Many elements must be aligned to make wild robot Key to the success was voice star Pedro Pascal’s packed schedule.
Director Chris Sanders’ feature for DreamWorks Animation topped the box office in its opening weekend and held on to its No. 2 spot this weekend. The animated film, based on Peter Brown’s novel, centers on the robot Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), who is sent to an uninhabited island and must find a way to interact with the animals who don’t want her there. . The voice cast also includes Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill and Catherine O’Hara.
with hollywood reporter Shortly after the film screened at the Annecy Animation Festival, Sanders and producer Jeff Herman sat down to discuss assembling the top stars, the possibility of a sequel, and what to expect when it comes to Themes involving erosion technology are dealt with in an animated landscape of artificial intelligence. Additionally, Sanders also teased that he will be voicing the alien Stitch in Disney’s upcoming film. Lilo & Stitch Live action movie.
I’m impressed with your arrest of Pedro Pascal. wild robotconsidering he’s probably the busiest man in Hollywood.
Chris Sanders He absolutely is. We must give full credit to our casting director, Christi Soper, who recommended Pedro and many of these actors. We feel so lucky that he signed on to do this, and oh my gosh, he’s great. He is creative, funny and has a playful nature. That was really the path we took as we developed his character. In his last taping, he said that this role suited him better than many of the roles he had played and that he really enjoyed it.
Jeff Herman Initially, he thought we were looking for more of what he was doing on screen— The Mandalorian, the last of us, game of Thrones – We kept pushing him back into his own role. When he realized this, he was very excited and accepted it. We caught him before everything broke out. the last of ussince then, his schedule has become very busy. We were lucky enough to get Lupita, Pedro and Kit, who are all solid actors with very unique voices. They’ve all done voiceover work in their careers, but not to the extent that we’re asking them to do it now.
Hollywood has been grappling with technology’s growing impact on the industry. Was this story a theme you had in mind?
Sanders At the heart of the story Peter wrote is the conflict between high technology and nature, as Roz shows up where she shouldn’t. Roz has her programming, and she quickly learns that the animals on the island have theirs, and their programming is uncompromising. They live in life-or-death situations every day. But all the characters have to transcend this setting to reach the end of this story, which is a wonderful message. It’s very inspiring and aspirational that we have the ability to learn, grow, and change even when we feel like we may be stuck in our own paths.
Herman In this growth, the story also hints at the idea of community, that when each of us is beyond our programming abilities, we can find common ground with each other and form something bigger. Essentially, he uses the coexistence of technology and nature as a parable about all of us.
Sanders One of the most important parts of bringing the story to the screen and making it as resonant as possible is that the environments are all hand-drawn. When you look at the sky and the background, they are matte paintings done by humans with paintbrushes in their hands. we always talk about background [Hayao] Hayao Miyazaki’s films and backgrounds Bambi.
Do you have any thoughts on the direction of artificial intelligence in animation?
Sanders All I can say is that the human element in this movie is what makes the difference. There is no, and there will never be, a replacement.
Given the multiple books, is there an opportunity for more movies?
Herman Definitely, hopefully. We were very aware that this was an ongoing story that Peter was telling, and in order to stay true to the essence and basic structure of what he had created in the first book, we tried to create something that could stand as a stand-in if we never could Further, but also definitely leaving open the possibility of continuing because we’d be more than happy to do that.
Chris, what was it like revisiting the character after voicing him in Stitch? Lilo & Stitch?
Sanders I continue to speak for different things. Every once in a while I’ll go into a studio and do some recording and it’s always nice to hear that he’s still there and people still know who he is. They really liked him as a character, which was great. How would you describe this?
Is there anything you can tease about voicing Stitch in next year’s live-action movie?
Sanders I’ve seen something, but I can’t tell you what I’ve seen. But they also let me see some of the stuff they wrote, which was really cool.
What are your hopes for the future of animation?
Herman Hopefully what this movie will do – like Spider-Manverse and [Teenage Mutant Ninja] sea turtle And something else – is pushing visual boundaries and reopening doors, so to speak, in terms of the endless possibilities of animation. And, the themes, issues, and emotions this movie touches on will hopefully remind everyone that these movies aren’t just for little kids. They are suitable for everyone and anyone of any age can enjoy animated movies. That’s certainly what we’re trying to do with this.
