12: From Pixar to Peculiars - Lee Unkrich

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lee Unkrich—director of Coco, Toy Story 3, and longtime Pixar creative—joins Joanna Ebenstein for a deeply personal conversation about collecting, mortality, and the unexpected ways art can reshape our relationship with loss.Long before Coco brought Día de Muertos to a vast global audience, Lee was fascinated by cemeteries, ghost stories, and the uncanny. In this interview, he reflects on how childhood fears, a life-long obsession with The Shining, and a passion for collecting taxidermy, anatomical models, and unusual artefacts all became part of a creative practice rooted in curiosity rather than fear.The conversation explores the extraordinary research behind Coco, the responsibility of telling a story grounded in another culture, and how immersing himself in Mexican traditions fundamentally transformed his understanding of death. Lee shares why creating an annual ofrenda has become an essential ritual in his own family, opening up about the recent loss of his beloved dachshund, Waffles, and the comfort that remembrance can bring.Along the way, Joanna and Lee discuss collecting as a form of storytelling, preserving fleeting moments through archives, and the enduring mystery of The Shining."The Shining isn't just a horror film—it's about what refuses to stay buried." Warm, thoughtful, and quietly profound, this episode is an invitation to consider how creativity, ritual and remembrance help us carry the dead with us—not as shadows of the past, but as continuing presences in our lives.📢Listeners! You are invited to share your own offerings: voice notes on death, dying, ritual and the beauty of finitude. Include your first name and location if you want them shared- you might be featured in an upcoming episode. Send your offering via WhatsApp to +44 2921 690468🖤 Enjoying Memento Morbid? Explore our collection of apparel and accessories in the Memento Morbid shop: mementomorbidmerch.dashery.com   💀 Memento Morbid is produced by Overcoat Media in partnership with Morbid Anatomy.Host: Joanna EbensteinSeries Producer: Jess GunasekaraStudio Engineer: Fernando Velazco VargasAdditional Production & Sound Design: Katie HillProduction Coordinator: Janice JardineExecutive Producer: Steven RajamArtwork: Lauren Seeley substack.com/@mementomorbid