One of the highlights of Pixar's new film, Finding Dory, is the collection of standout supporting players. Each one is a fun and unique character. However, two of them were very nearly larger parts of the story. The screenwriter for Finding Dory says that both Destiny, the whale shark, and Bailey, the beluga whale, were originally much bigger parts of the script.
Victoria Strouse, with support from director Andrew Stanton, was the screenwriter of Finding Dory. In a recent interview with Creative Screenwriting, she delved into the process of writing at Pixar and how she thinks supporting characters best serve the story. As it turns out, one of her favorite supporting characters in Finding Dory, used to be a somewhat different character, with a significantly larger part. She said:
[Destiny's] part used to be bigger, and Kaitlin Olson was just phenomenal. She nailed her. At one point, Destiny was just a raging hypochondriac, and a whale shark that was constantly on the verge of panic was a tremendous joy to write. Bailey also used to be a lot bigger in the story. His obsession with his head size was something that was really pronounced and so fun, comedically speaking. If I could do a spinoff movie, it would be about those two because they went through a lot -- they had their own side-movie going.
At its heart, Finding Dory is about a character living with a disability. Destiny and Bailey do their part to drive this point home as each has their own disability of sorts. Destiny is a near-sighted whale shark, which makes her nervous about even moving around her tank. Bailey believes his echolocation is broken following a head injury. By working together, all of the characters are able to encourage and help each other overcome their problems. Since Bailey and Destiny are locked away from most of the action due to their inability to travel as the smaller fish do, most of the scenes the two have are together, making it very much its own side movie.
Victoria Strouse said that "pages and pages" of material were written for Destiny that never made into the final film. It's obvious that at some point they would have had to start cutting things out, both in order to make sure that the film stayed focus on Dory's adventure, and just to keep the runtime down to something manageable. We'd certainly love to see a spinoff film starring these two as well. For the record, Finding Destiny is an absolutely perfect title for a movie. Director Andrew Stanton has said that another film in this series is unlikely, but he didn't close the door on the idea entirely, so there's some hope.
