Chris Sanders, the creator and voice behind the little blue alien named Stitch, has never left the character.
The co-director and co-creator of Disney’s animated "Lilo & Stitch" has been voicing the character for parades, TV commercials, ice skating shows, and toys in his free time since the film’s premiere in 2002. He said he goes into the studio six to 10 times a year to record Stitch’s voice.
After more than two decades, his voice of the beloved character will return for the live-action remake, which will be in theaters this Friday.
“It’s exciting to see Stitch back in theaters,” he said.
An unfinished story
Sanders was the middle child of three siblings growing up in Denver, Colorado. He was also creative, dominating his family's movie camera whenever they went on trips. But he was always drawn to drawing.
He remembered struggling to draw anything using scraps of paper on his father’s desk. But he would watch his father draw Buck Rogers-style spaceships.
“I was enchanted with shapes and how fluidly he seems to be able to draw them,” Sanders said.
As he finished high school, Sanders felt a little lost. His grandmother was his guiding light when she showed him an article about the California Institute of the Arts in the Denver Post.
Sanders has worked at Marvel Comics, the Walt Disney Company and DreamWorks Animation. He’s written and directed several Hollywood hits, including “The Wild Robot,” “The Croods,” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”
Before he worked at Disney, Sanders was working on a children’s book in 1986, but he never finished it because he couldn’t make it into a short story format.
The story was going to be about a strange forest creature who was shunned by everyone and unaware of his own origins. Sanders created this character after a dream.
He eventually pitched it to Disney during a Walt Disney World Swan Resort sushi dinner. Then, “Lilo & Stitch” was born with the story shifting to a little blue monster in the human world.
Sanders allowed the movie to be made on one condition: the film looked like he drew it.
“The whole studio out in Florida, where it was made, did an amazing job mimicking my art style," he said. "It was all done in watercolor, which had not been attempted at Disney Studios, at that point, for 60 years.
A redemption story
Stitch is known for his alien gibberish and unique, humorous growls, which is how Sanders intended the character to be.
Sanders said Stitch's communication style resembles Star Wars’ robot character R2-D2.
“You get it. You understand what he’s up to,” he said.
The head of feature animation at the time, Tom Schumacher, suggested that Sanders do the voice. Sanders was already doing the voice to annoy his friends when he left phone messages.
Stitch was deemed the villain in the animated "Lilo & Stitch." When he meets Lilo, they’re similar because they’re both outcasts, but Sanders said they’re opposites.
“They’re like salt and pepper shakers,” Sanders said. “Lilo is about bringing things together. She believes ferociously in family and ʻohana. Stitch is designed to pull things apart.”
Sanders said he loves a redemption story with Stitch and the robot in “The Wild Robot.”
“In those dark moments, you can still see where you’re headed and the movie that’s in your head; I will do anything to get there and get it done,” he said. “I will get that movie on screen because I want people to see what I’m seeing. That mother’s story inside ‘The Wild Robot,’ the redemption of a villain inside of ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ those are the things that keep you going when you’re tired.”
Sanders, who has always been shy, is excited to see Stitch back in theaters.
“Stitch did good,” Sanders said.
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