A very cute, very sad story coming in today from California- a 10-year-old girl dying of cancer was unsure if she would be able to see Up as she so desperately wanted. A frantic call to Pixar lead to one of their employees flying out to their home and giving a private screening. The girl died a few hours after seeing the film.
I think this story is a perfect testament to how nice the people at Pixar are, and that the stories of their films truly are touching to so many people. When the trailer for WALL-E came out, a woman was so touched by it that she filmed herself breaking into tears watching the trailer. This video made its way to Pixar, who invited her to the film’s wrap party. Both of these stories are extremely sweet and shows that it’s not only the stories of Pixar that are uplifiting- it’s the stories of the people who watch their films.
Kinda surprising detail: The Pixar employee took the DVD with him. I’d of left it for the parents. I mean, what are the chances the parents are going to pirate their daughters dying wish?
I hardly ever post these types of threads; in this case, I don’t know why, this story is one of the rare stories that really depress me. Maybe it’s because I have kids now, or because the little girl lives in a neighbouring city. But these are the kinds of things that make you think that life is all screwed up.
This 10-year-old girl is dying from cancer but she really wished she could see the movie Up before she dies. She was too sick to be taken to a movie theatre. A family friend managed to get through the Pixar automated telephone system and reach someone at Pixar. A Pixar employee created a special DVD of the movie (obviously it’s not out on DVD yet) and went to her house with a bunch of stuffed toys of the movie characters, a movie poster, and an adventure book.
The little girl got to see the movie and then died the same evening.
Money says it was the CEO or the President or something. Who else has a jet on 1 days notice and the authority to burn a DVD of a cash cow movie like that? Sad story too. I hate things that make me think of my childrens mortality.
The person highest up that would do such a thing would be John Lasseter, but it could easily have been director Pete Doctor or co-director Bob Peterson.
The girl sounds like she was in too much pain to enjoy it, but it was a nice thing for Pixar to do and it probably benefited the parents more than the girl.
That may be true, but I’d be willing to bet they are not unaware of what great press something like this gives them. Just look at the responses in this thread. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s cool of them to do it, just reminding people there’s no such thing as a selfless act.
Wow, where would we be without you to keep us all cynical . . . :rolleyes:
Seriously, who cares if they get good publicity? Would it somehow make them better people if they did something nice for a dying girl and no one cared? No, it would just make all of us bigger jerks.
Oh, sure, it’s definitely a good PR move. But they’re intelligently not capitializing on a young girl’s death by touting it themselves- that would be just offensive. “10-year-old Cody Curtin’s last wish was to see Up before she died. Come see this uplifiting adventure for yourself to see why!” That would be just heartless.
If we want to complete the cycle of cynicism, we can note that not touting it themselves and letting the news networks do it for them is a) free and b) a good PR move. Yes, it was a nice thing for Pixar to do and I’m sure that the execs knew that. Yes, it’s good PR for them and I’m sure that the execs knew that too. The truth lies somewhere in between, I’m sure.
EDIT: Mis-parsed your post. I’m agreeing with you, not contradicting you.
