From Texas Standard.
Pixar has produced hit after award-winning hit. Films including the “Toy Story” series, “Cars” and many others. The company has arguably set the standard for computer-generated animation.
Jim Murphy has been at Pixar since 1996. He’s been an animator for Academy Award-winning films including “Finding Nemo “ and “The Incredibles."
He’s acted as Pixar’s Director of Creative Artists and now is making his directorial debut with the short film “Lava” that will open for the feature film “Inside Out.”
On how Elvis first sparked his interest in Hawaii:
“When I was a kid, in fourth grade, I was a huge Elvis fan. So all my friends, for my birthday, would buy me Elvis records. And there was one in particular that was ‘Elvis Via Satellite from Hawaii’ and, being a huge Elvis fan, I remember watching it and that was my first exposure to Hawaii. I remember him getting off the plane and the wind blowing and the palm trees and the leis, and I just couldn’t believe what this place was, and I just became fascinated with Hawaii.”
On his fascination with volcanoes:
“The way that the islands are formed is that there’s a hot spot on the Pacific floor and the tectonic plates move three inches a year, and as they slide off the island, the volcanoes become dormant and extinct, and then they erode and melt back into the sea. And there’s a whole chain of islands that go all the way out to Asia, millions and millions of years of these islands – and that just seemed so profoundly sad and human to me. And now, there’s an underwater volcano just off the coast of the big island called Loweehee. It’s under water right now and is expected to join the big island in the next 10,000 to 100,000 years. And that was like, ‘oh my God, do they know that each other are there? And what if volcanoes spend their entire lives searching for love?'”
