20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Pixar
8. There's A Real Paradise Falls In Venezuela
Much of Up revolves around a journey to get to Paradise Falls, where Carl Fredricksen flies his house using a bunch of balloons. But while Paradise Falls might seem like a bit of movie magic, it's actually based on a real location that's every bit as beautiful as the one in the film.
Pixar based the look on Angel Falls in Venezuela. It's the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world, an astounding 3,212 feet. When beginning to work on the movie in 2004, Pixar animators flew to Venezuela for inspiration, climbing to Angel Falls and sketching for three days on Monte Roraima.
It's an incredibly beautiful place, and director Pete Docter noted that some of what they saw was even more incredible than what's in the film. He said that "we couldn't use [the rocks and plants we saw]. Reality is so far out, if we put it in the movie you wouldn't believe it."