Pixar Announces New Theatrical Short ‘Loving Dory’; Shows Finished ‘Gatto’ Scenes – Annecy

As Pixar basks in the success of Toy Story 5, it has unveiled first work-in-progress footage for theatrical short Loving Dory, directed by Lou Hamou-Lhadj (Borrowed Time, Win or Lose).

The new work – tapping into the Dory and Nemo waterverse – sees Dory enjoy an unexpected dalliance with a plastic bag floating through the sea.

Exclusive first-look material for the short was unveiled at a Pixar session at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Friday, where the studio also premiered a handful of finished scenes for its upcoming Venice-set movie Gatto.

Hamou-Lhadj was joined on stage by Pixar producer Mary Alice Drumm (Elio, Coco) for a sneak peek of work-in-progress footage for the short.

Drumm confirmed previously announced news that Ellen DeGeneres would be returning to voice Dory with other members of the original voice cast. She also revealed that original composer Thomas Newman was on board as an executive producer, while Nami Melumad (Dream Productions) was writing the score for the new work.

Hamou-Lhadj treated the 1,400-strong audience in Annecy’s main Bonlieu Theatre hub to a read-through for much of the screenplay against the backdrop of never-seen-before in-progress footage of the work.

Setting the scene for Dory’s encounter with a white plastic bag, he described how it been carrying a tube of sun lotion which was inadvertently dropped from a boat above Dory and Nemo’s coral reef home.

Having lost its contents and filled with water, it takes on the look of a spectral sea creature, which Dory mistakes for a jelly fish – thus beginning a strange underwater dalliance.

Prior to the Loving Dory first reveal, Enrico Casarosa gave an update on his upcoming original film Gatto revolving around a cat living in the iconic lagoon city of Venice which was first announced in Annecy last year.

Key voice cast Mark Ruffalo and Laurence Fishburne has since recently been announced. Ruffalo plays protagonist Nero, a black cat who is Indebted to feline mob boss Rocco, voiced by Fishburne.

Casarosa revealed more of the storylines for the feature as well as characters, Saverio, a slapstick pigeon, and Maja, a talented violinist who busks on the streets of Venice.

Nero and Maja are brought together when Rocco sets Nero the challenge of stealing Maja’s violin to clear his debt and be free forever from the mob boss’s control.

In other reveals, Casarosa announced he will be voicing the character of Saverio.

The longtime Pixar animator, who previously took credits on Ice Age, Cars, Ratatouille, Up and Cars 2, has a long relationship with Annecy. His short film La Luna showed at the festival in 2011, while his Oscar-nominated 2021 picture Luca was selected for its virtual pandemic era Official Selection.

Casarosa said he and the animation team had walked around Venice and taken inspiration from the depiction of the city by artists such as Tintoretto, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet for the look aesthetic of the backdrops in Gatto.

“It’s very coarse, sketched and painterly and textured,” he said.

The animation is slated for release on March 5, 2027. Casarosa told Annecy that he and his team had just passed the milestone mark of completing 50% of the animation.