Pixar’s animated feature Elio has faced scrutiny following reports that the studio removed queer-coded elements from the film during its production—changes that coincided with the departure of its openly gay director, Adrian Molina.
Molina originally conceived Elio as a deeply personal tale rooted in his childhood experiences growing up on a military base. The film follows an 11-year-old boy who is mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador and transported to the Communiverse, where he befriends a range of quirky alien beings while navigating an interstellar crisis.
But according to a recent exposé by The Hollywood Reporter, the version of Elio that premiered bears little resemblance to the vision Molina had shaped. Sources told the outlet that early cuts of the film included subtle queer coding reflective of Molina’s own identity. While not an explicit coming-out narrative, the characterisation offered a layered portrayal of identity and social isolation.
“Other sources say that Molina did not intend the film to be a coming out story, as the character is 11,” the report stated. “But either way, this characterisation gradually faded away throughout the production process. As Elio became more masculine following feedback from leadership.”
Some early clues to Elio’s queer coding included his love for fashion and environmentalism—expressed through his homemade cape crafted from discarded cutlery and cans. However, the narrative context for these quirks was removed, and images on his bedroom walls suggesting same-sex crushes were taken out altogether.
Despite praise at early test screenings in 2023, few attendees said they would pay to see the film in cinemas. After showing a version to Pixar executives, Molina is said to have been deeply affected by criticism from Pixar’s chief creative officer Pete Docter. Following the feedback, Molina exited the project, and co-directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi took over the production.
“I was deeply saddened and aggrieved by the changes that were made,” said Sarah Ligatich, a former Pixar assistant editor who offered input through the company’s LGBTQ resource group, PixPRIDE.
A number of creatives reportedly stepped away from the project after viewing Sharafian and Shi’s first cut. “The exodus of talent after that cut was really indicative of how unhappy a lot of people were that they had changed and destroyed this beautiful work,” Ligatich added.
A former Pixar artist who worked on Elio echoed these concerns, saying leadership consistently removed moments hinting at Elio’s queer identity. “Suddenly, you remove this big, key piece, which is all about identity, and Elio just becomes about totally nothing,” the artist said.
Another staffer lamented the final version’s loss of personality: “[The character] Elio was just so cute and so much fun and had so much personality. And now he feels much more generic to me.”
This incident follows a broader pattern of queer censorship at Disney and Pixar. In 2022, a collective of LGBTIQ+ Pixar employees and allies accused Disney executives of consistently cutting “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection” from their films, especially after Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.
“We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” they wrote in an open letter. “Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
Previous examples include Pixar’s 2021 short Out, which featured a gay protagonist, and Lightyear, which faced backlash and underperformed at the box office after including a same-sex kiss. More recently, sources have claimed that Inside Out 2 was reworked to avoid LGBTQ themes, allegedly making the main character, Riley, appear “less gay”.
While Elio is currently screening in cinemas, the disappointment around what could have been a landmark film reflecting broader identities continues to echo across the creative community and audiences alike.
