“Out there! There’s a world outside of Yonkers…”
Ten years ago, the rousing first notes of Hello, Dolly’s “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” burst back onto the big screen juxtaposed against starry animations of our galaxy, creating an unforgettable cinema moment.
WALL-E, the Pixar film about a trash-compacting robot left behind on a post-apocalyptic Earth, introduced one of the more unlikely pairings in film history by making the lovable title character a fan of the golden-age musical (specifically, the 1969 film adaptation).
Speaking to EW for the 10th anniversary of WALL-E, director Andrew Stanton calls the pairing “the craziest idea I have ever had.” He explains, “I had always wanted to open with something old-fashioned compared to this apocalyptic, futuristic setting. I had always defaulted to thinking it would be something like old swing music, and I had French swing music in my head.” However, Stanton ditched that idea after the 2003 release of The Triplets of Belleville, an animated film that prominently featured French swing music.
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