Interesting Facts About Pixar's UP!

(which i happen to believe is the best animated film ever made, on so many levels.)

Russell is physically based on Peter Sohn, a Korean American Pixar animator and director of Up's opening short film, Partly Cloudy.
When the producers of Up met veteran film and television star Ed Asner and presented him with a model of his character, he joked "I don't look anything like that." Asner voices Mr. Fredericksen... whose grouchy yet lovable character is based off Walter Matthau.

Young Ellie is voiced by Elie Docter, the daughter of the film's director Pete Docter. He also directed Monsters, Inc. She provided some of the children's crayon-based drawings shown by Ellie."Cross your heart! Cross it! CROSS IT!!"

400 young boys auditioned for the role of Russell. Jordan Nagai, a 7-year-old Japanese American who wasn't even auditioning (his brother was) got the part when the director noticed he talked nonstop like the character Russell. Nagai was instructed to act physically as well as vocally and was tossed around and held upside down for the part where Russell encounters Kevin.
The same actor does the voices for Dug and Alpha when his collar is broken and his voice is funny and high.

Adventurer Charles F. Muntz (the antagonist of the movie) is voiced by Christopher Plummer aka Captain von Trapp from The Sound of Music. Muntz is inspired by Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes.

Director Pete Docter and Producer Jonas Rivera cite Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle), Dumbo, and Peter Pan as inspirations for Up.

Up is the third Pixar film to be scored by Michael Giacchino, after The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

The Message that the Director hopes audiences take from the film:

"...that the real adventure of life is the relationships we have with other people, and it's so easy to lose sight of the things we have and the people that are around us until they're gone. More often than not, I don't really realize how lucky I was to have known someone until they're either moved or passed away. So, if you can kind of wake up a little bit and go, 'Wow, I've got some really cool stuff around me every day', then that's what the movie's about."