because the senior editorial staff would cut them up and make them read better. You just couldn’t be precious about your work there, so I feel like some of that discipline came with me into Pixar.
But when I find a director that I really feel like we can work together, then I will kind of embed myself on that project like any other screenwriter would. Then the studio often asks me, ‘Can you take a day and meet with this filmmaker? Or can you take a day and see these reels?’ So, I’m much more involved in a lot of the other creative aspects of the studio than others other screenwriters that are there just for that particular job.
AD: You’ve worked on live action films before where screenplays are often very malleable, but I can imagine it would be much more difficult in an animated film. How does the script evolve over time with a project like Soul?
MJ: Well, it depends on the stage. Early on, when I first met with Pete, the only thing he had was an idea that he wanted to set a movie in a place beyond space and time where souls are given their personality. That came from the idea that, when his son was born, his son seemed to be born automatically with his personality. He wondered where that came from, and I thought that was a great idea. But a setting doesn’t make a story, which he knows. So, he was looking for somebody just to bounce ideas off of within a room. Pixar and I are mostly interested in characters making the wrong or right decision based on who they are as characters. So my job at that point was to really try to find how we can tell Pete’s story between two characters who maybe have different goals, kind of your typical buddy movie formula.
We quickly came across this idea of a story about a soul who doesn’t want to die meeting a soul that doesn’t want to live. Through the course of the movie, they end up inspiring each other and learning what it means to live a fulfilled life. Once we had that, that kind of became our North Star. In the early versions of this, Joe wasn’t a jazz musician. I think the very first version, he was an actor, and he had gotten his big break on Broadway. He was going to play Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, and we thought that was just so clever but we just didn’t feel it. As soon as we came up with the idea that he should be a jazz musician, the idea of wrapping jazz and the improvisational nature of jazz was just so electric that we decided to make him a jazz musician. And let’s make him a middle school band teacher who aspires to something greater. That naturally led to the idea that he should be a middle-aged Black man, and that’s when we brought Kemp Powers in.
AD: Talk to me about bringing Kemp Powers in and what he brought to the film to heighten the Black perspective.
MJ: Well, we wanted him to really help us define who that character is, where he lives, what he loves, what his family is, where he goes when he’s not teaching kids, what he listens to. What about him being a Black man shapes who he is. So, the fact that Joe is a Black man in Queens, New York, we wanted to get that absolutely right. We brought Kemp on. He had two scripts: one was really funny and kind of an unproduced pilot that he wrote and then we read One Night in Miami, which we just loved. So, what Kemp brought to the project was essentially the sense that there is not one monolithic way of creating a Black character. Because he proved so incredibly valuable, it was a such a natural decision to make him co-director.
AD: You also have two great comic talents in Tina Fey and Jamie Foxx. How did they help shape the screenplay from their perspectives?
MJ: Well, whenever you get Tina in the room to record, it’s quite natural that she’s going to go off script and add stuff and make it better. We wanted Tina and Jamie to be able to find their way into their characters through their own process. Because Tina comes from a writing as well as a comedy background, she also did help contribute to writing some of the dialogue for her character. It was always great, and it was sometimes hard to cut because all of it was so funny. She was absolutely involved in giving that sense of a character who feels like they know it all, but really doesn’t. A character who feels like, ‘I know everything about Earth, and that’s exactly why I’m not going.’ Then, you realize she knows nothing about Earth. She has never tasted pizza. She has never ever felt the wind on her face. We also needed an actor to be able to make that transition from that kind of know-it-all snark to being driven to come to Earth because she’s blown away by it. I thought she did an incredible job.
AD: How do you write something like Soul that deals with so many inherent concepts that I think adults would struggle with but keep it tuned to a younger audience?
MJ: The first layer of defense on that is really Pete Docter himself. He’s a lover of cartoons and a student of animation. He is naturally going to make something childlike and funny and wonderful and innocent. With a concept like Soul, we knew early on that we were dealing with pretty heavy topics. I wouldn’t say that we let it get bogged down, or we let that the fact that kids are going to watch this alter the writing at all. With Inside Out and with Soul, we ended up showing the movie to a roomful of kids. With Inside Out, they were kind of worried that maybe the kids just wouldn’t get this and the kids got it completely. Then, the same thing happened when we showed Soul to them. Afterwards, we got up on stage, and we just started to ask a bunch of questions. They just recited the movie right back to us. They got it, and they might get it on a different level. Mostly, they followed it, and I think I love that. Because when that kid comes back to Soul in 5 years or 10 years or 15 years, then what I hope is that new layers are revealed to them as they bring their own experiences to it. I think all of the great Pixar films are able to do that. That’s why they have such longevity.
The North Carolina Film Critics Association has announced its nominees.
http://ncfilmcritics.org/?p=956
Watching “The Roads not taken” by Sally Potter. It’s quite slow but the performances by Javier Bardem and Elle Fanning are Oscar-worthy material. A pity the film was soooo coldly received – I am digging it – and it’s completely out of the conversation for Lead Actor (Bardem), Lead Actress (Fanning), Score and Cinematography. A film that explores life, death, decay, regret, and obviously, the chances missed.
Edited a few hours later. Finally got to see “Tenet” (I tend to be disappointed by Nolan films, so I skipped it on the theaters, just rented it) and… what can I say? Easy to understand, thrilling, visually stunning, great score, Washington and Pattinson are excellent, Brannagh I liked as a villain… some interesting themes and ideas going on, the only flaw I see, is that out of the 3-4 main characters, the characters seem completely underdeveloped. One of the year’s best films and I would totally support a Best Picture nomination. ***** / A
By the way, I just have to love it how, despite the initial critical acclaim to Wonder Woman 1984, the conversation is switching to the completely insensitive take on sexual freedom by the filmmakers.
Soul is more than just a major motion picture from Pixar studios. Framed in by frame this work of popular art is about living life and spending every minute of it to your best ability. Soul is about your inner dreams and desires to just get up every day, and be a part of this planet. The film is themed in a city full of family, togetherness and inclusion.
Jamie foxx plays Joe gardener, a full time middle school band teacher. Tina fey plays soul 22 a lost girl who is opportunistic but is conflicted about being in the world of the Great beyond. Tina’s character must have to get to Earth because the world that she lives in doesn’t fit her category. Soul 22 wants p to be more human and not a eco-alien. Joe has the same problem. He is excluding himself from his mom because his father just passed and he didn’t get close to him emotionally. Joe is at best when he’s by himself and working on teaching and exploring musical theater. Joe and soul 22 meet up in a dream where they’ve switched bodies.
“See the movie is for everybody and will definitely be Pixar’s crowning achievement in the upcoming months to win awards. It’s the best picture of the year. It’s got all the ingredients of oscar calliber performances and since were talking about the lamp lighted studio this its 25th film, and Pete docter’s third major team director of Pixar. Docter never lets his audience down. He has to uplift his audience in critical and dangerous times like the pandemic.
“Soul is a film we need right now and for good reason
Have any of you people seen Wolfwalkers ? It won best Animated Film from both the N.Y and L.A film critics . It also got 99% from Rotten Tomatoes as opposed to Soul’s 95% .I liked Soul but Wolfwalkers in my opinion is better . The guys who made it were also Oscar nominated for Secret of the Kells and Song of the Sea .
Saw WW1984 and Soul back to back. One is deserving Best Picture contender. The other is Razzie material. The contrast between both was mesmerizing.
fandom is really attacking any critique to WW84… they seem to not understand, that there’s a limitation of what one has to be willing to accept when a beloved property is mishandled. There isn’t better examples that the whole trip to Egypt stuff and how Steve’s host is handled, to understand why WW84 is quite embarrassing and shameful when you think twice about what you have witnessed. It’s really worrysome, that it is scoring strong reviews… I can understand that the WB-Time-DC associated press will be warm to it, but as you pointed out, this is Razzie-caliber as a disaster in terms of coherence and respect for the audience… and not in the self-aware winking way that “Hudson Hawk” had – which makes it an enjoyable romp – but in one that feels corny, and aimed to 8 years old children, rather than anyone else.
I can’t wait for Ryan George to deliver his “WW84 Pitch Meeting” at Screen Rant. He normally is on point.
Saw the film. I thought it was a masterpiece, too. Pixar introduces us to joe gardener
Picture
Director
Screenplay
Animated feature
Film editing
Sound mixing/editing
Original score
Original song
Saw the film today, Docter did it again, another masterpiece. It SHOULD be nominated or at least in conversation for…
Picture
Director
Original Screenplay
Animated Feature
Score (I think this one is already in the bag…)
Song? is there an original, did not check out
Film Editing
Production Design
Cinematography
Sound
Before anyone begins ranting about Production Design and Cinematography, again, the misconception that sets and lenses have to be real and not virtual… which is probably the most amazing and jawdrapping collection of sets in the new century? The LEGO Movie, probably, a nightmarish project to build a whole reality – including waves and smoke! – out of virtual Lego bricks based and scanned on real ones. I think “Soul” is probably taking Animated Feature AND Score.
So happy right now that I subscribed for Disney+, this has been a pleasant surprise. That reminds me, that I haven’t checked Mulan yet.
Updated (provisional) top 10.
1. Unfortunate Stories (Spain)
2. Da 5 Bloods (* actual #2 is an animated short, Pixar’s “Out”, but for full lenght consideration, I put it aside)
3. Mank
4. Collective (Doc)
5. Soul (Animated)
6. Dick Johnson is Dead (Doc)
7. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
8. Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (Doc)
9. The Platform (Spain)
10. His House
honorable mentions: Circus of Books (Doc), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Invisible Man, Shaun the Sheep: Farmaggeddom (Animated) (positions 11-15).
Discussed films of 2020 and the rank in my list…
The Social Dilemma – 18 (doc)
I’m thinking on ending things – 21
The Vast of Night – 22
Hillbilly Elegy – 28
Bad Education – 33
Midnight Sky – 34
The Prom – 36
Wonder Woman 1984 – 39
The fact that this film is not a lock for a Best Picture nomination and people are discussing The Prom as a contender… Please, film industry! Don’t embarrass yourselves.
the themes are so universal in “Soul”, that if seen… it can probably sweep in nominations. Directors might consider Docter for DGA and Oscar, honestly.
Pixar made that movie just to try and win awards. Kids have ZERO interest in it.
My kids were interested and loved it. Pixar/Pete Docter made this movie to explore themes they wanted to explore.
oh, the misconception that if anything is animated… it is kids material, for children. Sigh. Still, in 2020? After Miyazaki, Otomo, Anderson, Burton, Spielberg, and the whole Pixar making pure art for decades?
A mainstream Disney-owned animation studio is not tasked with a massive, years long creation process and huge financial undertaking just to try and win and Oscar.
Whose kids?