Pixar 'Finding Nemo,' Ellen De Generes Was ‘Only Choice’ For Dory; Secrets Behind The Hit Film Reveal Pixar's Perfectionism

'Finding Nemo" is the second biggest animated hit of all time. It is only eclipsed by another Pixar hit, "Toy Story 3." The much-awaited sequel, "Finding Dory" will finally be made. Speaking of Dory, that scene-stealing character was specifically written for Ellen DeGeneres. It's hard to blame Pixar, DeGeneres was phenomenal in the role. The Daily Beast recently compiled some of these little known facts and secrets.

Some more facts about Finding Nemo:

Easter Eggs (Pixar loves them): "When Gil is visualiozing about how he will escape the dentist's office, the "camera shot" pans out the window and the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story can be seen outside." 

"Nemo's first appearance wasn't in the film. Because Pixar plans films years in advance, he first appeared as a stuffed toy on a couch in 'Monsters, Inc.'"

Production Techniques - Pixar's painstaking methods and obsessive attention to detail is the secret to their success: "In an hour-long session, director Andrew Stanton pitched his idea to Pixar head John Lasseter, using elaborate visual aids and character voices. At the end of it, the exhausted Stanton asked what he thought. Lasseter replied: "You had me at 'fish.'"

"The realistic-looking tentacles on the sea anemones were created using the same computer program that animated Sully's hair in Monsters Inc."

"To create the facial expressions of the fish, animators studied dogs, paying particular attention to their eyes." 

"Work first began on the movie in 1997. Physical production actually started in January 2000 with a crew of 180 people."  

"Creating just 1/24th of a second of the film could take up to four days because of the complexity of the underwater environment. The animators wanted to create the effect of sunlight coming through the water and hitting fish scales."

"The waiting room in the dentist's office was modeled after a real dentist's office in Emeryville, California, where the Pixar headquarters are located."

"Because actor Willem Dafoe (who voiced Gill) has such a recognizable mouth, animators mimicked his facial lines when creating the fish."

"As "homework," the production crewmembers were all expected to visit aquariums, go diving in Monterey and Hawaii, study Pixar's own 25-gallon fish tank, and attend a series of in-house lectures from an ichthyologist. They even got scuba certifications and went to the Great Barrier Reef on the insistence of Lasseter."

Pixar is at the top of their game. Let's hope their values won't change even though they are now a part of Disney.