To make it happen, many elements had to be aligned The wild robot a success, not least that of maneuvering the busy schedule of vocal star Pedro Pascal.
Director Chris Sanders' film for DreamWorks Animation topped the box office in its opening weekend and held onto second place well this weekend. Based on the book by Peter Brown, the animated film centers on Roz (Lupita Nyong'o), a robot who is brought 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.
During a conversation with The Hollywood journalist which took place at the Annecy Animation Festival shortly after the film's premiere, Sanders and producer Jeff Hermann discuss bringing together A-list stars, the possibilities for a sequel, and tackling themes involving intrusive technology in a landscape of animation that has to do with artificial intelligence. Additionally, Sanders teases his return as the voice of the alien Stitch in the next Disney film Lilo and Stitch live film.
I'm impressed that you captured Pedro Pascal The wild robotas he might be the busiest person in Hollywood.
CHRIS SANDERS It absolutely is. We have to give all the credit to our casting director, Christi Soper, who suggested Pedro and many of these actors. We feel so lucky that he agreed to do this and oh my gosh, it's amazing. He was so creative and fun and has a very playful nature. As we developed his character, that was really the route we went. In one of the last recording sessions, he said that this character is more him than many others he plays, and he really liked it.
JEFF HERMANN Going into the project, he thought we were looking for more of what he was already doing on screen Mandalorian, The last of us, game of Thrones – and we kept bringing him back to his character. Once he realized it, he got so excited and hugged it. We caught him just before everything exploded The last of usand from then on his schedule became very busy. We are so lucky to have Lupita, Pedro and Kit, who are strong actors with very distinctive voices. They've all worked as voice actors in their careers, but not to the extent we ask them to do now.
Hollywood is grappling with the growing impact of technology on the industry. Did you have this topic in mind with this story?
SANDERS It's at the heart of the story that Peter wrote, high technology conflicting with nature because Roz is where she shouldn't be. Roz has her own programming, and she soon learns that the animals on the island have their own programming, and theirs is an uncompromising thing. It's a life or death situation they live in every day. But all the characters have to overcome that programming to get to the end of this story, and that's a really wonderful message. It's very inspiring and aspirational that even though we may feel trapped in our lane, we can have the ability to learn, grow and change.
HERMANN In that growth, the story also suggests this idea of community that, in each of us overcoming our own programming, we can find commonalities with each other and form something greater. In essence, it uses the coexistence of technology and nature as a parable about all of us.
SANDERS One of the most important aspects of bringing the story to the screen and making it resonate as fully as possible is that the environments are all hand-painted. When you look at the skies and backgrounds, they are matte paintings made by humans with brushes in hand. We always talk about wallpapers in [Hayao] Miyazaki films and wallpapers in Bambi.
Do you have any thoughts on where AI is headed for the animation space?
SANDERS All I can say is that the human element in this film is what made the difference. There is not, and never will be, a substitute for this.
Since there are more books, is there a possibility that there will also be more movies?
HERMANN Definitely, hopefully. We were very aware that what Peter was telling was an ongoing story, and in an effort to stay true to the essence and basic structure of what he had created in the first book, we were trying to create something that could act as a support. alone in case we could never go further, but also certainly leaving open the possibility of continuing it, as we would very much like.
Chris, what was it like revisiting Stitch after voicing the character? Lilo and Stitch?
SANDERS I continue to be his voice for different things. Every once in a while I'll go into a booth and do some recording, and it's always nice to know how it's still out there, and people still know who it is. They really like him as a character and he's just wonderful. How do you describe it?
Is there anything you can tease about voicing Stitch in next year's live-action film?
SANDERS I could see some things and I can't tell you what I saw. But they also let me see some previews of what they wrote, and that's really cool.
What are your hopes for the future of animation?
HERMANN Hopefully, what this movie can do – very similar Spider-Verse AND [Teenage Mutant Ninja] Turtles and other things – it's pushing the visual boundaries and reopening the doors, so to speak, in terms of unlimited possibilities for animation. But hopefully the subject matter, issues, and emotions this film addresses will remind everyone that these films aren't just for little kids. They are for everyone and anyone of any age can enjoy an animated film. That's certainly something we're trying to do with this.