Pixar opened its doors to offer a look at Inside Out 2, including 35 minutes of footage and a look at five key steps in the process of making such a film. Inside Out is one of Pixar’s most beloved original films, having won a pair of Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature. Now, the animation studio is looking to build on the success of the original and, based on what ComicBook.com saw while visiting the Pixar campus in San Francisco… it is doing just that in exciting new ways with new characters and new emotions as Riley goes on one of life’s scariest adventures; adolescence.
“[Inside Out] was everything I love about movies, especially here at Pixar,” Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann said before introducing footage from the film. “It was fun, it was imaginative and it made a meaningful impact on the world. But ever since I walked out of that theater back in 2015, I kept thinking about Joy’s last line at the end of the film: ‘After all, Rylie’s 12, now. What could happen?’ Well, that’s the question we want to answer in this movie.”
The answer to that question is layered. Not only is Riley going on an adventure as she enters her teenage years, making new friends and saying goodbye to old friends, but the Pixar staff is going on quite an adventure, as well. The talented teams behind the film showed off their processes five of the many stages of bringing the gorgeous Pixar films to life. A virtual camera set showed off how entire sets are built in digital spaces for filmmakers to work and live in. A live edit session showed how a single line of dialogue can change the entire pace of a scene. Animators portrayed their examination of every second and frame of a scene to make sure that the tiniest details, like the amount a hockey stick is flopping around after a slapshot falls in line with the rest of the film’s physics. The character design team showed just how newcomer emotions like Anxiety get their look. A story pitch session saw filmmakers tossing around ideas on how to crack the code for a scene and the film, overall. All of it amounts to an incredible 35 minutes of footage which seems to be a precursor to the full Inside Out 2 film, a movie not only worthy of its predecessor but possibly one which is raising the bar.
“When Pete [Docter] approached me about the idea of partnering with Kelsey to produce a sequel to Inside Out, I jumped at the chance,” Insider Out 2 producer Mark Nielsen said. “I was the associate producer on the first film, and to me, this imaginative world of Riley and her core emotions is truly special. And to be given the opportunity to explore the next chapter of Riley’s life in this new film was an absolute thrill. Also, Kelsey and I are both fathers of teenage girls, which made exploring this stage in our children’s lives very meaningful and actually helpful to telling this story.”
In telling this story, the team introduce a number of new characters. Not only will Riley be meeting older teammates whom she has been idolizing for years, like Valentina Ortiz, Inside Out 2 is also bringing new emotions into play like Maya Hawke’s Anxiety, Adèle Exarchopoulos’ Annui, and Paul Walter Hauser’s Embarrassment. Anxiety is primed to be a scene stealer as, like in life, the emotion takes over whether we like it or not (though, it’s much easier to like as a chaotic, fun, orange animated character). While these emotions (and the surprising others who reveal themselves, as well) were not present in the first Inside Out, Mann promises there will be a reason for new emotions emerging in Riley, even if they were not seen in her parents in the first film.
“I want everything to work. I want the two movies to totally make sense and answer all those questions of ‘Where were they?’ Why doesn’t mom and dad have them?'” Mann said. “I wasn’t on the first film, I was on another movie working on other movies. I went to the screenings and all that. I was on another movie, so I was more of an audience member from the first film, which is kind of cool. Then, I could make the sequel, I can go, ‘Well, I was in the audience and I want this on the next movie. If you don’t have that alarm go off, I’m going to be bummed out if you set it up and if it doesn’t go off!’ I’m going to be like, ‘Hey, I wanted that!’ And so it’s the same thing with I wanted new emotion, so I wanted to make sure we do it in a way that made sense. “
Along with the new emotions come some new memories Riley is keeping a secret as she comes close to outgrowing them. While trapped in a lair of secrets, Joy, Disgust, Anger, Sadness, and Fear encounter a number of new characters (including Deep, Dark Secret – one who will almost surely be revealed before the end of them). Among the newcomers are two hugely entertaining roles; Bloofy voiced by Ron Funches and Lance Slashblade voiced by Yong Yea. Bloofy is a play on Blue from Blue’s Clues, talking directly to the audience when asking for help but leaving the other emotions confused when doing so for hilarious bits of comedy. Lance Slingblade is a PlayStation 2-era video game character with a near-worthless power move but a much more powerful attitude, drumming up tons of laughs and memories for the audience during a sequences in Riley’s chamber of secrets.
While Inside Out 2 is quite literally taking a wrecking ball to the headquarters in Riley’s mind, the film itself is already shaping up to be the rebuilt and more advanced product the very characters are aiming to create. Inside Out is a special film from Pixar, offering all humans an opportunity to connect with emotions and better understand themselves, at times. Inside Out 2 seems to be raising that bar in many ways, exploring the growth of a teenage girl and the many new elements both within and externally which prompt opportunities for growth, experiences, and new emotions.
ComicBook.com will continue to roll out coverage and insights from our time on the Pixar campus learning about Inside Out 2 throughout the week and closer to the film’s release. Inside Out 2 hits theaters on June 14, 2024.
