Disney is going to treat fans with another animated short! The House of Mouse has announced a brand new animated short, Us Again, which will premiere before Raya and the Last Dragon in theaters on 5 March 2021.
Written and directed by Big Hero 6 head of animation Zach Parrish, Walt Disney Animation has revealed an exclusive first look, and it will be the media conglomerate’s first theatrical short in five years. Us Again will also land on Disney+ in June.
Us Again tells the story of an elderly man named Art and his young-at-heart wife Dot who rekindle their zest for life through dance one magical night. The no dialogue short is told entirely through dance and a funk-and soul-infused score, composed by Captain Marvel fame Pinar Toprak.
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The director also collaborated closely with dancers Keone and Mari Madrid, a real-life married couple who have worked with artists like Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish. Parrish told EW that the idea for Us Again stemmed from very personal origins. In his mid-30s, Parrish began feeling down about ageing and physical limitations after he found himself unable to play basketball, his favourite sport, as he could in his youth.
“It made me realize that if I spent all my time focused on what I thought I was missing, then I was going to miss the beauty in the present, and that really became the core idea. Us Again is hence, about the importance of being present,” he said.
Parrish was also deeply inspired by his grandparents’ different approaches to ageing and life, with one couple traversing the country in an RV, while the other set ‘watched life’. In fact, the names Art and Dot are tributes to his paternal grandparents -Arthur and Dorothy.
A longtime admirer of dance, Parrish wanted to blend the ideas of a fountain of youth, an elderly couple, and a world of dance. While he was developing these concepts, he was reminded of a viral video of Keone and Mari dancing as an older couple. Thus, they became part of his vision, and later, part of the movie.
“The story is something that Keone and I are really drawn to in movement, and we love to do that without words all the time so that’s why this intersection was so perfect. There’s something so magical, being able to bring that kind of relationship and make it physical and make it visual,” noted Mari.
Kreon too took to his social media handle to express his views. Elated he wrote, “Dream project announcement…There are so many levels to which my heart explodes with joy when thinking about this coming to life, particularly that we can watch this [with] our daughter…The Disney dork in us is floating on animated clouds above space mountain.”
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In the short, Art and Dot’s perspectives — which initially clash — are conveyed through their expressions, body language, and, of course, dance. To make the characters’ movements seem like a conversation and reflect the movie’s themes, the Madrids recorded their choreography based on Parrish’s own recordings of himself talking about each scene, and they’d go back and forth in this process. And perhaps in a departure from the making of other films, Toprak had to establish her score early on for the dancers to work off as well – reports EW.
“The key for us was having as much context as possible because one little sound could influence us differently, one little move can make an impact later on in the piece,” Keone added.
A nearly six-minute short, Us Again focuses on detailing which deserves a second viewing. For instance, the subtle decor in Art and Dot’s apartment emphasises Disney’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion group about how the characters’ backgrounds would influence their surroundings and mannerisms.
“We really tried to spread that through their apartment to feel as authentically big city as possible through referencing New York and Chicago a lot, but also how to make it authentic to an African American woman and a Japanese American man. [Also], That thematic speaks to any age because I don’t think it’s just about [being] unafraid of growing old,” he adds. “It’s about remembering to enjoy the ride no matter what your age is. And to look at the world around you and realize how special it is,” Parrish stated.
Produced by Brad Simonsen (Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Ralph Breaks the Internet), Us Again is executive produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee.
While we wait for this magical short to hit the screens, let’s have a look at the viral video of Keone and Mari dancing as an older couple: