Soul is a 2020 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar

Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-
directed by Kemp Powers, and produced by Dana Murray, from a screenplay by Docter,
Powers, and Mike Jones. The film stars the voices of Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham
Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, Donnell
Rawlings, Questlove, and Angela Bassett. It follows a pianist, Joe Gardner (Foxx),
who is killed in an accident before his big break as a jazz musician and seeks to
reunite his separated soul and body.

Docter conceived Soul in January 2016, examining the origins of human personalities
and the concept of determinism. He pitched the idea about spacetime involving souls
with personalities, during his first meeting with Jones. The film's producers
consulted various jazz musicians, including Herbie Hancock and Terri Lyne
Carrington, and animated its musical sequences using the sessions of musician Jon
Batiste as a reference. Apart from Batiste's original jazz compositions, musicians
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the film's score. Production on Soul lasted
for four years on an approximate $150 million budget. This was the first Pixar film
to feature a black lead.

Soul premiered at the London Film Festival on October 11, 2020, and was scheduled
to be theatrically released on June 19 and November 20. However, the feature was
postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Soul was released direct-to-streaming on
Disney+ on December 25, 2020 (alongside the SparkShort known as Burrow), and in
theaters in countries without the streaming service. Soul was well-received by
critics for its craftsmanship, story, characters, and musical score. Organizations
like the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute named the film as
one of the top ten films of 2020. Soul was nominated for three awards at the 93rd
Academy Awards, winning two, and received numerous other accolades.

Plot
In New York City, pianist Joe Gardner teaches music part-time at a middle school
while dreaming of playing jazz professionally. When he receives an offer for a
full-time teaching position, his mother Libba urges him to accept it. Joe learns
famous jazz musician Dorothea Williams has an opening in her quartet and auditions
at a jazz club. Impressed with Joe's piano playing, Dorothea hires him for that
night's show. As Joe heads off, his excitement distracts him, and he falls into a
manhole down the sewer drain.

Joe finds himself as a disembodied soul heading into an afterlife dubbed the "Great
Beyond". Unwilling to die, he tries to escape but ends up in the "Great Before" — a
realm where souls gain personalities and interests before being born on Earth. In
the Great Before, counselors — all named Jerry — prepare unborn souls for life with
the help of mentor souls. Each soul has a badge that grants passage to Earth, once
the badge is completely filled with personality traits. Mistaken for a mentor, Joe
is assigned to train a soul named 22, who wants to avoid Earth. 22 discovers that
Joe's physical body is hospitalized and in a coma. She agrees to let Joe help find
her "spark" — a soul's personal passion — to complete her badge so he can use it to
return home. After Joe fails to find 22 a spark, they visit "the zone", a place
that souls enter when their passions create a euphoric trance, but becomes a trap
for obsessed, lost souls. They meet Moonwind—a galleon captain—who helps the duo
locate Joe's body on Earth.

Joe returns to Earth but accidentally carries 22 with him. They mistakenly enter
the wrong bodies — with 22 inhabiting Joe's body and Joe inhabiting the body of a
therapy cat. They find Moonwind, who agrees to meet at the jazz club to restore Joe
to his body. In the meantime, 22 settles into Joe's body and enjoys small moments
while interacting with Joe's peers. She holds poignant conversations with his
student Connie, his barber Dez, and mother. Meanwhile, Terry, being in charge of
counting souls, arrives on earth to find Joe and restore the count.
As the day ends, Joe and 22 visit Moonwind to return Joe to his body. After Joe
tells 22 that her experiences were not purposes, 22 refuses and flees to find her
spark with Joe tailing behind. As they run through a subway station, Terry traps
them both and brings them back to the Great Before. 22 realizes her badge is filled
out, yet Joe insists it was because of his traits, and that she has not truly found
her spark. Angry, 22 throws the badge at him and disappears into the zone. A Jerry
informs Joe that a spark is not a soul's purpose in life, but Joe refuses to
believe this and uses 22's badge to return to Earth.

The show at the jazz club is successful, but Joe is upset at his unchanged life
even after fulfilling his dream. Looking at objects that 22 collected while in his
body, he recalls the moments they had enjoyed together. Joe realizes these
experiences have given 22 her spark. By playing piano, he enters the zone with the
intent to return her badge, but discovers that she has become a lost soul. He
chases her down, showing her a maple seed she collected to remind her of her time
on Earth. They realize that a spark is not a soul's purpose, but indicates an
intention to live. Joe's actions restore 22 to normal, returning her badge and
escorting her out of the Great Before for her journey to Earth.

As Joe prepares to enter the Great Beyond, a Jerry stops him and offers another
chance at life for finally inspiring 22 to live. Joe returns to his body on Earth,
and starts the next day committed to enjoying life.

Voice cast
Headshot of Jamie Foxx
Headshot of Tina Fey
Jamie Foxx (left) in 2013 and Tina Fey in 2014. They voiced Joe Gardner and 22,
respectively.
Jamie Foxx as Joe Gardner, a jazz pianist and music teacher[1]
Tina Fey as 22, a cynical soul with a dim view of life on Earth[2][3]
Graham Norton as Moonwind, a spiritual sign twirler[4]
Rachel House as Terry, an obsessive soul counter[4][5]
Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Wes Studi, Fortune Feimster, and Zenobia Shroff as the
five soul counselors in the Great Before who are all named Jerry[6]
Phylicia Rashad as Libba Gardner, Joe's mother, who works as a seamstress[7][8]
Donnell Rawlings as Dez, Joe's barber[4]
Questlove as Lamont "Curley" Baker, a drummer in Dorothea Williams' band and a
former student of Joe's[7]
Angela Bassett as Dorothea Williams, a jazz saxophonist[9]
Additionally, Daveed Diggs plays Paul, Joe's neighborhood frenemy;[2][7] Cora
Champommier plays Connie, one of Joe's middle school band students; Margo Hall and
Rhodessa Jones play Melba and Lulu, Libba's co-workers;[10] June Squibb plays
Gerel, a soul who meets Joe before going to the Great Beyond;[4] and Esther Chae is
credited with playing Miho, a bassist in Williams' band, but Miho has no lines in
the final film.[11][12] Cody Chesnutt provides his vocals, from his song "Parting
Ways", as a street singer with a guitar.[13]

Sakina Jaffrey, Calum Grant, Laura Mooney, Peggy Flood, Ochuwa Oghie, Jeannie
Tirado, and Cathy Cavadini provide the voices of Doctor, Hedge Fund Manager,
Therapy Cat Lady, Marge, Dancerstar, Principal Arroyo, and Dreamerwind.[10]

Production
Development and writing
Headshot of Pete Docter
Director Pete Docter in 2009
Soul began development in January 2016, when director Pete Docter sought new
creative directions during the announcement of the 88th Academy Awards.[14][15] He
pondered the origins of human personalities with the concept of determinism. In his
first meeting with co-writer Mike Jones, Docter pitched an idea set in spacetime
involving souls with personalities.[16] The film spent four years in production,
[17] with an approximate $150 million budget.[18]

Docter and Jones worked on the development of the main character for about two
years.[16] Initial ideas included portraying Joe as a scientist, which did not feel
"so naturally pure". Pixar eventually settled on portraying the film's main
character as a musician because they wanted an appealing profession for the
audience. According to Docter, once the creative team decided the main character
played jazz music, the filmmakers chose to make him African-American due to the
race being tied to jazz history.[19][20]

With co-writer Kemp Powers's help, Docter wrote Joe during the film's early
development. Powers's initial contract was 12-weeks long, but was later extended.
[16] After making extensive contributions to the film, Powers became a co-director,
making him Pixar's first African-American co-director.[20] Powers based several
elements of Joe on his personal life, but wanted the character to "transcend [his]
own experience" in order to make him more accessible.[19] Powers also placed
additional emphasis on authentically depicting Joe's relationships within the black
community.[21] In order to portray accurately African-American culture within the
film, Pixar worked closely with an internal "Cultural Trust" composed of black
Pixar employees, and hired several consultants. These consultants included
musicians Herbie Hancock, Terri Lyne Carrington, Quincy Jones, and Jon Batiste;
educator Johnnetta Cole; and stars Questlove and Diggs.

The idea of Joe's soul entering the body of a therapy cat came from Jones. Docter
and Powers appreciated the idea, as it allowed Joe to "be able to look at his own
life from a different perspective" and appreciate it. According to Murray, the
filmmakers were undecided on Soul's ending before the last screening. Some test
versions of the film ended featuring Joe pondering whether to pass on to the Great
Beyond; returning to Earth a year later; or staying in the Great Before as a
mentor. Initial storyboards featured several brief scenes showing 22's life on
Earth after her new birth, including one of her reuniting with Joe in New York.
These scenes were ultimately discarded.[22]

Casting
In August 2019, Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Questlove, Phylicia Rashad and Daveed Diggs
were announced as starring in the film.[2][7] In March 2020, Angela Bassett
announced she was cast in the film. During the release of the film's trailer in
October 2020, Richard Ayoade, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Wes Studi,
Fortune Feimster, Zenobia Shroff, Donnell Rawlings and June Squibb were also
announced to be in the cast.[4]

Docter said Jamie Foxx was perfect for Joe, citing his comedic skills and musical
background.[18] Foxx related the film's "bittersweet [feeling] of losing someone
but gaining a vision of joy", following the death of his 36-year-old sister in
October 2020.[23][24]

Tina Fey, in addition to voicing 22, also contributed to the screenplay, helping to
write her character's lines.[25] She considered the film, in the context of the
COVID-19 pandemic, a "helpful reminder that [life] isn't defined by achievement or
attainment".[23]

Animation and design

Soul is Pixar's first film to feature an African-American protagonist.[26] Pixar
and Docter were mindful of the history of racist imagery (particularly caricatured
depictions of African-Americans) in animation and wanted to create black
characters[16] as well as integrate authentic African-American culture into the
film's "DNA" to prevent caricatures, stereotypes, and tropes.[27] Pixar sought to
capture the fine details of the characters, including the textures of black hair
and the way light plays on various tones of black skin.[16] According to Powers,
the animators used lighting in emphasizing the character's ethnic features.[28]
Cinematographer Bradford Young worked as a lighting consultant on the film.[28]

Animators used footage of several music performers, including Batiste, as reference

for the film's musical sequences. By capturing MIDI data from the sessions,
animators retraced the exact key being played on the piano with each note and
animated the performances authentically. According to Docter, the animators
assigned to specific musical instruments often either had experience playing them
or a great appreciation for them.[28][29]

The souls were animated by the filmmakers in a "vaporous", "ethereal", and "non-
physical" way. Souls were designed to depict various religious and cultural
outlooks.[25] The designs were also inspired by early drawings made by Docter.
Animators created two designs for the souls in the film: one for the new souls in
"The Great Before" (described as "very cute, very appealing, with simple, rounded
shapes" by supervising animator Jude Brownbill) and one for mentor souls (feature
distinctive characteristics since they have been on Earth).[30] They differentiated
souls from ghosts by adjusting their color palette accordingly.[31] Animating the
souls' designs was challenging and substantial. According to Murray, several
artists helped create the souls' designs by giving their suggestions and opinions
on how they should look.[32]