&x27Soul&x27 editor Kevin Nolting: &x27No, 22 is not Riley from &x27Inside Out&x27

while soul scooped up the academy award for best animated film in los angeles earlier this week, over the weekend the film’s prequel, 22 vs earth, allowed fans to learn a little more about how character 22. became a terraphobe.

The short film reunites Souls lead editor Kevin Nolting with Tina Fey’s 22 Land Haters. for good measure, it also requires a light-hearted stab at solving the mystery of life’s meaning in the process.

The film is Nolting’s directorial debut. for him, 22 vs. dirt was a simple case of being in the right place at the right time. “Traditionally, these shorts go early in the movie’s story because the editor is usually still working on the movie when these things are done,” he explains.

“but in this case, the story boss was already in development on another feature. she had done this and was moving on to the next thing, and i was in the room when we were talking about the short. so it turned out that when we finished Damn, I was lucky enough to be able to do this. I guess that’s the advantage of being an editor. You’re usually in the right room.”

Nolting, who joined Pixar in 2000 as the second editor on Finding Nemo, says he grew fond of Fey’s mischievous character during the three years he was working on Soul, and took the opportunity to get to know her a little. better.” while we were making the movie, we really explored joe’s character in depth. with 22, we just picked her up where we picked her up and we didn’t have to follow her, so we didn’t, but we had a lot of conversations about what 22 did in 22.

“I really empathize with your cynicism and your doubt and questioning of everything. Joe is the kind of person who has known from a young age what he wants to do. I am over 22 years old. It took me a long time to go around before I found what I wanted to do, so I really identify with that character.”