By Ben Travis | Posted 20 Jan 2020

With Coco, we got a Pixar vision of the afterlife – specifically, the Mexican Land Of The Dead, packed with vibrant colours, jaunty skeletons, and dazzling ‘Alebrije’ creatures. Now, with the upcoming Soul the animation studio is bringing us something else, more like the ‘beforelife’. Officially it’s known as The Great Before, where Jamie Foxx’s Joe Gardner unexpectedly finds himself when his soul is separated from his body. As seen in the upcoming new issue of Empire, here’s a brand new exclusive image from the film showing Gardner before he has his out-of-body experience.

According to Soul director Pete Docter – the man behind Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out – ‘The Great Before’ is a Pixar explanation of where we begin to become who we are, or “where we got our personality and attributes from”. Speaking to Empire, he explained: “The instant my kids were born, they seemed to have a very specific, unique personality; this is a deep dive into why that’s the case.” It’s a heady concept – but if Pixar has specialised in anything, it’s visualising complex worlds that feel inherently instinctual. “If I had to explain to you the story in words, you would scratch your head and wrinkle your nose,” says Docter. “But when you can show it visually, even the five-year-olds get it.”

Read more about Soul in the 100 Greatest Movies Of The Century issue of Empire, on sale from Thursday 23 January. Soul comes to UK cinemas on 19 June.