Aug 12, 2024

Adrian Molina is no longer directing Pixar's “Elio,” replaced by Madeline Sharafian and Dommy Shih.

At the D23 Expo, which closed yesterday, Pixar announced that it has added two more directors, Madeline Sharafian and Dommy Shih, to its upcoming original title “Elio,” in addition to the originally announced director Adrian Molina.

Molina is still credited as director, but this is like a Brenda Chapman/Brave type thing, where the credit goes to name only. Pete Docter, Pixar's chief creative officer, admitted to The Wrap that Molina is no longer involved in the film and “has been assigned to a priority project that I'm not ready to talk about yet.”

News of Molina's departure was not announced in advance until D23, but according to Cartoon Brew, Molina, who got her big break as writer and co-director of “Coco,” stepped down from directing “Elio” this January.

The film follows Elio, a space enthusiast with an active imagination, who is transported to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization that mistakes him for the leader of Earth. Elio was originally scheduled to be released on March 1 of this year, but has now been pushed back to June 13, 2025. The studio's official reason for the postponement is a strike by the writers and actors. (America Ferrera, who was originally cast as Elio's aunt, has also been replaced by Zoe Saldaña “due to scheduling conflicts.”)

Molina's reasons for dropping out remain unclear; in a new interview with The Wrap, the closest reason given by the doctor was that the character of Elio, the main character, was difficult. He said, “I think [Sharafian and Shi] made a big discovery about Elio that allowed the audience to really get emotionally invested in him and move on to the second act.

Some pundits, however, pointed to another recent interview with the doctor, suggesting that he gave a more definite reason for Molina's demotion. The specific part of that interview that seems relevant to this situation is the following comment by the Doctor:

However, what I have found is that when he is telling a personal story, he sometimes says, “No, no, that's not how the story goes. Because this is how my story goes.” But we are not telling my story; we are telling the story we need to tell for the fictional character we are creating. So sometimes I don't want to let go or let the film take the shape it needs to take.

“Elio” is currently directed by Sharafian and Shi, who are both working as equal directors.

Sharafian, who has been a story artist at Pixar since the 2017 feature Coco, directed the studio's Oscar-nominated Spark Short Barrow. A 13-year veteran of Pixar, Shea not only directed the Oscar-winning short “Bao” and the feature film “Turning Red,” but was also promoted to Vice President of Creative, overseeing creative direction for Pixar's upcoming slate of films.