Pixar Adviser & Theologian Suzan Johnson Cook on How They Came to Define ‘Soul’ in the Film
(RNS) — The Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, longtime Baptist minister and former U.S. religious freedom ambassador, took on another role with the new animated movie
Soul. She was not an actor or a director, but an adviser.
In late 2019, she traveled to Pixar’s studios to watch a rough cut of the film. She was joined by other notable experts, including Fuller Theological Seminary President Mark Labberton, United Negro College Fund CEO Michael Lomax, and musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Quincy Jones.
More than a year before its Christmas Day release on Disney+, Johnson Cook joined in giving feedback to Pixar’s directors and storytellers on the film, which centers on a New York band teacher named Joe Gardner, who strives to be a pianist at a famed jazz club. A misstep unexpectedly takes him to “The Great Before,” and, as a result, he learns more about the meaning of life.