overwhelming sadness

Bing Bong’s Death in Inside Out Was Supposed to Be Sadder, But Even Pixar Has Limits

Bing Bong! Photo: Pixar

Asking if Inside Out could have been sadder is like asking to divide something by zero — it just shouldn’t be possible. And yet from MTV comes news that the most tearjerking moment of the film could have been even tearjerkier: According to Richard Kind, who voiced Bing Bong in the film, the scene where the colorful imaginary friend sacrifices himself was originally even more gut-wrenching. “When I first saw the movie, the scene down in the valley, where the memories have been lost and disposed of, was about 40 seconds to a minute longer,” he revealed. “And I loved it … when they’re trying and trying and trying to get back, you understand what he’s going through. You see him get a little desperate.

But as it turns out, even Pixar didn’t want to torture the audience that much. “The reason why they cut it — and I think they’re sort of right — was because that earlier version was heart-wrenching,” Kind says. “It was absolutely heartbreaking, and I likened it to the scene in Bambi when his mother dies. We don’t need to see that again.” In the end, it was a humanitarian decision: Had the original version made its way into theaters, it sounds like the flood of tears could have overwhelmed all of America’s major cities.

Bing Bong’s Death in Inside Out Used to Be Worse