Showbiz 7s: Movies that inspired ‘Wall-E’
By Denise Martin, Special to The Times
Theres no denying it. Wall-E does bear more than a passing resemblance to No. 5, the military-built robot on the run in “Short Circuit. But the similarities end there, says Wall-E director Andrew Stanton, who says his latest is first and foremost, a love story.
I wanted this movie, about Earths last robot, to transport you to another world, give you that sense of awe thats hard to come by today, he says. In running down Stantons list of movies that inspired Wall-E, its pretty clear that theyre all, shall we say, far removed from the 1986
And for the record, Stanton dreamed up the look of Wall-E while at a 2003 playoff game between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland As. I asked someone for a pair of binoculars and missed a couple innings because of it, he recalls. I was busy trying to make the binoculars laugh, smile, look sad
(Disney / Pixar)
‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn’
The best Star Trek movie by a mile. It reinvented the classic thrill of the old
‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
So profound. Its
‘Silent Running’
Its a little more obscure, but its Bruce Dern, out in space, and hes out there with three little robots - Huey, Dewey and Louie - trying to save the last plant life on Earth. As youll see, this one was particularly influential. (Universal)
‘Star Wars’
I remember the first time I saw it, as well as the fifth, sixth and seventh times. I couldnt stop going to the theater. R2D2 made a huge impression but also, Id never seen a sci-fi world where things seemed old and distressed. Little was shiny and new, it was real and lived-in. (Lucasfilm Ltd.)
‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’
To me, this movie captures wonder in a way that nothing has since. The whole beautiful innocence of space. Its still just breathtaking. (Columbia Pictures)
‘Blade Runner’
It was so cool because it had this really dark undertone. It made you really think that if we, as humans, make enough wrong choices, this is where humanity will go. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
‘Alien’
Flat-out cool. Its got such a great mood to it and a confidence from