Last week I shared my exciting BIG HERO 6 Red Carpet Premiere experience, and now I'm back with a few fun details from the BIG HERO 6 press day at Walt Disney Animation Studios. What I love most about these "press days" is the opportunity to go behind the scenes into the making of a Disney Animation. I adore all of the tiny details that go into the filmmaking process, and these events are a glimpse into that world.
After breakfast we were treated to an interview with BIG HERO 6 directors Don Hall and Chris Williams. If you haven't seen the movie, you must go now because, in my opinion, it is one Disney's greatest animated films — blending both Marvel and Disney {Check out my BIG HERO 6 review}. Don Hall and Chris Williams gave us a fantastic look into how the movie came together, from the actors who voice the characters to the technology the film is based around. Here are a few of the highlights.
Interview with Don Hall and Chris Williams
What attracted you to the story of Big Hero 6, being that it's sort of a small-publishing in the comic book world?
Don: I saw the Japanese superhero theme, thought that was super cool, and then read the books and was really struck by the characters.
They were just so fun. They had goofy names, like Honey Lemon. And you could tell that the creators loved Japanese pop culture, and that's why they did the book. They wanted to take their sort of love and anime, and all things Japanese, and infuse that with a sort of Marvel superhero story.
Who’s your favorite character is in the movie?
Chris: I definitely connect with Fred. I guess I would aspire to be as cool and capable as Go Go, and I like the way that she carries the team for a good stretch. I think that maybe some of the silliness or goofiness of Honey Lemon is something that I connect with as well. So maybe any of those characters.
You wanted certain people to voice the characters, but did that happen with all of the characters, or just Baymax?
Chris: We had an idea. Then you get such a good, amazing actors like Damon,TJ, Genesis and Jamie, and they bring so much of themselves to it that then that informs the -- it's kind of a circular thing. Where you start with this, and they come in, and "oh, look what they're doing," and then we integrate that into the whole mix.
The technology in the film is not only futuristic, but it's kind of ultra-modern. Is that based on anything? Did you guys work with a science team?
Chris: Yes, and yes. If you watch the credits, you'll see, "Thank you, science." There were scores of roboticists that -- that consulted on the movie, and that research trip, that gave us Baymax, but then there was a guy I met on that research trip, Dr. Tom Wagner, who was from I, Robot. And he became a kind of a consultant on the film early on. And we kind of ran not just the robot stuff, but like, technology through him, too, like, okay, plasma blades. We want Wasabi to have plasma blades. Can that happen? He was like, "Well, yes, if you do this, and you did that." Some of it, we'd use, and some of it, just, you know, we pulled back just for design reasons. But everything in the movie is researched and grounded. We tried to keep it as real as possible.
After our interview with the directors, we sat down for another interview with Jamie Chung (voice of Go Go) and Genesis Rodriguez (voice of Honey Lemon). You'll have to wait a couple of days for that interview, but the girls were wonderful!
For the second half of the day we broke into groups for a voice recording session, a Disney Infinity demo, and a Baymax drawing lesson with BIG HERO 6 Character Design Supervisor Jin Kim.
Baymax Drawing Lesson with Jin Kim
I thought Baymax would be one of the easier characters to learn to draw, but I quickly learned that even with his basic shapes, Baymax is difficult to master. I'm embarrassed to show you my drawing— seriously, it was that bad. I'll leave you instead with Jin Kim and his Baymax, the way he's supposed to look!
If you'd like to draw your own Baymax, Jin Kim has a great tutorial.
I'll be back later this week with the additional interview with Jamie and Genesis, as well audio and video from my recording session where I voice the character of Baymax. I haven't watched the videos yet, but I promise they will be hilarious!
I can't thank Walt Disney Pictures enough for inviting me to be a part of the BIG HERO 6 press event (transportation & accommodations were provided). As always, all opinions are my own.
Leave a Reply