Casting A Spell
MY FATHER PASSED AWAY WHEN I was a year old,” says Dan Scanlon. Not the cheeriest start to his chat with SFX, but it’s a reminiscence with a point. “Onward started with the idea of: ‘What if I got a chance to spend a day with him?’ That’s what led to magic.”
Nearly a decade on from Highland fantasy Brave, Pixar is creating an all-new world of magic and mythical creatures for its first release of 2020 – metaphysical jazz comedy Soul follows in June. But instead of being a hoary Dungeons & Dragons clone, Onward is putting a postmodern twist on tried and tested genre staples.
“I felt like this is such a personal story, if it’s taking place long ago I’m not really going to connect with that,” says Scanlon, who previously directed for Pixar. “And then I thought, ‘Could it be a magic piece [set]
