When Stitch returns to theaters this weekend in the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, the little blue guy isn’t just going to look like he did back in 2002. He’s also going to sound the same too.
That’s because Disney and the filmmakers behind the live-action redo recruited one of the original’s writers and directors, Chris Sanders, to reprise his role from the traditionally animated movie as the voice of Stitch.
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Gold Derby spoke with Sanders earlier this year as part of our Gold Standard interview series for the release of his latest, The Wild Robot, and during that conversation, the filmmaker shared the very first drawings of Stitch, which pre-date the original movie by a decade and a half.
Sanders’ first spark of inspiration for conceiving of Stitch was a single word: pervasive. He wanted a character who was going to be asserting himself into the world around him, and anyone who knows Stitch would certainly attest that he succeeded.
“When I started Lilo & Stitch, one of the things I did have on my mind is I wanted to create a character that’s just that’s really… pervasive,” Sanders said. “I [wanted] him to be out there all the time.”
That idea led to a character sketch of a creature that only resembles Stitch in parts, but begins to explore the idea that Sanders originally hit on. That drawing, which Sanders shared with Gold Derby, was something he created a full 15 years before eventually pitching Disney the idea.
Stitch original concept art (Courtesy of Chris Sanders) – Credit: Chris Sanders
Chris Sanders
“It was just this monster, and it was just this amalgam of different creature parts,” Sanders said.
For years, the character didn’t exist as much more than that original drawing. That all changed, however, after production wrapped on Disney’s Mulan, for which Sanders had worked as a story supervisor. “After I finished Mulan, I was still in Florida and Tom Schumacher came out to visit,” Sanders said. “He was president of feature animation, and he said, ‘Is there anything that you might want to direct?'”
First sketch of Stitch for Lilo & Stitch (Courtesy of Chris Sanders) – Credit: Chris Sanders
Chris Sanders
Faced with the question, Sanders remembered his pervasive character from years before and told Schumacher that he would need some time to pull the elements together. When the filmmaker finally did present the concept to Disney, he had a new design for Stitch, which more closely resembled the character as the world would get to know him.
First sketch of Lilo (Courtesy of Chris Sanders) – Credit: Chris Sanders
Chris Sanders
He also showed off the first sketches of Lilo as well as the two characters together, marking the first time the ohana (or family) would share the frame.
First sketch of Lilo and Stitch together (Courtesy of Chris Sanders) – Credit: Chris Sanders
Chris Sanders
The live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch is now playing in theaters.
Watch our full career-spanning Gold Standard interview with Sanders:
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