Just keep swimming as we dive deep into Finding Nemo—Disney’s animated 2003 flick about the titular clownfish and his overprotective father—and catch some sweet secrets about the Oscar-winning film.

Sometimes it can be hard to catch a film’s prevailing message.

But anyone who dove deep into the premise of 2003’s Finding Nemo—Disney’s animated comedy-drama about a sweet titular clownfish (voiced by future Weeds star Alexander Gould) who gets separated from his overprotective father Marlin—could easily snag the overarching theme. 

As Marlin’s new pal—a delightfully plucky, yet, very forgetful blue tang named Dory, played by Ellen DeGeneres—put it, “When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming.”

And swim they did, making their way from 42 Wallaby Way back to Nemo’s terrified father Marlin and directly into filmgoers’ hearts.

Becoming the highest-grossing animated flick at the time, the Pixar production earned more than $940 million worldwide off of a reported $94 million budget and four Oscar nominations, swimming away with the trophy for Best Animated Feature. 

And proving that fish are friends, not food, the whole school made another splash in 2016 with the sequel Finding Dory. 

For DeGeneres, the franchise was a chance to finally stop swimming against the current. 

“Well I had no job offers at the time,” she confessed while promoting Finding Dory at a London press conference. “I hadn’t worked in three years. I was thrilled that I had been offered anything. I was about to start working at the Olive Garden. I couldn’t believe I was being offered anything, much less a part in a Pixar film, so it was amazing.”

The initial film’s release coinciding with the debut of her eponymous talk show, she continued, “It certainly saved my life in many ways.” 

And while a few fish weren’t so lucky—environmental organizations had to inform kids that flushing their finned pets would not send them to the ocean—the rest of us learned to keep paddling along. 

Join us as we dive into some behind-the-scenes secrets from Finding Nemo. 

At the beginning of 2003’s Finding Nemo, Mr. Ray’s class swims through some 12,996 corals, all of which were individually animated.

Nemo’s name is a nod to Captain Nemo from Jules Verne‘s novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

William H. Macy originally voiced Marlin, Nemo’s overprotective dad, even though Albert Brooks was director Andrew Stanton‘s first choice. But, after an early screening, Brooks was brought in to replace Macy.

Bruce the shark has 202 teeth, each of which can be animated individually.

Originally meant to swim with the fishes in an unnamed character, Will & Grace alum Megan Mullally claimed she was let go when she refused to speak in her high-pitched Karen Walker voice.

“I said, ‘Now, wait a minute: You’re telling me you want this fish who lives in a fish tank in a dentist’s office to be a fictitious character from an NBC sitcom?’” she told a New York radio station. “I mean, it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Look closely and you’ll find Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear on the floor in the dentist’s office.

For the jellyfish scene, Pixar’s Ocean Unit created a new shading system they dubbed “transblurrency.”

Two of the turtles are named after citrus soda brands: Crush and Squirt.

This is the first Pixar film not composed by Randy Newman. Instead, his cousin, Thomas Newman, scored the soundtrack.

This is the first Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. A Bug’s Life, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were released before the category was added to the ceremony, and Monsters, Inc. lost to Shrek.

One of the boats in Sydney Harbor is named “For the Birds,” a reference to the Pixar short of the same name.

Source: www.eonline.com