“The Incredibles” centers on Bob Parr, his wife Helen, and their three children. Before starting a family, Bob and Helen were among the world’s greatest crime fighters, known as Mr. Incredible and Elastagril. 15 years later, they are merely civilians as the world has turned on superheroes. So, they try to live a normal life with their kids Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack. Everything changes, however, when Bob, restless with his daily grind, gets the chance to suit back up as a mysterious message summons him to a remote island for a secret mission.
At the time, Bird was coming off of the disappointing commercial failure of “The Iron Giant,” which served as his feature directorial debut. The good news for him was that his previous movie had been very well received by critics and the moviegoers who saw it, despite having underperformed. As for “The Incredibles,” Bird had come up with the idea for the film years before he pitched it to Pixar after being encouraged by John Lasseter (the former head of Pixar and, as it happened, a friend of Bird’s from college). Bird ended up signing a multi-film deal with the studio and it was off to the races.
When it came to crafting his heroes, Bird wanted to focus more on the characters, rather than just what would look the coolest on screen. In that same chat with Michael Barrier, Bird recalled:
“The part that I’m interested in is all the personal stuff. I tried to base the powers on family archetypes. The father is always expected to be strong, so I had him have strength. Moms are always pulled in a million different directions, so I had her be elastic. Teenagers are insecure and defensive, so I had her be invisible and have protective shields. 10-year-old boys are hyperactive energy balls, so I had him be speed. And babies are unknown — they may have great powers, they may have none.”
He couldn’t do everything himself, but Bird generally has a very specific vision for his films. When it came to translating his vision for “The Incredibles,” he had interesting ways of getting his ideas across. Teddy Newton, who drew many of the characters in the film, explained in the production notes how Bird described them to him:
“Brad would simply describe the characters to me — he wouldn’t use too many adjectives, but he would often do an impression or a voice for them. Sometimes the voice alone would put enough pictures and ideas in my head. It’s like when you listen to the radio and you start to imagine what the person would look like. You get inspired and everything starts to take shape.”
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