Disney Facts! Volume 2

Facts 661-690: Coco Themed Page

Coco was an absolutely beautiful film, and it made me cry so much!! I haven't cried so much in a Pixar movie since Up! 

So sorry this update was late my friends, but the strike is over and I'm back in college and my midterm exams are almost done! I hadn't been able to see this movie until recently, but now it's time to grab a guitar and jam out! Let's learn some facts about Coco!

Fact #661
The Pizza Planet Truck that appears in many Pixar films can be seen briefly driving in front of the Rivera Shoe Store, just as Mama Julia is explaining the 'no music in this house' rule to Miguel. 

Fact #662
This film opened in Mexico three and a half weeks before it opened in the U.S., where it surpassed The Avengers (2012) as the country's highest grossing film. 

Fact #663
The orchestra conductor who appears towards the end of Coco (2017) is a caricature of the film's composer Michael Giacchino.

Fact #664
Coco (2017) features a variety of animated caricatures or cameo appearances of legendary Mexican celebrities, which pays homage to them. Among the many deceased Mexican celebrities that is featured in the film include: Santo, a Mexican wrestler and movie actor Cantinflas, a Mexican actor and comedian Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter Pedro Infante, a Mexican singer and actor Jorge Negrete, a Mexican singer and actor. Emiliano Zapata, one of the revolutionary leaders during the Mexican Revolution. María Félix, a Mexican Actress.Director Lee Unkrich lateral started that besides of this celebrities there are more hidden on the film.

Fact #665
The filmmakers and animators traveled to Mexico five times to research about the culture, people, food, traditions, etc. to help define the story and characters of Coco (2017). Among their journeys, they visited Mexico City and Oaxaca. Director Lee Unkrich said of the experience, "I'd seen it portrayed in folk art. It was something about the juxtaposition of skeletons with bright, festive colors that captured my imagination. It has led me down a winding path of discovery. And the more I learn about Día de Muertos, the more it affects me deeply."

Fact #666
From the main characters, Gael García Bernal is the only actor to voice his character in both English and Spanish versions of the movie, in spite of most actors being Latino.

Fact #667
From all of its animation branches (Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and DisneyToon Studios), Coco is Disney's last original full-length animated feature film of the 2010s, as their next animated films for the remainder of the decade (Incredibles 2 (2018), Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (2018), Untitled Disneytoons Studios Project (2019), Toy Story 4 (2019) and Frozen 2 (2019)) are all sequels.

Fact #668

The Sant Cecilia graveyard is named after Saint Cecilia, the Catholic saint of musicians. 

Fact #669
The Land of the Dead is shown to use a lot of antiquated technology (an 80s MacIntosh computer and walkie-talkie radios), which is fitting as that technology is obsolete and so in a sense dead.

Fact #670
Coco  is Walt Disney Pictures' first production to be accompanied by a half-hour featurette since The Rescuers Down Under twenty-seven years prior, which was accompanied by the Mickey Mouse short film The Prince and the Pauper back in 1990.

Fact #671
Miguel's grandmother and great-great-grandmother both frequently take off a shoe and hit people with it to ensure their cooperation. In Mexican culture this is known as "La Chancla."

Fact #672
Miguel Rivera is the second youngest protagonist to be featured in a Pixar animated film; the youngest being Arlo for The Good Dinosaur in 2015.

Fact #673
The door to the office in The Land if the Dead has labelled the famous Pixar Easter Egg A113, named after the California Institute of Arts classroom where many members from Disney and Pixar studied at. 

Fact #674
Lee Unkrich and Adrián Molina had said that the most difficult element to animate was Abuelita's neck. In order to have a reference for the neck Molina asked her mother-in-law, who lives in Mexico City, to travel to PIXAR, where he and Unkrich tried to make her angry to see how her neck moved, this was difficult because Molina's mother-in-law is, according to him, "a woman hard to get angry". After some hours they successfully made her mad.

Fact #675
"Coco" in Spanish is a hypocorism for "Socorro" an actual common name for women, originated from "Virgen del Socorro" (Virgin of Relief). 

Fact #676
According to the film's co-director and screenwriter Adrian Molina, the idea of Miguel watching the films of Ernesto de la Cruz on videotapes to, among many things, learn how to play the guitar as well as de la Cruz and idolize his role model is based on Molina's own childhood in the 1990s, where he recorded the new episodes and reruns of The Wonderful World of Disney television program on ABC, CBS, and The Disney Channel on videotape and from watching them, yearned for a better life. 

Fact #677
In China, the film featured an content of "the dead" theme which is banned and not able to be imported and released. When during cencorship of the film however, the censor board members were touched so much by the film and cried. So they took an exception for the film.

Fact #678
Lee Unkrich said that the Land of the Dead is an homage to Mexico City.

Fact #679
During the end credits, there is a brief dedication to the deceased people who inspired the filmmakers of Coco. It's a mosaic filled with over a hundred tiny photographs. Somewhere in the middle is a picture of Walt Disney.

Fact #680
There are bone-shaped paving stones in the streets of the Land of The Dead.

Fact #681
Marigolds are the only living plants you'll see in the Land of The Dead.  During their preliminary research trips to Mexico, the filmmakers learned that marigolds play a huge role in Día de Los Muertos: guiding the spirit of a loved one home.

Fact #682
Using videos of musicians who had cameras attached to their guitars as a reference, animators were able to make the guitar-playing in the movie authentic.

Fact #683
 Xolo dogs are nearly hairless, and often have missing teeth, causing their tongues to hang out. Local Xolo dogs visited Pixar, so that animators could study them.

Fact #684
Ernesto De La Cruz was animated so exactly that even his Adam's Apple moves when he sings, and his throat and cheeks vibrate as well. 

Fact #685
To get the look right for the characters—from the residents of Santa Cecilia, to the skeleton-attendees of Ernesto de la Cruz's party in the Land of the Dead—animators spent time drawing in real-life sessions with Mexican folkloric dancers.

Fact #686
There are over 500 individual pieces of clothing created for crowd characters. 

Fact #687
Coco took 7 years to make and was first pitched by director Lee Unkrich back in 2010. 

Fact #688
The film makers of Coco had rough screenings of the film every 12 weeks, inviting members of the Latino community to critique and say what they liked about the film. One of the biggest changes was Miguel's grandmother, Abuelita. At one point she always carried a wooden spoon and used it to beat people with. It suggested that it be changed to use her flip flops instead. 

Fact #689
Originally, the entrance to the Land of The Dead was hidden in an alleyway, but after travelling to Mexico and learning more about the holiday, the idea was scrapped and instead replaced with the concept we now see in the film. 

Fact #690
The film includes over 10,000 bones that were individually painted and shaded. 

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I hope you all enjoyed these facts as much as I did!