Disney sent us a list of fun Ratatouille facts. Of course, nothing earth shattering, but interesting none the less. Read the list below.
To save on time, the artists at Pixar skipped one detail – none of the human characters have any toes.
Colette is the toughest chef and the only female in the kitchen at Gusteau's. Colette rides a "Calahan" branded motorcycle, named after Sharon Calahan, the Director of Photography for RATATOUILLE.
During the character design process, the sculptor created nine handmade clay sculpts of the film's protagonist, Remy. Six of those sculpts were different design explorations. The last three were different poses of the final design.
Anton Ego, the most powerful food critic in Paris, can make or break a restaurant with a single review. Ego's office is shaped like a coffin.
The filmmakers created over 270 pieces of food in the computer. Every food item was prepared and styled in a real kitchen, then photographed for reference and eaten.
When conducting research in Paris, the filmmakers took over 4,500 reference photographs.
When recording lines for a scene in which Remy hugs his father Django, Patton Oswalt (voice of Remy) actually hugged director Brad Bird to achieve a realistic sound.
To brush up on their fine dining knowledge, director Brad Bird and producer Brad Lewis both enjoyed multiple hour, multiple course meals at Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Napa, in addition to many fine restaurants in Paris. Brad Lewis also completed a two-day internship in the French Laundry kitchen with Keller and his team.
The character Skinner, head chef at Gusteau's, stands at 3' 6" tall and has a bit of a Napoleon complex. Sir Ian Holm, the voice of Skinner, is two feet taller than Skinner and has played Napoleon Bonaparte three times in his illustrious career.
Skinner's name is a nod to behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner, famous for his experiments with rats.
To create a realistic looking compost pile, artists photographed and researched the way real produce rots. Fifteen different kinds of produce were left to rot and then photographed, such as apples, berries, bananas, mushrooms, oranges, broccoli and lettuce.
A bottle of wine from John Lasseter's actual winery in the Sonoma Valley can be seen in the film – Lasseter Cabernet Sauvignon.
Ratatouille is Brad Garrett's third Pixar film. He has voiced a beetle named Dim (A Bug's Life), a blowfish named Bloat (Finding Nemo), and now a deceased French chef named Auguste Gusteau that appears in the film as a sprite-like figment of Remy's imagination.
