'The Wild Robot' | Deadline Studio at TIFF 2024 - video Dailymotion

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00:00This is all about a robot, RASM7134, that wakes up on the shore of an uninhabited island.

00:18She is lost but does not yet know it.

00:21So she simply moves inland and does what she was designed to do, which is find whoever

00:26it is that bought her and find tasks and complete them.

00:30And that journey is going to change everything about her and the island that she's on.

00:35All the themes and the emotional depth that Peter built into the book is what made me

00:41want to do it.

00:44Everything about it was a space that I felt I could operate in.

00:47It was the kind of thing that I feel comfortable with.

00:50And as I read the book, all the stuff I saw made me kind of, frankly, desperate to do

00:57it.

00:58Well, it was definitely a workshop with Chris talking through where RAS starts off and where

01:09she ends up.

01:10In the beginning, she has the naivety almost like of a child, you know.

01:15She's kind of like a blank slate in terms of, yes, she's a very sophisticated robot,

01:19but she doesn't have any unique or identifying features from all the other robots that exist.

01:29But then by the end, she has adapted and evolved so much that she has something akin to empathy

01:37and compassion, right?

01:39And so Chris mentioned that one of the reasons why he thought of me as a good fit for RAS

01:46is that he liked the warmth of my voice.

01:48That was in the beginning.

01:49So we knew that we would end up closer to what I sound like.

01:54But finding that initial, where we start RAS was quite the workshop.

01:59It took a few tries.

02:00I definitely tried very extreme things, but in the end, we ended up with something that

02:08is like I call programmed optimism that you hear in like Alexa and Siri and them.

02:15And then as she colors in, she develops more, I guess, dimension and texture in her voice.

02:24Yeah.

02:25I mean, a lot of that too was found with Chris.

02:27We wanted to create a villain that's not just like, oh, I'm big and scary.

02:32But, you know, a robot that is so chipper is like Siri.

02:38Like who really is Siri?

02:39Do you know what I mean?

02:40And like, what does Siri want?

02:44Yeah.

02:45Yeah.

02:46She's listening to all of us.

02:50And so if I disappear, you know who took me?

02:52It's Siri.

02:53But yeah.

02:54So creating a villain that is so chipper that it's disarming and uncomfortable.

03:01And that was really fun to find with Chris.

03:03Yeah.

03:04Had a lot of fun doing that.

03:05You know what Siri means?

03:06It's Swahili for secret.

03:08Is that right?

03:11I don't know whether they named her that because of that, but yeah.

03:16That's Jordan Peele's next film.

03:18Wow.

03:19That's good.

03:20Yeah.

03:21Wow.

03:22That's...

03:23I'm more scared than I was.

03:24Well, you know, there are times when I'm in my kitchen and suddenly my little Alexa thing

03:28says, would you like pumpkin carving ideas?

03:30I'm like, how did you know I was thinking about pumpkins?

03:33It's so chilling.

03:34Right?

03:35I'm like, well, I didn't say that.

03:39I'd like to think I could be funny sometimes.

03:41And I tried to give as much humor as I could to what was already there on paper.

03:46But in every, I swear, every line of dialogue, Chris just would just, you know, or you could

03:52try...

03:53No, you never did that.

03:54Do it like this.

03:55That's what you said, I think.

03:58No, just always like the best inspiring notes and bringing every possible bit of humor out

04:07of every line that I had, just out of the character.

04:11And I also, you know, channeled my mom.

04:13My mom had seven, no six, no seven kids, actually seven, in our family and my mom just had her

04:20great days and her not so great days, you know, but really took the job on of raising

04:26all of us.

04:27I only have two and it's a killer.

04:29But I love the speech that Arroz gives and then your warranty.

04:33What's that amazing speech about?

04:36Exactly what motherhood does to you, or parenthood.

04:39That's such a great speech.

04:40You damaged me.

04:41Yeah.

04:42Oh, so good.

04:43There's a lot of truth in your character and the assessment of motherhood without romanticism.

04:54And that's what makes it so funny, because it's so true.

04:57Like saying all the things that mothers don't dare to say out loud.

05:01Exactly.

05:02And allowing us to all laugh about it.

05:05Yeah.

05:06But not.

05:07But yeah.

05:08Yeah.

05:09The visual style, I felt, was really, really critical.

05:13Everything we've been talking about, I don't think would have worked as well if it had

05:16been in like a traditional, I think, CG style.

05:20And the more illustrated style that we were able to achieve, I think, elevates it to,

05:24I think, a level of sophistication that this particular story really and truly needed.

05:30Because it's not a simple story.

05:32It's simple in its construction, but its great depth and complexity of characters and

05:37messages is, I think, worthy of a style that, I think, reflects that.

05:43So I thought it was very, very critical that it have that sophistication and softness and

05:48beauty.

05:49And I think it helps, like, it pulls you in, in a very different way.

05:53And you were saying, too, that everything was hand-painted, right?

05:55Yeah.

05:56It is.

05:57Yeah.

05:58We were able to, every single surface has a human touch, quite literally.

06:02The feathers on the birds.

06:03And Roz is the only character that is traditional CG, but only when she first arrives.

06:09And because we wanted her to not fit in.

06:11And she has a CG surface.

06:13It's perfect.

06:14And very quickly, she begins to weather.

06:15And we have about maybe 15 to 20 different, like, levels of transformation.

06:21So that mid-film, she absolutely is 100% hand-painted and belongs there now, visually.

06:27So she's settled in.

06:29Which is the fun thing about when Vontra arrives, and she's shiny and new, and she has that

06:32more sort of plastic surface again.

06:35And I think at that point, hopefully, people will detect the difference.

06:38Like when Roz steps into the light, and Stephanie's character sees her, it's a bit of a shock.

06:45Because she actually has, she has things growing on her, and she's weathered, and she's got

06:49kind of a Chia Pet sort of thing going on.

06:53But she's beautiful.

06:54She's beautiful.

06:55The more she's weathered, I think the more beautiful she really becomes.

06:59That's honestly one of my favorite parts of the film.

07:02Because when I imagine, I feel like the movie is also so much about imagination, and storytelling,

07:08and what that brings to a community.

07:12And when I imagine all the little ones, little creatures in my life getting to see this film,

07:18and that feeling of the texture of, I can, like, pick up a marker and draw that.

07:23I think that is, like, something that is so lost now.

07:26And this movie really is such a nod to what we all grew up with in the world of animation.

07:33It's so awesome, and alive, and human.

07:36It was such a beautiful, open audience.

07:40There was not a self-conscious crowd that you can get at a festival, I think.

07:45It was just so open.

07:49And the movie started out right away so beautiful.

07:52I just instantly thought, oh my god, I didn't know this.

07:55Did I read this part?

07:56Did I know this?

07:57It was just, I just want to see it again right away.

08:02But also, the picture, and the sound, and that crowd, just, I don't know, you explain

08:08what I'm trying to say.

08:09Well, we were both crying.

08:10Yeah.

08:11Well, I'm trying to save makeup.

08:14But also, it was so funny.

08:16The first, like, I was talking to Jeff, our producer, the first 20 minutes, I was like,

08:21that was like slapstick.

08:23That was like Lucille Ball in the woods.

08:25And he was saying that there was a lot of research with, like, Buster Keaton.

08:29And that was, like, amazing physical comedy that I was not expecting.

08:33So fun to laugh with everybody.

08:35And also how, I guess I didn't know, because I guess when I worked with you, it was mainly

08:39about what I was doing, my role.

08:44But the wilderness, and how it's such a, it's so violent, and it's all about survival.

08:52It was just raw, and had nothing to do with compassion, or, you know, what all these animals

08:58learn throughout the movie.

09:00But not in a H.A.L. over the head way at all.

09:02It's so subtle, and beautiful, and natural.

09:05But just, yeah, it made me realize what a rough world that is, the wilderness.

09:10I'm sorry.

09:11You say.

09:12No, no, that was perfect.

09:13Exactly.

09:14That was the thing that was just so exciting.

09:15The idea that, like, this is an unforgiving place, and that Roz sees it as their programming,

09:19and that's how.

09:20And I think that that's how Roz, like, she's putting it in terms that she understands.

09:26So she says, you're programming, and it's a beautiful moment, and it is.

09:30They're programmed to survive, and that's, it's incredibly selfish.

09:34If they are not absolutely selfish, they won't see another day.

09:38They don't see any other way to get through their lives.

'The Wild Robot' | Deadline Studio at TIFF 2024

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