Sometimes it can be hard to catch a film’s prevailing message.
But anyone who dove deep into the premise of 2003’s Finding Nemo—Disney’s animated comedy-drama about a sweet titular clownfish (voiced by future Weeds star Alexander Gould) who gets separated from his overprotective father Marlin—could easily snag the overarching theme.
As Marlin’s new pal—a delightfully plucky, yet, very forgetful blue tang named Dory, played by Ellen DeGeneres—put it, “When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming.”
And swim they did, making their way from 42 Wallaby Way back to Nemo’s terrified father Marlin and directly into filmgoers’ hearts.
Becoming the highest-grossing animated flick at the time, the Pixar production earned more than $940 million worldwide off of a reported $94 million budget and four Oscar nominations, swimming away with the trophy for Best Animated Feature.
And proving that fish are friends, not food, the whole school made another splash in 2016 with the sequel Finding Dory.
For DeGeneres, the franchise was a chance to finally stop swimming against the current.
“Well I had no job offers at the time,” she confessed while promoting Finding Dory at a London press conference. “I hadn’t worked in three years. I was thrilled that I had been offered anything. I was about to start working at the Olive Garden. I couldn’t believe I was being offered anything, much less a part in a Pixar film, so it was amazing.”
The initial film’s release coinciding with the debut of her eponymous talk show, she continued, “It certainly saved my life in many ways.”
And while a few fish weren’t so lucky—environmental organizations had to inform kids that flushing their finned pets would not send them to the ocean—the rest of us learned to keep paddling along.
Join us as we dive into some behind-the-scenes secrets from Finding Nemo.
School of Fish
At the beginning of 2003’s Finding Nemo, Mr. Ray’s class swims through some 12,996 corals, all of which were individually animated.
Hell and High Water
Nemo’s name is a nod to Captain Nemo from Jules Verne‘s novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Circling the Drain
William H. Macy originally voiced Marlin, Nemo’s overprotective dad, even though Albert Brooks was director Andrew Stanton‘s first choice. But, after an early screening, Brooks was brought in to replace Macy.
Fish-Eating Grin
Bruce the shark has 202 teeth, each of which can be animated individually.
Big Fish in a Small Pond
Originally meant to swim with the fishes in an unnamed character, Will & Grace alum Megan Mullally claimed she was let go when she refused to speak in her high-pitched Karen Walker voice.
“I said, ‘Now, wait a minute: You’re telling me you want this fish who lives in a fish tank in a dentist’s office to be a fictitious character from an NBC sitcom?'” she told a New York radio station. “I mean, it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
A Fish Out of Water
Look closely and you’ll find Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear on the floor in the dentist’s office.
Sink or Swim
Out of the Tank Gang in P. Sherman’s denistry office, Bubbles has the least amount of dialogue.
In the Swim of Things
Pixar’s in-house art team was required to take courses and audit lectures in ichthyology, marine biology and oceanography to make the film more lifelike. The artists were also required to enroll in scuba diving classes.
Out to Sea
For the jellyfish scene, Pixar’s Ocean Unit created a new shading system they dubbed “transblurrency.”
Drink Like a Fish
Two of the turtles are named after citrus soda brands: Crush and Squirt.
Bigger Fish to Fry
This is the first Pixar film not composed by Randy Newman. Instead, his cousin, Thomas Newman, scored the soundtrack.
Fishing for Compliments
This is the first Pixar film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. A Bug’s Life, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were released before the category was added to the ceremony, and Monsters, Inc. lost to Shrek.
In Too Deep
One of the boats in Sydney Harbor is named “For the Birds,” a reference to the Pixar short of the same name.
Going With the Flow
A boy in the dentist’s office reads a Mr. Incredible comic book, foreshadowing The Incredibles.
Plenty of Fish in the Sea
Finding Nemo was the first Pixar movie to have a post-credits scene.
