For Alex Woo, the director behind In Your Dreams, the story is relatable to his own experiences.

In this latest Netflix animated movie, “a pair of young siblings as they navigate a fantastical dream world, seeking the mythical Sandman in hopes that he can fix their family.”

“When I was 6 or 7 years old, I woke up one morning and my mom had her bags packed,” says the filmmaker in an interview with Variety. 

He recalls, “She was at the front door, and I had no idea what was going on. She had to gently explain to me and my brother that she was going away to figure out things for our family. I didn’t really know what that meant, but I knew things were about to change.”

Moreover, Alex expands on how the idea of In Your Dreams came into being. “It coincided with the inception of our company,” he says. “I left Pixar in 2016 and spent the first year or two dreaming up different ideas for movies and TV shows that we wanted to see.”

The director continues, “We realized it’s hard to give a dream movie stakes because anything can happen, so that was the big challenge. We knew we wanted to do something in the dream world, but we needed an emotional core to the story.”

“That’s when I brought up this thing that happened to me when I was 6 or 7 years old. I woke up one morning, and my mom had her bags packed, Alex notes. 

“She was at the front door, and I had no idea what was going on. She had to gently explain to me and my brother that she was going away to figure out things for our family.”

“I didn’t really know what that meant, but I knew things were about to change. A lot of this movie was inspired by that experience,” the filmmaker concludes.

In Your Dreams is streaming on Netflix.

Nearly 15 years since Of Monsters and Men’s album “My Head Is an Animal” took the rock world by storm with hits like “Little Talks” and “Dirty Paws,” the group is back with its latest album, “All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade.” Here is Of Monsters and Men performing “Dream Team.”

Amid rumors of an impending divorce, an expert comes forward with insight into why he thinks Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are possibly end game.

The expert that in question is royal expert Duncan Larcombe and he recently sat down with The Mirror to dish on what he thinks makes the Sussexes click.

The conversation began with him saying, “There have been times in their marriage where it’s been Meghan and Harry against the world.”

Furthermore, according to Mr Larcombe, “a clear theme from when they first met in the very beginning, has been how protective Harry is of Meghan. He’s a very loyal husband – much more so than most, because Meghan gets an awful lot of negative publicity, especially online.”

Not to mention, “we’ve seen Harry supporting her in court cases, and also speaking out against those people that have wronged Meghan, which in his mind has included the Princess of Wales, Catherine.”

“There’s also been a lot of heartbreak in their marriage but their similar past experiences and traumas are what holds them together and makes them stronger.”

For those unversed, there have been many an incidents described in Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, that highlight just how bad Meghan Markle’s mental health was during their time in the UK.

Whether it was due to tabloid news or rumored rifts within the Firm, with senior members like Prince William and Kate Middleton, reports erupted like wild fires during the Sussexes’ short tenure as full time royals.

A revelation was also made that Meghan Markle started feeling suicidal at one point.

The Duchess revealed it back in 2024 with CBS Sunday Morning, for their Parents Network initiative and said, “When you’ve been through any level of pain or trauma, I believe part of our healing journey, certainly part of mine, is being able to be really open about it. And I haven’t really scraped the surface on my experience. But I do think that I would never want someone else to feel that way.”

“And I would never want someone else to be making those sorts of plans. And I would never want someone else to not be believed. If me voicing what I have overcome will save someone, or encourage someone in their life to really, genuinely check in on them, and not assume that the appearance is good so everything’s okay, then that’s worth it. I’ll take a hit for that.”