Pixars senaste mästerverk Coco blev inte enbart Mexikos mest inkomstbringande film någonsin för dess slående visuella vyer, utan blev också framgångsrik för sin trogna mexikanska kulturanda - något som förmodligen inte hade blivit av om regissören Lee Unkrich höll sig till originalhistorien om en amerikansk pojke som besöker Mexiko under Dia de los Muertos-firandet, istället för den nuvarande handlingen om en mexikansk pojkes band till sina förfäder:
"The first story that we developed for about 8 months or so, there was still a boy as the main character, but he was an American boy and he had a father who was American. His mother had been from Mexico but she had passed away right before the story started and it was a story about the father taking the boy down to Mexico to meet his Mexican family for the first time on Dia de Los Muertos. A series of strange events happened and the boy ended up going to the land of the dead. But ultimately that story, there was no Ernesto de la Cruz or any of that, it was a journey film that ultimately was about this kid coming to grips with his mother being gone and saying goodbye to her and letting go of her"
Unkrich insåg alltså efter ett flertal månaders forskning om högtiden att deras originalhistoria gick emot det mexikanska bandet med de döda och var alldeles för amerikansk i sina värderingar, vilket alltså fick ändras helt och hållet för att göra den mexikanska kulturen rättvisa:
"I realized at a certain point that the more that we were learning about Day of the Dead and what it's all about, I realized that we were telling a story that was completely antithetical, thematically, to what Dia de Los Muertos is all about. Because Dia de Los Muertos is about never letting go. It's about the importance of, remember your ancestors, and keeping their memories alive and we were telling a story that was from a very American, western, perspective about letting go and grieving. So at that point, I realized we needed to start over"
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